NYC Insanity

Anyone ever tried to do NYC in 2 days? Can I just say EXHAUSTING! I had my own adventure just trying to get to NY. The fun part about this trip was that it was time for me and just me! I can't remember the last time I went by myself overnight anywhere! I was to fly out of the Detroit airport at 1:30 and arrive at 3:30pm simultaneously as my parents were to land. My bro-in-law Jake was to meet us all at the JFK airport and escort us to their awesome accommodations literally a couple blocks from ground zero, with a view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and New Jersey from the sun deck atop their building.

Well I board my flight on time, only to find out JFK is having "issues" of some kind and is not allowing any flights to take-off until it is resolved. After an hour wait, we finally get clearance for take-off, HURRAY! But wait! It gets better...we get pushed back, start taxiing to the runway when an attendant call light starts beeping incessantly. Due to condensation buildup from the a/c it caused the button to malfunction. We have to head back to the gate, only to wait for another hour just for the ground crew to get us to a gate, to do the repair. I'm now fast approaching 2.5 hours on the plane. It's now 3:30pm, my parents have landed and I'm still stuck on a plane in Detroit! An announcement is made, if it will take 15 minutes or less to repair we'll turn around and head out, then they stop short and announce for everyone to get off the plane. Our flight was canceled! WHAT?!? I don't have time for this! I have plans!! I paid $70 for a ticket to see Dave Brubeck an 80+ year old world famous Jazz pianist at the Blue Note and it starts at 8pm! Through some divine inspiration I picked up a phone and after a 5 minute hold rather than another hour wait to get re-booked with a flight agent, I was able to secure a seat on the 5:15pm flight, which was in half an hour. Talk about a LONG day. Of all the times I've traveled with my children by myself, we have never had this happen. I was just grateful that the one time (keeping my fingers crossed this will be the ONLY time this happens) I'm traveling alone and not checking any baggage. I get on the next flight and miraculously we actually go somewhere. I arrived in NY after 7pm, sadly without the welcoming committee and help I'd planned on. I received my instructions to navigate myself through the Metro system in NY knowing it would take an hour and a half to get to the Blue Note. I arrived at the Blue Note just in time to hear the last song. It definitely wasn't worth $70 in my opinion, maybe if I heard the show I'd feel a little better about it. But oh well! What can you do? With that adventure of just getting there now over I could enjoy the time I had to be with my mom, dad, youngest brother, youngest sister and her husband. We then moved forward at a breakneck pace to catch all the sights and sounds of NYC!!

To sum up the trip, let me just post what my dad wrote to my bro in his mission:

Friday we land at JFK airport NY. After we catch the “Air Train” to the Howards Beach stop, Jake is there with a box of cookies, huge, thick, warm, 8 oz plus cookies, chocolate walnut, oatmeal raisin, choc chip etc…. he knew we’d be famished for good cookies. He then help us get our unlimited subway pass and off to the Manhattan accommodations, 2 transfers later, we were on the streets and rolling our luggage among the Friday rush hour crowd.

This was the reception I was hoping I'd receive and would have had everything been on time...

They have the most ideal place to live. 50 yards from the Hudson River, a penthouse on the 27^th floor overlooking all of Manhattan (M) including ground Zero about 3 minutes away from their home…….We had Tickets to Dave Brubeck , at the Blue Note Jazz Club, $70 per seat……which according to Jake (and I do believe every word) is about the most famous jazz club in NY, Jake even has a CD of Dave performing the entire CD at the BN. Natalie was also coming and her flight was supposed to land about the same time as ours but the flight was cancelled….that’s another story. We met up with Alli and decided to do dinner at the BN so we caught several sub connections and arrived at this cramped probably 30’ by 100’ facility crammed with tables and chairs. After dinner the group shows up and this old guy (I told Jake before that Dave had to be at least 110 years old) comes on the scene and has to be hoisted up to the piano literally by a couple of guys….and off they go with 15 minute plus pieces of “Somewhere over the rainbow” and “I’ve got Rhythm” and others…..Dave calls up some lady from the audience to sing a number which was fantastic…then at the very end Natalie makes her entry finally (but unfortunately misses 90% of the concert). It was a night to remember thoroughly enjoyable. After we get Nat a pizza and headed to Times Square, a lot like Piccadilly Circus in London except about 10 time bigger and brighter. I have photos we’ll send…. After we returned to the apt we go down to the Hudson River and enjoy the night lights on the water and plan a bit for Saturday….real fun to have Nat there too!

