Sunday in New York City

When we lived in Connecticut and Iowa all the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that my kids knew were the ones that we went to church with on Sunday's.  Then we moved to Arizona and there were a few more members.  When we first moved to Utah Hannah would ask me a lot, "are they members of the church?"  My answer was always yes, I didn't always know if they were, but chances are they were, even if they didn't attend church regularly.  It took her awhile to realize that most of the people that we associated with were members of the church.

Part of what I love about traveling is experiencing new cultures and meeting new people.  I love really experiencing the culture of the place I am visiting.    I want my kids, to feel like they can go anywhere and meet great people, navigate a new city, and love the differences.  I also want them to know that wherever they go the church will be there.  There will be people with their same beliefs that will become their instant friends, because they have something in common that they hold very dear, even if that is about the only thing they have in common.  So I decided that since we could I wanted to attend all three hours of church.  They weren't that excited about going so I told them I wanted them to find three things that were the same and three things that were different at church.  It was such a great experience for them.  It was fun for John and I to see a few familiar faces, although most of them were different.  One guy that was a single, Africa-American was still there and was the Sunday School President, which is so great.  Hannah attended Young Women's with a group of three girls.  One of the boys in Caroline's primary class invited her over to play.  Instant friends!

After church we headed over to Central Park, which is only a block from the church which is across the street from Lincoln Center.  We picked up some pizza and had a picnic in the park and talked about our same and different observations.

   

After eating lunch at the park we headed back to the apartment to change clothes and regroup.

Caroline doesn't seem to be making much progress in her conversation with John.  After John's little nap we headed back out the door to visit the hospital where Hannah was born and Columbia University.

Man, where has the time gone.  It seems like just yesterday York Cap was sending a car service to send us home in style from St. Luke's Roosevelt.  I remember being so overwhelmed the first night.  Crying by myself in the room and this nice nurse comforting me.  

The first walk Hannah took was over to Columbia's campus. (Same stroller, lasted 5 kids.)  I remember how careful John was while pushing Hannah over the stone sidewalks.  We loved to take walks across campus on Sunday nights.  We would talk about job interviews and prepare for interviews.  I would ask him situational questions and he would think of experiences to share.  It all paid off because he had multiple offers when he left Columbia.  It started him off on a great foot for his career.  Love Columbia campus and all our memories there!

We ended the day stopping by Westside Market where each of the kids choose something to bring home for dinner.  I love those little swanky markets.  We ended up with blueberries, cherries, corn, baguettes, and cheese for dinner.  It was the perfect dinner to end a great day.