Welcome to New York!

Natalie pressed the play button on her iPod as soon as we crossed the state line. For most of us, our excitement came bursting out as we bopped to the beat and sang along with Taylor Swift, 

"Welcome to New York

It's been waiting for you

Welcome to New York"

Caleb was less than enthused.  His disdain for Taylor Swift overpowered all joy of arriving at this much anticipated part of our adventure.

Alyssa would tell you she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment.  Visiting New York was at the tippy top of her life's wish list and now she was finally here!  Not quite to the city yet, but it was so close she could taste it.  Giddiness all around.

But before going into the city, we had some very special business to take part in.  Cousin Anna recently turned 8.  We arrived at their Harrison, NY home just in time to see her slip into her beautiful white baptism dress.  I dolled up her hair in the perfect style for the occasion.  

Grandma and Grandpa Seely, Uncle Chad and Aunt Amy had arrived a couple of days prior. Nearly every member of our family got to participate in Anna's baptism in one way or another.  It was a really beautiful program.

Erin provided a very yummy reception for all of the baptism guests and then it was time for all of us to head into Manhattan.  We had a rental car to return, but the rest of our extended family rode the train into Grand Central Station.

Jon maneuvered his way through the maze of New York City and dropped the kids, myself and our luggage at our home for the week: Radio City Apartments.

Our most perfect NYC accommodations were an exceptionally generous family reunion gift from my parents.  

The hotel is old--built in 1910--but beautifully renovated to have all the modern conveniences juxtaposed with original features like the old-fashioned mail box that has a letter shoot running up all 12 floors.  

The girls, Jon and I got to share a penthouse suite.  I've been in other NY hotels with rooms scarcely big enough to walk around the bed.  This was wonderfully spacious!

The long hallway from the bedroom had a bank of windows on one side.

We even had a lovely little kitchen:

The stairwell was beautiful but scared me to death!  In the picture below, you can see Caleb waiting for the elevator (which is not seen, but directly to his right), with a much-too-short railing on his left. The space between the elevator and railing was very narrow.  One wrong move, trip, slip or goof-off could easily send one on a thirteen-story downward tumble.  We gave all the kids strict instructions on how to behave while waiting for the elevator.

The walkway surrounding our suite also had a fairly short railing in some places.  But look at these faces, especially Alyssa.  That's the face of a girl whose dream of coming to NYC has just come true!

Once Jon arrived from returning the rental car, which was just a couple blocks away, we all set out for Grand Central Station to meet the rest of the family arriving from Harrison.

GCT is just as its name suggests: grand!  

While the men bought all of our subway passes for the week, the girls were bonding over hand-clapping games.  It would become a sort of waiting-for-the-subway ritual during the week.

Cousin Clara decided right away that Alyssa was her best pal and Lys was really great with what she would come to affectionately call her new "appendage."  Nat and Anna went together like peas and carrots.

We were now a crazy crew of 13, some of us pulling suitcases, walking the streets of Manhattan toward our hotel.  We passed Rockefeller Center on our way.

The plaza was surrounded in American flags in celebration of Independence Day.  By the next morning, they would all be changed back to the usual state flags.

Once we arrived back at the hotel and got everyone settled in, several of us met in the lobby to walk to a nearby grocery store to stock up on snacks and breakfast items for the week.  The elevators in the hotel must be originals because they were very slow, stuffy and cramped.  When Jon and I emerged from the compact elevator with a number of other hotel guests, Amy--who was sitting in the lobby--remarked that we looked liked were getting out of a clown car.

Clown car!  That's it!  It became our mantra (and hashtag) for the week. We were one crazy family--and probably looked like a circus--making our way through the largest city in the US.

Sorta like this:

We weren't short at all.  We had just the right amout of clowns.  And let me tell you, it was one ultra fun, spectacular circus!  It would turn out to be everything Alyssa--and any of us, really--had ever dreamed of!

Birthplace of America

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA.

We left DC early in the morning and planned to arrive in New York by late afternoon, but with a short stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  

Our trip had started with seeing the Musical, 1776.  We saw the original Declaration of Independence the next day at the National Archives.  And now, at Independence Hall, it was time to see where that document had been signed.

The assembly room where congress discussed, debated mightily and ultimately formed a new nation.

This piece is the only original wood work in the room.

George Washington sat in this very chair, "The Rising Sun Chair." Benjamin Franklin said he often sat in congress, looking at the sun on the back of the chair,  and couldn't tell if it was a rising or setting sun.  But as the constitution was being signed, he said he had "great happiness to know it was a rising and not a setting sun."

This is the house where Thomas Jefferson was living at the time he wrote the Declaration of Independence:

Carpenters' Hall, located right near Independence Hall, was the site of the First Continental Congress:

We saw the Liberty Bell, too.

Our Founding Fathers signed that Declaration knowing full well that doing so might lead them to the gallows for committing treason.

Later, George Washington called the drafting of the US Constitution, "little short of a miracle."

Both of these historic, miraculous, even divinely inspired events took place here.  It was sure neat to see it.