Day 2 began with a dozen of the most unique/fantastic donuts, a trip to the “rip off store” and a 8:00 AM date with a ferry to the Statue of Liberty (We live in a Great Country!!!!!!!!), a ferry ride to Ellis Island where all the emigrants who came through NY were processed from 1892-1943. Then to Macy’s Store famous for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (9 stories tall and a New York block long, it is huge), then lunch at the Grand Central rail station, then to the Empire State Building and up to the 102^nd floor observation deck for a look over the city,

(Actually it was only the 86th, if you paid an extra fee, you could go to the 102nd)

in the evening we saw the most clever play “39 Steps” by Hitchcock…..what a funny show!!….you really had to be there, after we went to Times Square again so Chris could photo with his new camera and we did a late dinner…getting home after midnight. Sunday we went to Alli and Jake's M ward, very interesting building 5 stories with sacrament meeting on the top floor, with the full previous day it was tiring going up the stairs and back down for SS and up for Priesthood Meeting. Back to Alli and Jake's for a bagel lunch, starts to rain lightly, we walk to Wall Street and the NY Stock Exchange, see the Wall Street “Bull”, pass the Trinity church but they were closed (George Washington went there after shopping at Macy’s or something….Andrew Hamilton is buried there…next time you spend a $20 or a $3 bill think of Trinity), over to Ground Zero to see the reconstruct of the World Trade Center, past the Dow Jones Industrial Stock Exchange, then to the Museum of Natural History (Free with Alli’s passes, then to Central Park (what a great park we probably spent nearly 2 hours there, lots of pics), then to the Ghost Busters Building, on the same long block but at the other end is the Manhattan Temple and across the street is the Metropolitan Opera Center, then off to Columbia University to see the Campus where Jake works (reminded me a bit of Harvard, old , well kept). We went to some Italian place for some fab pasta, and one chocolate desert that was devoured by 6 hungry hombre’s. Then a subway ride to the Ghost busters Fire Station in lower M and then home to crash. Monday get up to see Alli off to work pack up and head to the airport with Jake's help. Fly to Michigan and start to recover from the breakneck pace. PHEW!!

Needless to say we were utterly exhausted!! I think I'm still trying to recover!

Small Animals and Not so Small Animals 2010

Aww! Small animals! We love where we live! So much to see and do, well that is if you can find out about it before it happens rather than read about it after it's over. Advertising is lacking out here...

Fortunately or unfortunately, I spend a fair amount of time researching fun activities like this to do. We've been the last couple years and have thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the highlights is that you get to ride a bus and visit the nearby poultry farm and horse farm, on your way there you drive by the beef and dairy cattle farms, which are actually closer to my house than the pavilion where you load on the bus. But the kids and I love it just the same. It's even more fun when Daddy can come!

Here is my sweet Eric holding a baby duckling. They are so cute, definitely my favorite!Brooklyn and Sadie petting a baby chick! They had baby chicks, turkeys, quails, ducks, all available to hold. The girls absolutely loved it! One of the turkeys I was holding was so tired as soon as you held it still in your hand it would fall asleep. I didn't want to put it down just to let it have a little rest. Poor little babies were so tired from all the picking up and holding going on that day.

A dairy cow a not so small animal. Cows to sit on, cows to milk, what more could a kid want?

This little piggy went to small animals day, and squealed the whole time he was away from home! Quite the noisy little porkers! But still fun to pet.
Go Babe! I mean, oh wait, that's a real sheep dog herding sheep. Babe hasn't quite learned the ropes yet. It was fun to see the dog in action and the sheep respond.
Baby lamb! So soft. I just love the spring and all the new life that comes with it.

Spring Break in a Nutshell

Brief update from the Hogan household. We're alive and well. It's been so long since I last posted, what to catch you up on...we'll start with Spring Break.

Spring Break 2010: A Trip to Chicago!

Sadie enjoying her bread at dinner.

Brooklyn eating only the "soft part" of the bread. She doesn't care for the crust and will leave piles of crust carcasses on her plate, as shown below.

Sadie and her chocolate dipped and sprinkled marshmallows. She's my sugar baby!
On the ferris wheel on Navy Pier. Such a fun place. I still haven't heard the end of the time we forgot to ride a ferris wheel. I think I'll be trying to make it up to Brooklyn the rest of her life.

Look! I'm a turtle! The awesome Children's museum on Navy Pier. I highly recommend it to any parent visiting the Chicago area! So much fun. Something for every little kid.

Sadie and her catch of the day.

Brooklyn walking through the pipe headed toward the water room at the museum.

Here Brooklyn and I are atop the Willis Tower (formerly called the Sears Tower) 103 stories up sitting in the glass lookout. It's quite an experience to be 103 stories up and be able to look straight down to the sidewalk below.

Such a fun trip. We spent most all of our time at museums. We visited the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, Children's museum, a Hershey store, double decker bus tour, went to a mirror maze and freaked out the kids probably the "broken elevator" starting out the maze was the problem...and so much more! I think next time I want to do all the museums, I'm going to go in the winter time and avoid all the lines. The lines to get into the museums just to buy tickets were ridiculous! We waited an hour outside the Shedd aquarium just to get into the building to purchase tickets! If you go, buy tickets ahead of time and skip the lines!

I think the thing that made me laugh the hardest was that our hotel happened to be right across the street from a fire station. Needless to say we heard a fair amount of sirens and each time the girls would run to the window to see it before it disappeared into the city. The first couple nights were interesting trying to get kids to settle down and tucked in and then off goes another siren, back to square one.

A good trip, a good time. Chicago is a fun city!