At the Sheep's Meadow. 

Sailing. 

Alice in Wonderland. 

Sorry it's sideways.  

Rainy Sunday in Central Park. 

Isn't this self-explanatory? We were waiting for SNL. 

Ice Cream at FAO Schwartz. And RJ's not so happy about it. Or maybe he just wasn't happy that it was raining on us, and I wanted to take a pic.  

This was our hotel, and the street is decorated for the movie that they shot. You can see that the cars are all dirty, and they're's fake grass, and a fake tree fallen into the street in the background. They shut down this whole of 7th ave. on Saturday morning just to shoot a scene. Oh, and you can see Central Park trees way in the background. 

So we were walking down the street, away from this, when we heard someone say, "Hey, isn't that the Empire State building?" We didn't even realize that we'd walked down this far. 

The view from our hotel room. That's Carnegie Hall across the street- the brick building, not the glass one. 

We drove past CBGB, they had their last concert there Sunday night. I think it's a shame that it's closing. 

That's right, around our house, we play football in our halloween costumes. This was taken right before the tackle. 

A little Halloween preview. 

Just a fun tree in front of a fun building. I think that this building is the children's wing of a hospital. Central park is just across the street from it. And also, RJ's head. 

RJ.  

Times Square at night. Did you know that Times Square used to be the place where people bought and sold horses? And that the building where the ball drops at New Year's has no occupants- the owners of the building make their money from the advertising space on the outside. And that Times Square is the only place in Manhattan that is allowed to have adds and signs and stuff like this?

A building lit up in purple. 

RJ being a stinker 

One of my favorite pieces of art that we saw. I took lots of pictures especially for Amy, too. It's so great! 

A five-story Lichtenstein. It is in the lobby of the Sheraton hotel, just down the street from where we stayed. 

Beautiful flowers sent to me on my birthday by my in-laws, Richard and Angie. We came back to the hotel after a long day, and they had been put in my room. It was very sweet, and it made my day! 

Ahhhhhh!

Finally, I have my laptop back!

It's been on loan to the fam so that they could watch the second season of "Lost", because it wouldn't play on their computer.

I've been using RJ's laptop, and it's nice to have my own back. With my very own settings and bookmarks.

And, now that I've got it back, I'll be posting more NY pics soon!

Some public art in NYC.




Desi and RJ in Central Park.

We're Back!

We're back home! We got back yesterday evening. The Monkey was so excited to see us, too!

I have to admit, it's nice being in our own home, and to have our baby back.

Want to hear about our Wednesday? I wrote this on Wednesday night...

Today we got up and took the tour of uptown- the upper west side, Harlem and the upper east side. We got to see the cathedral, Grant’s Tomb, the Apollo theater, etc… We saw the soup kitchen from Seinfeld, too. And the buildings were so beautiful! That’s one of the things that I have loved about NYC- the architecture. (the old stuff, not so much the new)

We went to the Metropolitan museum! We spent about 5 hours wandering around- lost most of the time! The Egyptian wing was really cool! We saw a mummy- it was really small.

Then we wandered around the American wing. We saw “Washington Crossing the Delaware”- it is absolutely gigantic. I was excited to see a Rembrandt Peale, too. And we saw the decorative arts part, too. They have an entire Frank Loyd Wright room. Windows, doors, furniture, ceiling, floor- everything is in there! They had several other complete rooms, too, but that one was the coolest. They also had a room filled with glass cases that were just stuffed full of things like teapots, plates, spoons, coins, baseball cards, paintings, etc… they were just all together (ordered and numbered, of course). It was really surreal.

The Arms and Armor was a really neat exhibit. We saw a suit of armor that belonged to Henry VIII, and lots of swords and even some Japanese armor. We got to see some art nouveau designs- furniture and textiles mostly.

We saw some of their Modern collection. A Lichtenstein sculpture, some really cool paintings. But by the time we got there, we were getting tired.

I think that the only thing that we didn’t really see was the Roman and Greek wing (we just walked thru quickly) and 20^th century European painting and sculpture.

For lunch, we ate at the Met’s cafeteria. It was pretty good, and kind of cool to eat at.

After the Met, we went back to MOMA, to look in the stores. They have the coolest stuff! We went back mostly because there was a little stuffed animal that we wanted to get the Monkey for a souvenier.

After MOMA, we went back to the Time’s square area, and went to one of those NY souvenier shops to get some stuff for the Monkey and the fam. We walked down and went to the SWATCH store, and I got a watch with my birthday money! (thanks fam!!!)

