The Big Pumpkin

We went to the pumpkin patch this afternoon.  My brother grows pumpkins for competition.  Ken has won for several years and this year it looks like he has some winners again.  After Sunday dinner, we headed over to his place to help him get his pumpkins out of the patch and on the trailer.  He is pictured below cutting the umbilical cord of baby A.

 I don't have exact weights yet but we are guessing they are over 400 pounds each, this guess is based on previous years pumpkins.

 Pumpkins Baby A and Baby B are loaded on the trailer and are going to competition this week.

You may be wondering what Ken wins, well, besides honor and the glory of winning he will receive a large metal pumpkin necklace.  An Olympic medal, of sorts.

 Good luck, Ken!
Edited to add:  One weighed 561 pounds and one weighed in at 494 pounds.
That's a lot of pumpkin pie!

New York City

 We saw a lot in NYC considering we arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Monday afternoon.  We went up the Empire State Building, to the Statue of Liberty, to Ellis Island, on the double decker city bus tour, to Eataly, to the 911 Memorial, we shopped and we ate. 

 On Sunday we walked to Central Park and in Central Park.  It was beautiful with Fall color.  We came back up Fifth Avenue and stopped at St. Patrick Cathedral during their worship service, then ate a diner breakfast before getting ready to go to our Broadway matinee.

 I love urns and saw so many great ones.  I loved this one with the black but wished they had watered the mums as they could have been beautiful.

 New York City's finest were having their muster right on the street.  It made me miss Hubby.

Mary Poppins on Broadway was my favorite part of the trip.  It was so amazing. 

After the show we had a drink at Guy Fieri's place and then met up with Kathi's brother-in-law, Jordan.  He is a New Yorker and doesn't Kathi look like one with her 7 inch heels?  The last time she visited NYC she wore Jesus sandals, but this time she looked the part.

We had a great time with Jordan at the Spice Market.  Lots of laughs and catching up with him.

 We also enjoyed an amazing dinner.

 On Monday morning we went to the taping of the Today Show, it was fun to see in real time and we got on TV.  You may have seen me during the clip of the blogger that makes fun of mom bloggers.  The irony was not lost on me. Haha.

I took some pictures but mainly I let the Snapsister that is my sister take care of the photography so I will share more pictures after she gives me a disc.

New York City was amazing and the time with my Sista Cuzs was really the best part.

The New Yorker

 After arriving at JFK we promptly left NYC for PA.  Then after our time in Pennsylvania we came back to the city.  Ed drove us to our hotel, The New Yorker.  Kathi and I found it online, it had suites and we really wanted to stay in one room.  And it was in Midtown Manhattan, a great location.

From Muhammad Ali to Nikola Tesla, late President John F. Kennedy to Jennifer Hudson, many of the most influential individuals in history - slept here. The property's chief engineer is the unofficial archivist, and his collection of old brochures and photos dating back to 1929 tells a fantastic story of a major piece of New York City history. ~New Yorker 

It had been refurbished fairly recently and was a pretty room.

 I would have taken a better picture of the bathroom but I couldn't fit myself and my camera in at the same time.  A typical tiny New York City bathroom.

 We were on the 26th floor and ended up with an upgrade so we had a dining table for six, a sitting area, a walk in closet, room for a roll a way bed, and a large balcony with a great view of the city and the Hudson River.  Our balcony was the size of two of the ones pictured below.

Since our balcony was so large and had so little furniture we moved the living room furniture outside.  We're classy like that.  The rednecks visit the city...

 The lobby was beautiful, Art Deco style and the hotel had two restaurants, the Tick Tock Diner and Coopers Tavern.  Both were very good, though the diner had the rudest waiter I've ever encountered.

I'm glad we stayed at the New Yorker, it just felt very typical New York and the location was great.  We went to the Empire State Building the first evening and it was within walking distance.  We easily walked to Central Park, Broadway and Times Square.

Ed and Nancy

 Our cousin, Nancy and her husband Ed are the best.  They opened their home and hearts to us.  They met us at JFK and took us to their home in Pennsylvania.  The first morning we were there Nancy hosted a Sip-n-See for us so we could meet all of her friends. I should have taken pictures.

