Nielson Family: November 2010

Brad and I headed to New york City early in the morning on Saturday the 13th. We traveled all day and arrived around 6:30pm that night. This was a "business trip" to see Richard and Jill Smith(the owners of the farm Brad manages). They are serving as mission presidents in the New York mission.
13th-Sat

Went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, very good, and visited that evening with them.
14th-Sun
Went to church at Westpoint Academy. They have some missionaries serving there on Westpoint academy. The sacrament meeting was interesting. It was held in a lecture hall (reminded me of church during my college days). There were only a few families, who were the teachers of the cadets on campus. There were quite a few cadets, mostly guys, I think I only saw only two girl cadets and one wasn't even a member but was investigating. I never knew much about westpoint but it is a very prestigious college. These cadets serving in the Army are the best of the best. The campus is beautiful, very big and very old. It sits on the edge of the Hudson River. Battles were fought in that part of the Hudson, so we saw lots of cannons. Jill served us a very nice dinner. The mission home is in a nice town called Scarsdale about 15 miles from the city. It takes about an hour or more to gt into the city depending on traffic. Brad and I took a walk around the neighborhood. The house are all very old and big. We saw Jay-Z's house too.

We also went and looked in a very old cathedral on campus. Each year a graduating class adds a stain glass window to the church the earliest one I saw was 1913. It was very pretty.

15th-Mon
We woke up early and headed into the big city. We planned on meeting up with some friends Joel and Michelle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had an hour to kill so we headed towards time square. On the way we saw Josh Groban being interviewed. We went in the M&M store, passed Letterman and saw a few other sights. The problem is the city is so big that it is easy to become lost and overwhelmed.

Me standing in front of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Josh Groban in Time Square

We met up at the museum only to find it closed on Mondays. Darn it! We decided to just go explore the city and that we did! We had a very eventful day. We went to FAO Swartz- bought some toys and played the big piano from the movie "Big."

We saw Emma(I don't know her last name) aka "Herminone" from Harry Potter.

Went to the American Girl doll store, Brad about lost it. He couldn't believe that a store like that excisted, I mean really a beauty salon for dolls? Cute huh!

Visited Trump tower, we had too we watch the Apprentice every week! Brad got Fired.

Went to see Rupert(?), you know the guy that David Letterman always talks to that owns the Deli, well we visited him too. Joel asked him to come to Idaho and ride a tractor for his next vacation, he seemed interested.

Also had to go to the Lego store for the boys

Grand Central Station

The Rockafeller Center was pretty cool. The had the tree set up but not decorated. We saw the ice-skating rink that is always shown on TV. While we were standing there taking pictures we were asked to be on the Today show. So we headed in the NBC building and got on TV. We aired the day after Thanksgiving during a segment with Kathy Lee and Hoda. We were at a different location with Sara Haines who had some of the fans asking them questions. It was very staged but fun. The four of us are seen the whole segment from where we were standing. They also taped up dancing but we were obviously too talented because it didn't air. I have our segment on DVR at home. We are FAMOUS!

Michelle and I with Sara Haines(The Host)

Time Square at Night is a way different experience. It is so bright and the billboards are enormous.

We went to Tiffany's on 5th Ave, Radio City, Carnagy Hall, rode the Subway and lots and lots of other cool sights. We had the best little Cheesecakes at a bakery too, YUM!

and of course the shopping, very fun!

Joel and Michelle had a concert to go too so we met up with Richard and Jill to go to dinner in the city and to see the Top of the Rock. The view from the top of the Rock was amazing. I think it is 126 stories high. It had the best view of the whole city. We could see the Empire state building, Crysler building, Time square and well the whole big city. It is something I will never forget. This was one of my favorite sights. The pictures don't do it justice. The day was perfect and was probably one of my favorite days there. More to come...

We had a very fun Halloween with the kids. I know they have been looking forward to the day all month. Both Ryker and Conner had a hard time deciding what they really wanted to be. Ryker finally decided to be a Vampire, but wanted no blood or paint on his face. Conner on the other hand, changed his mind at least everyday. I was pulling for him to be a football player. He already has the build and i knew he would look adorable. I had him convinced for a couple days then it was iron man, power rangers, and incredible hulk. A week or so before Halloween he had gotten in trouble and was spending some time in the "naughty spot," he had been sitting there for awhile and then said "hey mom I will be a football player for Halloween if you let me out of the naughty spot." I did let him out and guess what he was for Halloween.....A Power Ranger. He won. Brynlee was a adorable Lady bug. She absolutely loved her costume that she borrowed from cousin Taylee. She kept running to the mirror to check herself out. She loved the glitter and make-up and all the fuss the boys and dad made over her. Dad took them all out trick-or-treating while I stayed back to pass out candy. So fun. We did make a run over to Tiff's so the cousins could all see each other.

Ryker has also been wiggling his bottom two teeth for almost a month now. They finally fell out, One on Tuesday morning before school and the other Wednesday at school. He isn't really sold on the tooth fairy. He won't deny that there is one but I know he has been having his doubts. Oh well!