New York City Part One

Our family went to New York City last week for our family vacation. The best thing we could have done was buying a New York City Pass. It forced us to get going every day, see the city and try things we may have not known about. We left our of SeaTac airport and brought along a new temporary member of the family: Flat Stanley. He is a school project for a little girl in Alberta.

Our first day was in Seattle to the Space Needle and Pike Market. Todd was able to catch the last part of the hockey game in the restaurant bar while the girls and I chatted with people from all over visiting Seattle. Got my hand shook in Congratulations from a farmer from just outside Chicago. Todd was worried about cheering too loudly as we defeated the USA in overtime.

We arrived in New York the next day. Our hotel was in Times Square. It was definitely loud but we kept the room fan on to drown out the noise so it wasn't too bad. We went to Toysrus and the girls and I went on the ferris wheel that they have. It is four storeys high. We also went to the Hershey's and M&Ms Stores.
This was our hotel in Times Square

This Empire State Building was made out of Lego

The next morning, we went to the Central Park Zoo and The Museum of Natural History. We took the subway for the first time to get to the zoo. I was impressed with the mosaics that they have at every station and how it cooresponded to the theme of the stop. The zoo reminded me of Stanley Park's old zoo. Pretty small but nice to see. There was still snow on the ground in the park itself and some of the pond was frozen over. We went by Wollman Rink but decided not to go skating as we didn't want to line Trump's pocket with 60 dollars to family skate for a half an hour. Yikes! We moved on the Museum of Natural History. It was a fantastic and interesting place that you could easily spend two full days at. We picked the exhibits that we thought the girls would like the most and that was enough for them. We then went over to 5th Avenue to FAO Schwartz and the girls got to try out the big piano that was in the old 80's movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks. They also posed next to a stuffed bear worth over 1000 dollars. It was a huge multi storied store and a kids dream. That night, Linda and I went to the musical Wicked. It was very a fantastic show. A really neat twist on the Wizard of Oz theme. Very Entertaining. This was in the subway station near the zoo.

The clock at Central Park Zoo

We went for lunch to the themed restaurant Jekyll and Hyde for lunchDay at the Museum of Natural History - It had to entrances. The space entrance and the original main entrance

Big Giant Meteorite

Our New Puppy Arrives in Two Weeks

We are getting a new puppy in two weeks. He is a pure bred Boxer. Yes! They come in white!
He is so calm and adorable. Mom is a beauty which you can see in the background of some of the pictures. The puppy is 7 weeks old. Right now he has one blue eye. We hope it stays. If you are wondering why we chose a boy, Todd wanted to even the gender gap in the home.

Our Winter Olympic Experience

We went to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics last night. It was amazing. Everyone was in a great mood and so friendly. There were police all over the streets from all parts of Canada. Lots of people from different countries. The girls were wide eyed and loved most of the ceremonies.Vanessa had a little nap when the athletes came in as that took over an hour. She also didn't like having to wear a light blue over sized poncho that every audience member had to wear. So much color with all the presentations. I loved all of the presentations but I especially liked the performances by KD Lang and Sarah McLaughlan. It was hard to pay attention to the show and as an audience participate in some of the drumming, flashlight waving and candle holding. We received a nice souvenir pack. Heather brought her Maplelea doll Taryn to also watch the presentation. We all stood up and pounded our drums for the Georgian team as they lost a luge participant that morning. I have heard they have since shortened the track to slow it down 10 km/h. Transit was really easy and there was not long waits at all. Well organized. Enjoy the pictures and videos. The pictures can be blown up by just clicking on them and also just click on the triangle for the videos and let me know if you can't view them as I had some problems with the last ones posted.

It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. Uncle Bryan and Sarah. You should definitely try to go to the ones in London. What a spectacle!

Piano Recital

The girls had their piano recital today. Both the girls practiced a lot and did well for their first time in front of a lot of people.

Vanessa's 4th B-Day Party

For Vanessa's birthday, we took her to a Dairy Farm for a tour. She had a lot of people who came and celebrated with her. They saw a calf that was born in the morning and also got to pet some of the calves. Everyone got an ice cream cone. Egg Nog was Vanessa's choice for ice cream.

Vanessa's Turn at BAB

It was Vanessa's turn to go to Build A Bear with her friend. She chose a Dalmatian with heart spots. She did not want to pick any clothes for the dog because "dogs go nudey Mommy". She picked a dog bed, leash and chew toys instead.