After that, we walked down, and I got a gyro with rice and salad from a stand for my supper, and RJ got a burger and fries from the diner across the street from our hotel.

Tonight we’re packing, and tomorrow we’re going home! We’re both pretty tired, and we’re ready to see our little Monkey.

I'll be posting pictures soon- maybe today, but probably tomorrow!

NYC day 6

Today we did touristy things. We got tickets for those double-decker busses that go all over the city. You can get on and off wherever, and the guides talk about the city and stuff. It’s cheesy, but it was pretty fun, and we got to see a lot that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

It was cool to see all of the different neighborhoods and some of the stories behind them.

I now think that we need another week to be able to explore downtown Manhattan. And tomorrow, we’re going uptown, and I’m sure that I’ll feel that we need one more week for uptown, too.

We went up into the Empire State Building- it was so high! I’ve discovered that I’m not the best person with heights, but it was amazing to be that high and see so far! The air is really smoggy, though- even buildings that were close up looked a little hazy.

We had lunch at a pizza place in Greenwich Village. It was really yummy- we had meatball and pepperoni. And it was fun to walk a little bit in Greenwich village, it seems like such a fun place to live.

Then we went to the World Trade Center site. It was really surreal for me, because all the pictures that I had seen from that site were of the devastation, and it was strange to think that we were in the place where such horrible things had happened. However, we were able to see the displays that they had there. They had some pictures from 9/11 and some art related to that day.

After that, we went down to Battery park and looked across the harbor at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There was a little mix-up about the ferrys, so we didn’t end up going out onto the water, but I’m glad that we went to look at them at least.

Tonight we took a night tour, that went over the Manhattan bridge into Brooklyn, and all around downtown Manhattan. That was a lot of fun, it was cool to see the whole of NY all lit up, and we were able to see the Statue of Liberty lit up, too.

Today we ended up seeing all of the parks, Chelsea, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn, Little Italy, Chinatown, the shoe street (seriously, lined with shoe stores), the fashion district, the lower east side and pretty much everything of note in downtown.

So it was a good day. A full day, but a good day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DESI !!!!!!

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife!!!! I love you!

She's 26 now, for those that didnt know. :)


posted by R.J. (obviously)

Happy Birthday!

Today my baby is three years old.

I cannot believe that he's been with us for three years. It seems forever and an instant at the same time. I can't think about it too much, it makes me want to cry.

(Also, I'm freaking out a little bit about being the mother of a three year old.)

Adventures in Bathing

Once again, I am not being nominated for mother of the year...

Yesterday, a friend of RJ's- Jon- and his girlfriend- Lilly- came over to our house. Jon and RJ spent over 6 hours changing out the suspension on the Golf. (which still isn't finished, because now we need spacers so that the wheels won't rub. I'm totally rolling my eyes about this. However, the Golf looks really good. And very low. So it's good that it looks good, because we sure won't be able to drive it anywhere!)

Lilly, the Child and I just sort of hung out, chatted, watched a movie, picked up supper, etc... Also, we gave the Child a bath.

Yesterday, we bought the Child new bubble bath, so he was extra excited to have a "bapple bath"

Only during the bath, he peed in the water... and I found a gigantic roach floating amongst the bubbles... and then the Child drank a little bit of the bubbly, peed in, bug containing water.

Good times. And surely such a good impression we left with Lilly, right?

And also, after they were done, RJ and Jon were filthy. Seriously. They were nasty.

He's comming home today. He'll be in town at around noon.

Very exciting! Also scary, but more exciting.

So. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, RJ will be home. We still don't know for sure.

It's not good.

Every one but the Arkansas soldiers have been able to go home. Everyone. Even the Mesquite soldiers, because they are in Mesquite.

Anyone else see something wrong with that? Especially since they aren't being told when they'll be home?

And before you ask... all they're doing is filling out travel vouchers. And they'll have another ceremony today.

Silly Boy

This morning, the Monkey and I were struggling to wake up.

I picked some dirt out of his ear and he said, "Hey!"

I said, "Your ear was dirty!"

And then he started to cry and said, "I want!"

I was so confused. "You want... your dirt?"

It turns out that he did, indeed, want to keep his dirt.

Also, his newest phrase is, "More, Mommy. More."

Then I say, "More what, Baby?"

"More Tinkerbell!"

Sometimes he says it excitedly, sometimes matter-of-factly and sometimes he's got the whole "duh, mom" thing going.

Callie and Bri were over, and we did girly things like play with eachother's hair and pedicures. Can you tell whose feet are whose?

We painted the Monkey's toenails, too, but he wouldn't be still long enough for a picture.