 Nancy's granddaughter, Ava, kept us entertained.  She practiced her spelling words for us.  I was so impressed, Ava is in the second grade, her words included, because, America,  and English.

 A sweet, little smarty pants!

 We enjoyed some great family dinners.  Lissa is in the kitchen helping Nancy prepare dinner.  Nancy's kids, Ronnie and Natasha, and Ed's Mom, Jeanette, Nancy and Lissa's brother Aaron and his girlfriend came for dinner.  Nancy made delicious dinners.

Ed and Nancy have a wonderful family and we had some great times with them.

  

Their family suffered a horrible tragedy. Two of Nancy's children died in car accidents within five months of each other.   Nancy took us to the cemetery to visit Nate and Jannette's graves.  Nancy designed Nate and Jannette's bronze markers.  They are beautiful tributes to her children.  Today, October 9th, is the anniversary of Nate's death.  For me, being able to visit the graves with Nancy was an important part of the trip.  To share her grief, give her hugs, and cry with her, it meant so much to me.  To stand with her and think about her and her family's grief,  to lose two beautiful children so tragically, it took my breath away.

For Nancy and Lissa, life is defined as before the accidents and after the accidents.  

I'm grateful to have shared Nancy's grief.

There, but for the grace of God, go I.  Nancy is living that everyday.

Pennsylvania

 We made it to New York, and promptly left for Pennsylvania.  We got to Ed and Nancy's place and went straight to bed since we'd up since midnight.  We crashed.  

On Wednesday morning we went to the Farmer's Market.  We had the best sausage sandwich ever and a whoopie pie.   We stopped in little villages that have were settled in the 1700s, we drove all over the county and saw the sights, we went antiquing.

We ran into traffic jams.  And it was laundry day on the farm.

 

  After a busy day of sightseeing we  went home and sat by the pool for a glass of wine and some scrap booking.  Smash book time and lots of laughs. 

 Nancy was a little excited about her ashtray.  She instantly knew that it was an image of our Grandpa.

 We had a delicious dinner at the Ed and Nancy's place, and then sat around and visited and laughed.

It should have just ended right there.  Everyone should have just gone to bed.

But no.  Ed and Nancy told us about their fire hall.  It isn't tax funded.  It's fun funded.  We had to go and see for ourselves.  They have a bar in their fire station.  It's called Hooky, as in hooks and ladders.  Oh yes, there is beer, gambling and a pool table and other games.  The gambling is high stakes, it's playing for cakes.  As in twinkies and hohos and ding dongs.  Ed is a member so we used his card and tried not to bring shame to his name.

 Okay, it gets better.

They sell bread!  In the bar!  It the firehouse!  So, if you are sitting at the bar and realize you don't have a thing in the house for breakfast to feed the kids or you don't have bread for the sandwiches for school lunches you can grab some bread or bagels.  No worries, you're golden, grab a loaf of bread at the bar before you head for home.  Oh, and it's a buck a loaf.  So, it's not like you have to spend your beer money on the bread, it's cheap.  And it's all for a good cause.

We had a lot of fun at the Hook.  It's a brilliant, easy way to fund the fire fighters.

Thus concludes day one.  Stay tuned for more.

Scrapping in the City

 For our New York City Sista's trip we decided to make K&Co Smash books.  They have great pages with journaling prompts and each book comes with a glue stick pen on the side.  The idea is that you just randomly smash in whatever you want.  Maps, ticket stubs, brochures get smashed into the book and then we'll add pictures in when we get home.  Jodi and I are bringing the washi tape, Sharpies and embellishments for everyone.  Karen gave me some great NYC stickers.

 I made treat bags for everyone.  I plan to give them their treats at Sea Tac.  I included some things for their Smash books, gum, mints, snacks, candy and ear plugs.  It was fun for me to put these together.

Nancy gets a bigger treat bag including a Smash book, treats from Lynden, photos of our Grandparents and an ashtray.  Uh, that's a weird hostess gift.  She doesn't smoke...  but in the lower left corner there is an image of a man plowing with his draft horses and that is our Grandpa!  The image is from a postcard.  I am always on the lookout for these ashtrays, mugs, plates and postcards at local thrift stores.  

There is also a white Lynden Plowing Match mug with this image that I love to find.

  

Off we go, flight leaves at 7:00 a.m.