A catch up post

Hi everybody,

Sorry we've been absent for a while. Been pretty hectic here, with both my parents staying (this is Tom typing, by the way). Work has also been very busy with quarter end followed by various external communications and board meetings which I have been producing slides for. The weekend after our last blog we hired a car and drove upstate to the catskills, which is a mountain range about 90 miles north of new york. Autumn here is beautiful and the leaves had started to change colour. We went apple picking, which we all really enjoyed. It was great for Sam as they had tractor rides and an old fire engine that drove around the farm, and the apples straight from the trees were delicious. The shop there sold pretty much every conceivable apple product, including fresh apple donuts, which were amazing.

The next day we drove around the mountains, saw a nice waterfall, went to a big reservoir and just enjoyed the beautiful trees and leaves. Then we drove home and Dad headed off to JFK for his flight home. We then had four days to ourselves before my mum arrived. Unfortunately Sam managed to cut his hand badly by grabbing the blinds to stop himself falling off the heater that he likes to stand on to look out of the window. There was blood everywhere and Lyn spent the next five hours in ER at the NY downtown hospital (sponsored by Lehman Brothers!). They glued Sam's hand back together and it is nearly healed now, but it was a pretty horrible experience. Somehow I think we'll spend a lot of time in casualty with the boys over the next few years...

Mum arrived on Thursday evening and I met her at JFK. She also enjoyed the pleasure of ER when Sam's cut opened up again while swimming. The doctor had forgotten to tell Lyn that the glue holding Sam's hand together would disolve in chlorine. Useless. I thought the arguement was that healthcare would be better if you have to pay for it.

Across the road from our apartment is a fire station and Sam has made friends with the firemen. By this time Sam had already been shown round the fire station twice and on our way out the next day Sam gave them a picture he had drawn and a thank you letter. It was a different fireman this time and they offered if Sam would like to look round again - a question that only has one answer! They are so good with him, letting him turn on the lights, pretend he's driving, spray them with the hoses, try on their helmets and turn on the sirens. Fireman Mike even bought Sam an FDNY t-shirt out of his own money (L - the smallest size they have over here). We've got some good photos that will be up on the site soon.

When we could finally drag him out we went for a walk across Brooklyn bridge. It's only about 10mins from our flat and the views from the bridge are great. Something I'm sure we'll do again and again. On the other side, under the bridge is the other famous New York pizzeria - Grimaldi's, which sell really good pizza, although you have to queue outside to get a table. On Sunday we continued the firefighing theme and went to the fire department museum. Lots of old fire engines and clothes for Sam to dress up in, as well as the very moving September 11th memorial.

Right, it's getting late and there's a lot more to write, so the rest will have to wait until next time. By then we should have the next batch of photos up as well. Hope that you are all happy and healthy!

Love Tom x

A Ball Game, a Boat Trip and a Balkan Brass Band

Hi everybody!

Bob arrived on Friday to stay with us for a week. It's really nice to have him here and the boys are very happy. After an early night on Friday and a Saturday morning trip to the riverside park we headed to CitiFields for an end of season baseball game. Unfortunately both teams were out of the playoffs, so their seasons were over. It meant easy tickets for £4 each and a chance to see the Mets at their brand new home. The first few innings were good fun and we were very high up, but then the rain started. By the time it had stopped Sam was soaked and we had lost Bob! Lots of people had left though, so we got good seats for the last four innings. The Mets won 5-1.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day and started with an early morning Arsenal 6-2 victory followed by a nice swim at the pool. After lunch we headed down to the South Street Seaport to go for a sailing trip on 19th century replica Tall Ship. It was an lovely trip, sailing out round Governor's Island, up to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and then back round the bottom of Manhattan. Lyn and Sam helped put the sails up, in exchange for a free beer - Lyn enjoyed hers, and I enjoyed Sam's!

The port was in full throng with Diwali festivities. It seems that every week here there are streets closed for a different festival/street party, which is really fun. There was a bhangra dancing competition on a stage at the pier and then a road closed full of mouthwatering food stalls. Unfortunately the boys were hungry by then and didn't fancy a curry, so we had some great samosas before heading off to Little Italy for some pizza.

Tonight I'm at home with the boys while Lyn and Bob have gone out with Danka to see Slavic Soul Party play at a bar in Brooklyn. Dad has been trawling through the Village Voice to find some interesting music and settled on New York's official #1 brass band for BalkanSoulGipsyFunk! Bizzare. I'm sure Lyn will tell you all about it in her next post.

We've posted some new photos up on flickr - have a look here. We're having problems with the voip phone at the moment, so if you'd like a chat try us on Skype - our username is Tom and Lyn Bollen (Lyn's old Lyn Sybil Redmond address no longer works). If you don't have skype and can get your hands on a cheap international phone card give us a call on 001 646 596 7132. It would be lovely to speak to you!

Until the next time,

Tom x