Not Much Going On

Well, as the title states, there's not much going on, but I didn't want anyone to lose complete interest in our journey, so I thought I'd post a little. Patrick has been doing a bit of handyman work back in Lake Wales while we wait for our 5th wheel to get out of the repair shop. Meanwhile, the children and I have been hitting the school books quite hard to make up for time lost while on the road.

We were going to take a trip out to Arizona after we got back from our trip to New York, but have decided to put it on hold for a bit. It is good for Patrick to have some work and it seems to be opening up some new opportunities. We shall see and as soon as we know something definite, I'll let you know.

I don't know if any of you have checked out the two links I have to "blogs we like." If you haven't, please do. Our dear friends the Dischers', oldest daughter has just started her courtship journey and the story of the "proposal" is related on three separate blogs. Check out "Sunny South, eh?" and it will direct you to the other two. It is such a sweet and wonderful story. It is definitely an inspiration to us and the kind of love story we want for our children.

We would love to hear from you all as well. Drop us a line here at the blog or privately to our e-mail address. Let us know how you are doing and if there is anything we might be praying about for you and your family.

Pictures from our trip

Christmas Day we took the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station. We came up at 34th Street and walked all the way to Central Park, then to Times Square and back to Penn Station at 34th and 7th. Whew! What a day.

My dad standing outside of Macy's window on 34th Street

New York City Library

Central Park

Emilie and her new pose just after we arrived at Central Park

Our scholars at Scholars Gate at Central Park

The day after Christmas we took a wonderful tour of the city. The tour company is called Topaz Tours and our guide was Mr. Davis. I highly recommend them both if you ever find the opportunity to go to NYC. The only downside that day was our almost 2 hour wait in line at the Empire State Building!

Goofing around in line

Smooching on the Empire State Building

There was only one other family on our tour with us. They were a very nice family from Indonesia. By the end of the day, we were like old friends. We are standing in Memorial Park (I think that is what it is called). Behind us is Ground Zero.

A very nice New Yorker offered to take our picture as a family and didn't run off with the camera ; )

We opted to take a water taxi ride out to see The Statue of Liberty instead of waiting in another long line to ride the ferry to get on Liberty Island. At the pier we saw these old ships that are now museums. The one behind Daniel is the Peking and was launched from Hamburg, Germany in 1911.

Daniel really wanted to get on that ship.

We saw the following sights from our trip on the water taxi. I think we (Patrick took them from the deck while the rest of stayed warm and cozy inside) got better pictures of The Statue of Liberty than if we had been on Liberty Island. Our captain was very informative and entertaining as he told us about each sight and other things to see while in New York.

This is the railway station where immigrants went to after being processed at Ellis Island if they were going out beyond NY City to begin their new lives. It is quite beautiful.

Ellis Island

The Statue of Liberty, extreme close up

The Brooklyn Bridge

Blogger is very frustrating to me!!! I finally think I have it figured out... I pick all my pictures and add them (five at a time only) from last to first and they are STILL in the wrong order. Let's see if I can get the rest in the right order

Just pretend you are a time traveler ; )

When we left the city to head back to TN,

we drove north first to see where Patrick used to work in the Catskills.

This picture was taken outside of Port Jervis, NY which was settled in 1690!

Back in time... here we are at Rockefeller Center. Boy, it was CROWDED! Not at all romantic like in the movies.

This is that cross they found amongst the rubble of the Twin Towers with a small piece from one of the airplanes melted into it

This was taken at Federal Hall where Washington took the first oath of office

This building, in the Financial District, is similar to the look of the Twin Towers only you must imagine another 52 floors!!!

After New York, we traveled back to Tennesse and spent New Years with my brother and his wife. We had a really great time there. Emilie told her Aunt Ronda, "You're fun to play with." She is ; )

Each of the kids prepared a dish for our New Years Eve junk fest in Tennessee.Daniel with his taco salad

Sadie with her cheese ball

Emilie with her cheese dip

Aunt Ronda checking on Emilie's progress

"Iron chef" Emilie

We stopped back in Flowery Branch to get Maya and stayed a couple more nights with the Orlando/Leibe family. They took really good care of Maya. We were a bit afraid she might not leave with us, she had it so good there ; )

Mr. & Mrs. Leibe and Keith Orlando

Tanya Orlando, my friend from high school days was sick, so she didn't get in this shot.

(Maya's "adopted" family)

Sadie, Daniel & Emilie with their new friends Ed, Joe & Nate Orlando

Mr. Leibe took Maya & Gizzee for a walk every evening before bed.