Family Visit and More

We were very excited to have a visit from Alona, Robert and Matt early in March.  We packed a lot into the days they were here... on Tues. the 10th we went to Jones Beach, got White Castle burgers and went to Terryville for Institute.  On Wed. we had our big day in The City, while Alona and Robert went to the temple Elder Bushman, Matt and I walked the streets!  Here's Matt at Rockefeller Center!

We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, this is the organ with a beautiful stained glass window above the pipes.

We're in FAO Schwarz, next to a Lego Statue of Liberty.  Matt found a great magic kit that he bought!!

We picked up Alona and Robert and took the subway to lower Manhattan and Battery Park.

We had a good view of the real Statue of Liberty from here.

We did some more walking and saw the New York Stock Exchange.

Here's where George Washington took the oath of office to become our first President.

We're at Ground Zero, it's a very beautiful, reverent place.

This is one of 2 large reflecting ponds.

Here's another view of the area.  We got on the subway near here and went back to Times Square and walked around there for a while.

I just had to add this remembrance of the amount of walking we did that day!!  My feet ached like crazy but it was worth it and so fun to be with the Williams's!!  They got up the next morning and continued their long journey home.  We loved having them here!!

After a meeting at the South Shore church building a week ago, we discovered we were close to the place where Elder Bushman lived when he was on his mission here as a young Elder!!  This Is The Place!! The place in Patchogue where he spent a summer in 1970.

On Wednesday of this last week Elder Reed and Sister Sheryl Hancock came to the temple and after our shift working there we met up and went out to dinner then visited for a while.  It was fun to see them, they're serving a CES mission in New Jersey.  Sheryl is Elder Bushman's cousin.

After one of our classes in Plainview the other night we saw a raccoon scurry up this tree.  We wanted to capture the moment, if you look hard you can see him.

I had to include this picture of a rousing game of kickball!! Here's Elder B. running from 1st base to 2nd!!

And .... these last 2 pictures are of the 1st and second day of spring.  We got about 5 inches of snow.  I have to say, I'm ready for warm weather!!

This is driving to Bay Shore, it is beautiful - I felt like singing Christmas Carols!!

Temple trip, city walking and Visitors!

Back on Feb. 21st we drove into the City for a Temple trip with our Young Single Adult Branch of the Church.  It was our first time driving in the City on our mission.  It's fun to see all the things but public transportation is less stressful!

We went over the Queensborough Bridge, also called the 59th Street bridge.

This a view of the East River from the bridge.

Just looking at the buildings and the traffic!

Here are most of the people who attended.

The next Wednesday, the 25th, after our day at the Temple we decided to walk a different route.  First stop, Central Park!

We walked down 5th Avenue.  This is St. Patrick's Cathedral!  It is beautiful!

We saw Rockefeller Center and the famous ice rink.

This is for our son, Adam.  There's a Lego store right by the ice rink and this is the area we were standing in, all built in Legos!

On Thursday, the 26th, we had some fun visitors, Art and Gene Bushman (Sorry, this is us in the picture!)!! We went to the Copenhagen Bakery that their son, Eric, had told us about.  They had wonderful pastries and bread!!

The next day we went to the American Aviation Museum which is close to where we live.  I really enjoyed learning about all the planes that were built through the years.  This was where many planes were made in years past.

Elder Bushman had to try his hand at being a pilot!

Elder Art Bushman was a gunner!

Before they left on Saturday we went to Jones Beach.  Here is the secret to having a beautiful beach to yourself, go when it's 18 degrees with the wind blowing!!

I did love hearing the ocean and watching it.

And this is what we're really here for and what happens 5 days a week, Elder Bushman doing what he does best, teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Something New

We worked in the temple on Wednesday and wanted to stay in Manhattan for a couple of hours before we headed off to teach our institute class at the US Merchant Marine Academy.  We thought about going to a museum close to the temple but since it was a relatively nice day (clear sky, 30 degrees and no wind) we decided, instead, to walk the 24 blocks from 66th street to Times Square.  Hurray!! We've been in New York for 2 months and finally made it there!!   