Our short three hour stop in Philly had come to an end.

New York, here we come!

A Capitol Fourth

Watching Fourth of July fireworks on the National Mall is a bucket list sort of thing for some people. It sounded like an adventure to us too, but one we didn't end up checking off.

We'd been watching news reports all week that predicted terrorist attacks somewhere in the US on the Fourth of July.  Just the night before, I heard a man on CNN say, "I won't be at all surprised if come Monday, we are talking about an attack that has taken place over the weekend."  I will admit to feeling a bit uneasy as we left our hotel room on that rainy morning.

In preparing for our DC trip, I contacted our senator to arrange tickets for tours of the US Capitol and the White House.  I submitted the dates we would be in town and then we waited to be given our tour assignment.  Just three weeks before we left on the trip, we were given our tickets by the senator's office. Our tour of the capitol was scheduled for 10:10 on Independence Day.  This wasn't my first choice since I knew it might interfere with some of the other holiday events that were taking place, but you take what you can get. 

We were denied tickets for a White House tour.  (Evidently those are extremely hard to come by and even though I requested them well in advance, we just weren't among the lucky ones.)

After the tour, when the rain had cleared.

The scaffolding surrounding the capitol's rotunda was a disappointing eyesore.  Some time ago, it was discovered that there were numerous cracks that were in dire need of repair.  We learned that this project has been, and will continue to be, going on for quite some time.  

The capitol tour is short, but well done.  It begins with an orientation film and then the group is split up among a number of guides.  Since multiple tours are conducted simultaneously, each person is given a headset, which makes it very easy to hear your assigned guide.

The "donut"--as it has been affectionately named by those who work in the building--on the ceiling, evidently protects visitors from falling debris while repairs are being made.

The Apotheosis of Washington, painted on the ceiling and symbolizing our first president having achieved the status of a god, can still be seen peeking through the donut's center.

Each state is allowed to contribute two statues of people who are considered valuable to their history.

We're from Washington state, but we were obviously fond of Utah's tribute to Brigham Young:

This statue, Statue of Freedom, is an exact-size replica of what is the crowning feature of the capitol's dome:

We enjoyed our tour.  After a brief look through the gift shop, we started to walk toward the same doors through which we had entered--where there had been airport-like security.  We were stopped from exiting, however, by a rather large group of police officers who were forming a blockade in front of the doors.  We wandered around for about 20 minutes before we were guided to an alternative exit--one tourists don't normally use.  None of the officers or tour guides were exactly forthcoming with answers to my questions.  "Are we safe?" I finally asked.  I was assured that we were, but told that a suspicious package was being investigated.

By this time, the holiday parade had begun several blocks away.  We walked along the staging area and a few blocks along the route, but the crowd had been well established for quite some time and we decided we just didn't have it in us to search for a spot to insert ourselves among the throngs.

Uncle Sam in staging area.

We decided to visit the White House visitor's center since we weren't able to take a tour.  We waited and waited for a bus before we realized that we could walk there faster than if we continued to wait.  

Not the real White House.  Just a model. (Jon's "clever" caption.)

The visitor's center was interesting and Natalie enjoyed being sworn in as a Deputy US Park Ranger. She earned this "honor" by completing a booklet by finding answers to riddles in the museum.

Since our only previous view of the White House had been from a distance, we decided then, to walk about a half a block to get a closer look.  We could see the crowd of tourists ahead, taking their pictures of the President's home and workplace.  We were steps away from getting that view when Secret Service stepped in.

"I'm sorry folks, we are closing down this area. You need to turn around and go the other way."

With that we were ushered away from the White House.

We turned the corner to see this vehicle headed in the direction of the White House:

The drivers didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry and one even waived at us, but we were unnerved.  We'd been turned away by police officers two times in less than two hours.  We didn't feel panicked, but definitely uneasy.  We all agreed it was time to call it a day.  We were done with walking.  Done with crowds.  Done with bomb scares.  So we made our way to the nearest metro station--which was almost another mile!

I did laundry.  The kids and Jon went to the hotel pool.  It was nice to be away from the crowd, but it did feel weird not taking advantage of being in DC on the Fourth.

Because the Nationals had a save the night before, our game tickets were each good for one free Chick-Fil-A sandwich.  Five free chicken sandwiches!  We really love Chick-Fil-A.  It's even better when it's free.

It was raining quite heavily when we left the shopping mall where we cashed in our game tickets for chicken. None of us liked the idea of returning to the National Mall.  Too crowded.  Too wet. Possible bombs.  But we didn't like the idea of completely missing the fireworks either.

When the rain let up, we decided to view the show from a distance.  We hopped on the metro, went to Arlington Park, found a spot on a pedestrian bridge and waited for the fireworks.

The fireworks were far more spectacular than this lame picture, but I'm sure our view was much more lame than being at the National Mall and hearing the Overture of 1812 accompanying the explosions.

So did we really experience DC on the Fourth?  Not really.  We did it all from a distance.  Do I regret it?  Kinda.  Was it still a good holiday?  Yes!