Some Events from May

Writing today, May 31st, I realize that we're at the half-way point of our mission, what good experiences we're having!!  I post pictures of the touristy things we do but the real rewards are the relationships we're making with the young people we associate with on a daily basis.  I'm excited for the next 6 months!

One of our students, Jessica, told us about her favorite park, Gardiner's Park, in Bay Shore.  You can walk through the park down to the ocean, it was cloudy and windy but fun to walk there.

Here's the path down to the shore.

Another happy visit occurred on May 9th!  We were so glad to have Adam come to see us after he had finished the semester at Boise State.  Of course we had to have a marathon walking day in the City!!

I think his favorite places were the awesome toy stores in NYC.  We had to get his picture with this Batman made out of Legos.  We went to the beach, looked around Long Island a little, caught a movie, went to our normal classes and just enjoyed being together for a week that went by way too fast!!  We feel blessed that each of our children have been able to visit us on our mission.

I had to sneak this cute picture of Penny in here for her May birthday!

This is the summery view of Bethpage State Park

We enjoy walking a few mornings a week, this is close to the golf course in Bethpage State Park.

We were able to get to Jones Beach to see the rehearsal for the Memorial Day Air show. We were busy on the days of the real show so we were happy to see the practice flights!  If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see a plane doing a loop.

We really loved watching the jets do their maneuvers, I didn't take many pictures because I just wanted to watch!! This one looks better if you click on it as well.  This is quite a contrast to the first visit I made to the beach with Art and Gene, we were bundled up to our eyebrows and still freezing that day, it was so nice to be here when it's warm!

The next day, May 23rd, we had a great branch temple trip, we forgot to get a picture before several others in our group left, so this is half of us!  We got bite to eat then went home.  I always enjoy the temple but I have to say that the most memorable thing about this trip was that there was hardly any traffic coming and going.  It was a miracle!!

I love this Clematis vine on our porch and I'm so thankful that we're having wonderful weather!!

On Memorial Day we were invited to the wedding reception of a couple in our branch, Zach and Erin Watson, it was at a Country Club on Lake Ronkonkoma.

It was a beautiful day in a beautiful setting!

Here's the happy couple!

That evening FHE was at our house, we watched "Ephraim's Rescue" and played some games, here's a few of the kids trying to beat Elder Bushman.

A Visit from the Warrs

We had a much anticipated visit from Susannah, Adam, Evie, Penny and Vera Warr!!  They got here late on April 25 (Alona's birthday!)  We were so glad to have them come to see us.  Above is a picture of Northport, we had gone there when Art and Gene visited and it was frozen in and icy cold, this was a much nicer day and we enjoyed a pastry from the Copenhagen Bakery across the street.

We went to Jones Beach because we all love the ocean but it was windy and just too cold to have fun.  Boo.

This is from the front steps of the church in Flushing where we park our car before catching the subway to the City.

This is looking back at the church.

After a fun train ride into the city, the girls were excited to see these fun cartoon friends.  They loved watching trains from our house so it was exciting to ride one.

Here's the sweet family in Central Park.

We can't miss a picture by the Temple!

It's so nice to see Central Park in bloom!

We went to a fun place called White Post Farms, it's a petting zoo and here's a lady feeding birds.  The little girls had a great time here.

The day they left we tried the beach again and it was much nicer, still a little cool but not too bad!

Here's little Vera with Grandpa.

It was so much fun to dig in the sand!
We had such a good time having them come to New York! We do love our family!!

The 3 little "I Love NYers"

I had to throw in a picture of the trees that were once so white with snow and are now covered with white blossoms.

Can't leave out the pink magnolias!

The Cloisters, Brooklyn Bridge, and People!

 On Monday, April 13, we went in to Manhattan to go to the Cloisters museum with Elder and Sister Hancock's group.  It was really interesting, it was fun to be with the Hancocks and also the Strouds, who were in our area in Arizona and Doreen Pugh Young from Heber City, who is a good friend of my brother, Bob and his wife, Vicki. They're all CES missionaries in New Jersey.

This is outside the museum, looking across the Hudson river to New Jersey.

Here's a shot of the George Washington Bridge.

The Cloisters museum and gardens, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, was assembled from architectural elements, both domestic and religious, that largely date from the twelfth through the fifteenth century.

We loved the architecture and the artwork!

This is Doreen Young and I.

I saw from a Facebook post that Billy and Debbie Riley, friends from Texas, were in Manhattan the same day we went to the Cloisters so we arranged to meet them and had a fun visit.

On Wednesday of that same week we went down to the Brooklyn Bridge after our Temple shift.  It had been on Jeff's list of things to do and it was a really lovely day to walk across it.

Here's a view of lower Manhattan from the bridge.

On Friday of that week we made a third trip into the City to escort this great group of Elders and Sisters to the Temple.  They get to make a Temple trip every six months.

 We had our district over for dinner before transfer meeting the.  Sister Pieper, on the far left was finishing her mission and leaving for home after transfers, we'll miss her.  The others are Peterson, Sao, Me, Vandertoolen, Laxton, Maneha, Andreason, Opfar and Rowley.

Here's a good pic of our branch after Family Home Evening!

Entering Babylon and Other Random Things From The End of March and Beginning of April

We drive by this sign regularly and love it so now that the weather has gotten better we walk nearly every day and decided we needed to get a picture of Elder Bushman "ENTERING BABYLON"! 

We had a really nice etiquette dinner that I made brownie bowls to put ice cream in.  This is the Pinterest inspiration picture... below is my creation.  

Just so you know, some of the bowls looked better and they all tasted good!! The dinner was a success!!            

This was our first "up-close" view of the Empire State Bldg.  We went there when we took our walk down to Macy's.

We had heard that there was a flower show at Macy's so we walked there after one of our Temple days, it was a rainy, chilly day so the beautiful flowers gave us hope for spring.

The next week we ventured the opposite direction and found Elder Bushman's old mission home, we were disappointed to see the scaffolding on the front of it so we couldn't get a good view.  We're hoping the renovation/cleaning will be finished before we leave.  The picture is taken from Central Park.

Last Sunday we loved watching conference at our home.  We were glad that many members of the YSA Branch that we attend were able to come and watch with us.  The talks were inspirational and fed our spirits and there was lots of good food for our tummies between sessions.

These great young people really enjoy being around each other!

Last Wednesday we splurged and ate at Olive Garden in Times Square! Delicious, as usual!!

I don't know if I dare even say it, but I think spring has really arrived!  We've had a couple of days in a row that were sunny with the temperatures in the 60's!  We took a walk yesterday in Bethpage State Park which is very close to us and this is an early spring picture there.  My plan will be to get pics of all the seasons here, it's a beautiful place.