I felt like a full-fledged tourist, staring at the skyscrapers and taking pictures!

I really enjoy seeing all that goes on there, it's an exciting place to be and it really was a nice walk.  I hope to do it often!

So I have a story about M&M's world!!  7 1/2 years ago we made a trip to New York with Elder Bushman's siblings and stayed at Lake George.  For a day trip we went into the city and did several things, one of which was going into the M&M store.  I put my name in a big container for a drawing and WON, they notified me on my cell phone when we had gotten back to Lake George but we couldn't go back into the city so I asked if they would mail the $25 dollar gift certificate to our home which, surprisingly enough, they did.  Fast forward to a few months ago when I was going through a drawer and found the gift certificate and decided to put it in my purse since I knew by then we were coming to NY on our mission.  It didn't have an expiration date so I decided it was worth a try to redeem it and after talking to a manager they decided to honor it!!

So here's my loot!! A t-shirt, a light-weight blanket and a tote bag!!  I guess it pays to be a bit of a pack-rat.  If we hadn't been trying to be better about what we eat I would have gotten $25 worth of M&M's!!

I liked this picture at the USMMA.  The snow had melted a little in the sun, then refroze looking so glossy.

I couldn't resist posting this sweet Valentine picture of Evie, Vera and Penny!

I also couldn't resist sharing Alona's public announcement of her upcoming new addition of a baby boy in August. Matt is excited to have a little brother and we're all very excited for them and for us!! 

Today our Sunday meetings were cancelled because of record low temperatures and high wind.  There was more snow in other parts of Long Island but not so much here.  The Branch President asked if we would go to the church since we live close in case anyone showed up for church who didn't get the cancelation message.  We ended up having about 25 people show up, half of them were missionaries who live in the area.  We had the sacrament, a testimony meeting and then a question and answer session for Sunday School.  It was a really nice day!!

Our Blizzard!

Last week the weather forecasters were predicting a huge blizzard for New York City, Long Island, and all of New England.  They went so far as to call a travel ban when the worst of the storm was supposed to hit.  Monday, the 27th of Jan., was supposed to have snow showers all day, then by 11 PM that night the travel ban took effect.  This picture is Monday morning as the snow was beginning to stick.

The young missionaries were here most of the day, there were 4 Elders and 4 Sisters.  I didn't get a good picture of the sisters.  We did some eating, Elder Bushman led a couple of good gospel discussions and we played some games.

Transfers are this week and Elder Cobbley, in the blue hoodie, is headed home!

This is a little further along in the day on Monday.  The missionaries went home around 6 and were asked by the mission president to stay in.  Family Home Evening for the YSA's was cancelled as was our Tuesday night class in Terryville.

This is what we woke up to Tuesday morning!  We had about 18 inches by the time the snow stopped around 11 AM.  New York City didn't get hit too hard, but about where we are on Long Island was the dividing line between not as much and a lot more snow and, of course, New England really got clobbered. 

I think it looks really pretty, especially since we didn't have to go anywhere.  The travel ban had lifted around 8 AM but everything was closed so people were off the roads.  

We have a really good maintenance man who keeps things shoveled and on days like this he hires extra help but Elder Bushman and I couldn't stand it so we had to get out and do a little shoveling ourselves.  It felt good to do some physical work.

I don't suppose I'll ever do a selfie that I like but here's some snow documentation! The rest of the week we were able go to our normal classes.  Besides the Mon. FHE and Tues. class, we teach Wed., Thurs., and Fri. evenings and Saturday mornings.  AND we're busy with meetings all day on Sunday!!

So now it's one week later ... Groundhog day, Monday, the 2nd of Feb., and it's snowing again, on top of some rain that we had earlier in the day that had started to freeze.  FHE is cancelled again but we're supposed to be good to go tomorrow!  (I hope!)