Monday 5 January 2015

The last of December and Scenes from a... bus, ferry, walking

For Christmas this year, the boys really didn't ask for much.  So since we've told them for a couple of years that we would take them to New York, we finally did.  We decided to take the bus, about a three hour ride, not so bad and no driving for us!  We woke up way early and got the bus in Baltimore at 6:30am.  Once we arrived, we were able to drop our things off at the condo we rented before we became tourists!

We had tickets to see the Statue of Liberty, so we headed in that direction via the subway.  We went to the 9/11 Memorial first - Wow, you just can't even imagine what was once there and what was lost.  So many names, such a terrible loss. 

From there we walked over to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.  We had tickets to access the pedestal, unfortunately the crown was sold out.  We could have gone to Ellis Island, but the boys weren't too interested and we wouldn't have had much time.  Besides, I know we flew over in 1969!
 

Then there was the night life - the characters in Times Square!

We tried to get up close to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, but it seemed like everyone else in NY had the same idea!  Oh well, at least we got a picture. 

We had a great time but Nathan was disappointed we didn't get to Chinatown, so I think another trip is in our future.  Let's see if we can top our walking over 13 miles that Saturday!
And while we were waiting for the bus to go home, I had a hot flash!

Our next adventure was on Boxing Day.  We headed to my parents to celebrate Christmas with them.  Here's my Mom's chapel, decorated for Christmas. 

 I didn't know this, but my Oma made this years ago.  I guess that's where I got my stitichiness!


Dad decked out the table for us for our Christmas dinner, even if we were a little late.

Then came the Christmas pudding.  More for my parents and I - none of the boys like it!
Of course we had to have our family pictures taken - twice.


It wasn't too cold, so we had our last fire of the year outside.

And yum, I got my fix of Quality Street!


I bought this pattern on one of the fb stash groups, I thought it was perfect for my Mom's chapel.  Not sure if I should keep it as is or change it to look like hers.  But I think there will be too much white if I do.
Thoughts, suggestions?

9 comments:

Gillie said...

What a great trip! We had the tiniest Christmas pud the day before Christmas, and were too full for the bigger one on the Day, but we have to have our bit of fire....! Hmm, must look for Quality Street next year!

Mm, might be too much white......

Vickie said...

So cool! We made the NY trip a several years ago with the kids. Great experience.
I would definitely change the chapel to look like your mom's. What if you used blue linen?

Deb Montague said...

With all the colors of white available in thread, changing the church color to represent Mom's chapel could be done. I'm not fond of the "dirty linen" color of fabric so if I were going to do the project, I think I'd go with a seafoam green or a light blue. Those colors would definitely help with the "too much white" aspect. If you backstitch the roof snow at the bottom in the blue and the maybe backstitch the top in one strand of silver, that would also break up the "too much white" idea. I tend to think of patterns as suggestions anyway.

Linda said...

What an awesome trip Astrid. I would change the chapel to look like your Mom's.

Linda

Julie said...

What a fabulous trip, such beautiful pictures.

Maggee said...

Another idea would be to stitch the chapel without snow, as the picture of it shows... It is still a white-ish roof, but as Deb said, there are plenty of overdyeds to capture just the right hues for the chapel... And definitely a colored linen would help. Those were great pictures from your trip to NYC! So very cool!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful way to spend the day and such good pictures.

Anonymous said...

Hello Astrid

Thank you for your kind comment on my blog.
This trip sounds lovely and your Boxing Day with family too!
Your photos are fantastic.
Lovely new chart too.
Happy New Year too you x

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a great trip, lovely photos. I have been to New York once, we flew back to the UK on 9/9, yes two days before the 11th September.
I think Deb has some great ideas for the little chapel project.