At Star of India, Monday night. Six girls and one little Monkey.

Sammy, the owner, is asking all of us what we'd like to drink. "Wine? Or Indian beer?"

We decline, and order chai. mmmmm!

Sammy: And what about you little man? Wine or Indian beer?
X: hmmm. Wine!
Sammy: Would you like red or white?
X: White!

It was pretty funny.

He had Indian water instead.

And, oh my soul, the food was good! I had my usual- Aloo Gobi. I think that next time I may branch out and get what Tami got- Chicken Byrani.

Much has happened.

Mom left for Mexico. Bri is comming over to stay for the week.

A beloved lady from church died on Friday. Tami flew in on Saturday and is staying for the week.

I'm so thankful that God has blessed me so that I have the space right now to let them stay with me. I'm looking forward to spending time with both of them!

Also, RJ will be in the states in 10-ish days.

These Shoes Ain't Made for Walkin'

But how could I restist the smell of faux leather at Payless? Besides, I love, love, love them! Now I just need to find a place/excuse to wear them!

My Day Off

So the Monkey is spending the night with grandparents. Not my fam, but with my father-in-law! His first time ever to spend the night with them! He was so excited- he asked all morning when we were going to go to thier house, and he helped pack his bag and everything. When we got there, they were out in their yard, and when I opened the car door, he hollered, "Hey!" at them. And he had no trouble at all with me leaving!

It was great! I'm really glad that he's able to spend time with them! And I'm really thankful that they were cool with the whole "keep him while I'm in town before you keep him when I'm out of town" rule that we've had. I made my family do it, too.

So this afternoon I've been basking in having no responsibilities. I had a really bad headache, though. I took a nap and took aleve and cold medicine, though, and that helped.

Then I went to Barnes and Noble with my library book (Gone With the Wind- very good, and I'll discuss when I'm done) and got a latte and a sugar cookie and sat and read my book. I was sad, though, because I had one of those moments where I really missed my husband. Going to get coffee and read has always been one of our favorite things to do, and I just really missed his presence.

I'm thankful that God has changed my heart in that area. For a while I was not looking forward to my husband's return. There were several reasons...

First, because I've really been enjoying the freedom that I've had. I've only had to deal with my schedule and my opinions and my wants. Totally selfish!

B- I wasn't, and still am not, looking forward to the transition when he comes home. It will be complete bliss for the first weeks, but I know that it will be hard to learn to live together again. And it's so much easier to let things go when we're just having a relationship over the phone. We've both changed over this year and a bit, and we're going to have to deal with that, also. And we're going to have to deal with the Child's reaction to Daddy being home, too.

Third, there were some other, smaller reasons that just made me unenthusiastic about him comming back. Things like living situation, money, etc...

Fourth, I never really let myself think about him comming home. So my focus for the past year and a bit has been on just living in the present, rather than on a date or time in the future. So it's been a little bit of a challenge to change my mindset in that area. I think that God totally guarded my heart in that way, and I'm thankful that I did have that mindset, but now it needs to be changed.

So anyways, in the past month, God has changed my heart. I'm ready for my husband to come home. I'm ready to share life and responsibility again with him. I'm ready to have my partner back. I'm really looking forward to spending time as a family together again. I think that, for the most part, it will feel like home again to have him here.

Ok, that was long and rambly...

Um... After I got coffee, I went to Target and got some stuff we'd been needing. It was so great to just sort of wander, and not have to answer a million questions or keep the cart out of reach of the merchandise or argue with the Monkey that no, he cannot have that really ugly pair of pants. No matter how much he likes them.

This evening I'm going to see a movie with the Gerkes. And then later I might take a bath and give myself a pedicure. And in the morning, I'm going to go to get coffee on the way to church in the morning! All by myself!

There is only one thing worse than a summer cold.

And that is knowing that the summer cold could have been avoided if parents had been responsible and not brought their sick children to nursery.

... then he runs away squealing and laughing.

I *heart* lists

• Yesterday the Child took a long nap. Since he tood a nap, he stayed up late. Well, later than his usual at-home bedtime of 7. So, since he was up late on a lovely summer evening, I took him ouside to see the fireflys. Only when I said firefly, he said, "Firetruck?" Anyways, we were outside, and he looked up at the sky and said, "Mom, the moon's on!"
  

• And yesterday, he finally started saying "Oh snap!"

• Today we were watching TV, and he saw some soldiers and said, "There's daddy!" It was really sweet and really sad at the same time.

• RJ's been saying that he'll be in the States this month!