New York City

Mark had a client meeting this past Saturday in the Bronx, so we decided to go together and spend a quick weekend in New York. We stayed at a little (very little) hotel right off Herald Square, which is right by Macys, and this is the north side of the Macy's building.
The first night we went with Mark's co-worker and just walked around a bit. We went to Times Square and around the Rockefeller building. They had already decorated for Christmas, and I didn't even hear anyone complaining about it being too early. I loved it!
The thing inside this scaffold is the Christmas tree that stands outside the Rockefeller building. I asked the security guard at the tree for a little piece of the tree, and she broke off two decent sized branches for me! She was super friendly and chatted a lot.

We had to go into the Toys R Us store at Times Square. It was pretty amazing! They have a Wonkaland that looks a lot like the one in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and there is a Ferris Wheel inside the store. Here you can see the Mr. and Mrs. Potatoe Head car.

We also walked by Radio City and it was just pretty.

On Saturday, while Mark was working, I went Christmas shopping. I went into the Macy's, and they still have wooden escalators. So cool! Then I called Mark's niece, Karene, and she took me to all the right places for my shopping. Christmas shopping is done. Wahoo!!!

That night Karene took us all ove the place, and my favorite was this park that is made on a retired elevated subway line. There are parts of the park that you can still see the old tracks. And the views were great.

On Sunday we just did sight seeing. We went to Brooklyn and had lunch in a real italian restaurant, then we walked back to Manhatten across the Brooklyn bridge.

We took the Staton Island ferry to . . . you guessed it. Staton Island. It passed right by the Statue of Liberty and not too far from Ellis Island. Next time in NY, I will get to that island!

That night we walked around again, visiting Grand Central Station. What a huge building!

On Monday we went to the Christmas show at Radio City, featuring the Rockettes. This is the lobby of Radio City.

After the show, we went to the 911 Memorial Park. This was probably the best part of the trip. All I will say about it is, I really love this great guy I married!

These pictures show the waterfall pools and the Freedom Tower under construction.

The oldest surviving church in Manhatten is St. Pauls, right next to the World Trade Center site. It's really a miracle that the church wasn't seriously damaged.

Then we walked down 5th avenue, into Schwartz toy store and Tiffany's.
Here we are by some of the decorations along our way.
And of course, there is the food. Ah, the heartburn! But it was worth it!

Carving pumpkins without Mark :(

But we still had fun! Here's what we got.

See if you can figure out who did which. Here's a hint. Joe made one, and he likes Jack.

Fall Fun

Collecting beautiful leaves - in the dark.

Tara doing her trademark faerie pose.

Tara and Joe on the cool log.

All of us on the cool log.

My favorite boys!

The results of our labors. I like it!

Hey! Lookee what I found!

Can you believe that was two years?

Elder Grierson finally returned home yesterday.

Elder Grierson's Homecoming

The required, big welcome home sign,

happy sister, and balloons.

Waiting at the airport. Holly is there, too, just behind the camera.

Lots of hugging.

After he was released, we didn't know what to do with the sign and balloons, so we tried to make it significant. He "released" the balloons and we chucked the sign.

It is SO good to have him home!

Grelland Family Reunion Part 1

Since I have to work backwards to get the post to post the way I want it, I have learned a few things making this post - or perhaps re-learned them.

1. My brain is no good at working backwards.

2. I am incredibly impatient. I do not like waiting for the pictures to upload.

3. Kelsey always makes funny faces/body poses for pictures.

Here is a short blurb about our family reunion that we just had in July.

We decided that we had better adopt a child, since we only had one available and it is always more fun with two. Therefore we brought Kelsey along, and she did definitly add to the fun! Of course, Tara is always fun in her whimsical way. With the two, we just had double the whimsy.

We rented a small condo in Sudden Valley, WA, and the deer were everywhere. Cute!

Of course the most important thing we had to do while near Vancouver was to visit Lynn Canyon, aka The Enchanted Forest. Here we are ready to walk into enchantment.

Rain was the prevalent weather condition, but in Vancouver it is the norm, so we just did as the natives do and went everywhere in the rain. Fortunatly, it was not raining (just soggy) when we crossed the bridge of death. If you look closely in the middle of the bride you can see my cute little family looking my way.

Tara in the middle of the bridge looking at the falls. Ah, beautiful!
Tara, Mark and Kelsey all ran up the rock. It's tradition. They all made it the first try which made them feel . . .

So joyful!

I asked them to give me a manly pose. Kelsey - wow, good job! Very manly. Must be Harrison's influence. Mark - Manly of course. He said he sucked in his belly. Tara - well, maybe we will work on that. I guess I'm glad to say manly pose is not in you.

Tara and Mark being enchanted.

The mossy trees. Ah, I do love them!

I believe they would call this trudging.

Enchanting and whimsical faerie-like ladies near the pool.

Mark is helping me see the falls. I didn't get any falls pictures. Sad.

Jeny and Mark at the pool. It's really very beautiful! (and enchanted)

Here is the Faerie Throne. Tara has always wanted to be a Faerie or an elf. And Kelsey, well she's just special.

If you are a Grierson, you understand this picture. It's blurry, but oh, so Grierson-esque.

On our trip to White Rock Beach we saw these two Bald Eagles in the treetops. (way to spot them, Kelsey!) If you look in the middle of the picture near the top of the tree, you can see them. They look like two brown smudges.

And this is the beauties at Fairhaven, WA. It's right near the water, so after lunch I got to go catch wee crabs. Very fun! Rowen is the cutie in the background.