June - New York

We were very excited for Matt to start his new position at work, mostly because it meant he would be working days. It was a long 3 ½ year stretch of him working nights, but it served its purpose, and we were grateful for it –most of the time anyway. He started on June 8and I was excited when he got home to hear all about his first day. That excitement ended, however, when he informed me that they wanted him to go to New York to do his training and that he would be there for 4 weeks. Oh, and they wanted him to be there by the following Monday. YIKES! I wasn’t exactly thrilled about him going away for that long, but in a way I was glad that they were doing it quick and that he would be home on July 2, just in time for the 4th of July.

We had a crazy week of getting everything ready for him to go and before we even knew what hit us he was on a plane and the boys and I were on our own. It’s hard to explain to a three-year-old that daddy is going away for a month to New York and that they won’t be able to see him for a while. We did set up web cams though so that we could talk to Matt every night before bed, and that really helped make it easier on everyone. We decided that I would go out and visit him during the middle of his trip for a weekend. I did feel bad because I didn’t want to leave the boys for very long when Matt was already gone, but we are so lucky to have great family all around us that I don’t think they even missed me. I flew to New York on a Friday and arrived just before Matt got off of work, and then I left on Monday morning when he left for work. That didn’t leave us a ton of time to see New York, but we managed to squeeze a ton in.
Friday when I got to New York I had to take a cab to the hotel. Cab drivers are CRAZY in New York, I thought I was going to die during most of the ride. Between the plane ride and the cab ride my motion sickness was in full bloom by the time I got to the hotel. I had planned to have a little time to freshen up before Matt got there, but instead I closed the curtains and climbed into bed. I felt a little better by the time Matt got home from work. He brought me some beautiful flowers – orchids which are my fave! We had decided to do a session in the temple that night, so we hustled over there and got there just in time for the last session. I was really glad we were able to do it, it was an awesome experience. Unfortunately we didn’t take a picture until after we were done, so it was dark at that point. After that we stopped and got some pizza and went back to the hotel for a little dinner. Pizza in New York is sooo yummy.

The next day Matt had planned for us to go and see the Statue of Liberty first thing. We over slept a little though and ended up running (literally) most of the way there. Once we got there we were able to relax a little until it started raining. Luckily I had brought one of those little umbrellas you can fit in your purse, it was just enough to barely cover us. The Statue of Liberty was awesome, one of those things you have to see in person to really appreciate. After that we went and toured Ellis Island, also a really neat place to visit. After that we headed back to Manhattan and walked around a ton, in the pouring rain. We went to TKTS to buy tickets to a Broadway show and then we walked down Wall Street. We went to the Museum of Finance and Matt thought that was neat (It was dry so I didn’t mind either). We saw the outside of the US Stock Exchange as well as where George Washington was inaugurated. Then we toured a church that was in the movie National Treasure and saw the grave of Alexander Hamilton. After that we toured another church that was close to the World Trade Center and had a lot of memorabilia and displays about 9/11. We had just enough time after that to head back to the hotel and change our clothes and head to Times Square for some dinner and a Broadway show. We got tickets for Chicago and it was awesome – definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. After that we walked around Times Square for a while before heading back to the hotel.

View from our hotel:

Sunday we slept in, we were on vacation after all. The rain had cleared up so we headed over the Central Park and walked around for a bit. On the way there we walked past the place where John Lennon was shot. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. That place is amazing, and HUGE! We didn’t even see all of it, there was just too much. We then headed over to see the Empire State Building. We didn’t go inside, just more walked past it. After that we headed to China Town and then to Little Italy where we had dinner in the cutest little restaurant. I would love to go back, the food was amazing. Then we headed back to the hotel and we started getting all of my things packed and ready to go. It was a fast trip and felt like it went by in the blink of an eye, but I’m so glad I was able to go.

We walked past the World Trade Center site everyday, it was around the corner from our hotel.

The next weekend Matt’s Dad and his wife were able to go out and spend some time with Matt. They ended up going to Palmyra and touring the Sacred Grove. They took a lot of great pictures. I wish I could have gone, but maybe next time.

We really missed Matt while he was gone, but we managed to still have some fun. The boys loved playing in all of the rain we got during June. We spent a lot of time with Aunt Shelly who mostly helped us make lots of messes and taught us the joys of indoor water fights. Carter managed to give hiself a black eye by running full speed right into the corner of our bed - when will they learn to watch where they are going? Grandpa Speirs spent some time with the boys and as an added bonus mowed my lawn.

Everything ran pretty smoothly while Matt was gone. And just when I thought we were going to have the whole month go by without any major incidents Carter came up to me with a panicked look on his face and announced that he had ‘swallowed money.’ Geez. I thought we were past that phase with our kids. I didn’t really know what to do in the situation so I called my pedi’s office for some advice, knowing full well that they would tell me to go to Primary’s, which they did. Even though I didn’t really feel too concerned or worried about it, once they told me there was the possibility that it could be stuck in his airway somewhere I couldn’t take any chances. I dropped Spencer off at my mom’s and on July 1, the night before Matt was coming home, Carter and I took a trip to the ER. After a quick x-ray showing that the ‘money’ was in his stomach and there was no immediate danger and a Batman sticker we were on our way home. Matt arrived the next afternoon and we were all so excited to have him home!