Yay for Family!

This last weekend, November 12-14, Brian's parents were able to come and visit us. It was so great to have them here. We had so much fun that Brian and I wish they could have stayed longer. They got here on Friday morning. Brian had to work, so the three of us went into Manhattan and met him for lunch. We had a delicious lunch at a nearby deli and then walked to Madison Park until Brian needed to go back. When lunch was over, Brian was able to take us into his office and show us around. It is a really neat place. He has his own little space on the workbench in the lab. He has two computers that he gets to use. Most of his day is spent there in the lab, testing laptops and writing reviews and such. We got to meet some of his co-workers, including Dan Costa the #2 man in the company. He said that they were glad that they snatched Brian up before someone else could get him. He had really great things to say about Brian, which made us all super proud of him. We eventually left so Brian could get back to work and we went to the Empire State Building. This time there was no line at all and we made it up to the top in good time. On the way up there was someone dressed as King Kong taking pictures with the tourists. Kris and I took a picture with him. Why not? I need to get a copy of that. The view from the top was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and I got better pictures in the daylight than at night. Also you can tell what everything is.

You can kind of see central park. Brian and I haven't been there since the leaves have changed colors. You can tell that it is all gorgeous with the fall colors. We need to make it over there before all the leaves drop.

Chrysler Building, which is my favorite building in New York. I just love the look of it. It is even more awesome at night.

We also saw a tiny little ice-skating rink. I figured out that this one is in Bryant Park which is next door to the New York Public Library.

One of my favorite buildings in New York is the Flatiron building. I love the triangle shape of it. The park in front of it is Madison Square park and is where Brian sometimes eats lunch during the work week.

South Manhattan. That is where the Financial District is and where the World Trade Centers used to be.

This is the west view. That is the Hudson River and across that is New Jersey. Penn Station is the round building that you can see peeking out behind the building in front of it which is Madison Square Gardens.

Looking to the very top of the Empire State Building from the 86th floor.

This picture is looking out towards Queens, where we live. We are somewhere to the left and way past the big tall building in the center. I'll need a better camera to get a picture of our apartment building. ;)

This is another picture of the city, but it has Brian's building in it. The really tall building with the gold top is the New York Life Insurance building. In front of that building, at the base is Brian's building. It has the black windows with the gray stripes. That's right, my husband has a job in New York City. Wahoo!!!

After the Empire State Building, we just walked around the city for awhile until Brian got of work. He met us in Times Square and then we headed up to Kyle and Corinne's apartment to spend the evening with them.

Saturday we went to Battery Park. This picture is of Kris, Brian, and Layne waiting in line for tickets to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Layne and Kris hadn't been to Ellis Island yet so we all went. It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear and blue and the sun was shining. We need to have people in town more often. They usually bring the good weather with them.

Layne and Kris on Liberty Island.

Brian and his Mom in front of the city.

These were FDNY boats in the harbor shooting off colored water.

Ellis Island was amazing. Last time we came, we were so tired by the time we got here that we did a quick look through of the bottom floor. There was just a few giant graphs and facts about the immigrants and where they came from and what not. It was okay, but nothing special. This time, we went to the second floor which is the registry room.

I love the flags. It was a great experience to be here where so many people came to be in America. We are very blessed to have been born here and have the comforts that we have today. Many people suffered a lot to come here and enjoy the freedoms that we have. Off to the side of this hall, they have a walk through exhibit. They take you through the process that the immigrants went through when they came here. After having their name and other information recorded they were inspected by a doctor. The doctor would do a quick once over and then write a letter or number on their coats with chalk. This indicated if they needed to be more thoroughly inspected or were okay to go. They had to pass a psych evaluation along with the medical exam. If they were sick they were kept in the infirmary until they healed. Lots of children were kept there because they would come down with the measles and other diseases while on the ships. The family could only go and visit them for short periods each day. Sometimes the children would die from the diseases. There was one quote about someone seeing their little brother for a few minutes one day and then the next time they saw him was under a sheet because he had died. It was so sad.

When the immigrants where being interviewed about job skills and their situations, most of them had to have translators. They said that often times the translators where very soft hearted and would translate the immigrant's answers in a way that would benefit them so they wouldn't be deported. There were so many pictures, videos, and quotes. In some rooms they had peeled back the layers of paint on the sections of the walls and you could see where people had signed their names and drawn pictures. It was really interesting. We had to go to catch the last ferry off the island so we didn't make it through the whole exhibit. I want to go back at some point and see the rest of it.

Back view of the main building at Ellis Island. This is the main building that the immigrants were brought to when they got to the island. This is where they were registered and inspected.

This is my new favorite picture of us. You probably already know that though. It's my profile picture on facebook and you've probably seen it a couple of times on the blog already. It turned out so great. Thanks to Kris for taking it!

This is a view of the Statue of Liberty from Ellis Island.

View of the City in the sunset. It really is an awe inspiring sight.

On the ferry back to Manhattan. The wind was blowing and it was getting cold. Also the waves from the other boats in the harbor were huge when we were docked and trying to get off the boat. We had to hold onto rails the whole way across the ferry to the door so we wouldn't fall over. I was very glad to get back on dry land. I don't know how all those immigrants survived on the ships crossing the Atlantic for months. I don't know if I could have done it.

Lady Liberty in the sunset.

After this we made a quick stop at Prosperity Dumpling in Chinatown and then headed back to our apartment in Queens. We spent the evening visiting and having a blast. They had to fly out Sunday afternoon. :( It has been so nice to have family out here visiting us. So any of you who want to come, let us know when and we will be more than happy to house you in return for some good company!