This was a fun week for Susan. Her sister just finished up working in South Dakota and came by New Jersey to hang out with her ex-roomie, Kristen, for awhile. So, after church on Sunday Susan drove down to NJ and spent a few days with the girls. We cooked yummy food, played fun games (our cousin taught Claire FLUXX and she taught it to Susan - that is an intense game - you have to keep your wits about you!), and overall just relaxed and hung out. Claire and Kristen went tubing down the river on Saturday and they got sun burnt extremely badly, so our hang out time was punctuated by frequent visits to CVS for more aloe vera. We've always wanted to get a hard-sided suitcase and put flag stickers on it from all of the countries we've been to. For the job in South Dakota, Claire bought such a suitcase so we proceeded to buy a dozen or so flag stickers online to start Claire's collection. Another reason why this is a fun week is because one of our parents celebrates their birthday this week. We couldn't be there in person, but we're happy to celebrate vicariously with them.

Labels: Quick Trip

Whew! What a long week! This week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. Originally, Susan wasn't going to be able to help because she was scheduled to go to the Web Science Research Week at RPI in Troy, NY. Susan was looking forward to connecting with more people interested in similar research, comparing ideas, learning from each other, and just overall being encouraged in our research pursuits. However, that plan ended up not being feasible, so Susan was at home this week instead. She volunteered to work with VBS and was assigned to work with a group of children. By the third day her group included four kindergartners, two first graders, and a fourth grader. Rather than divide the groups up by age, our church mixes different ages together so the older kids can help and be a good example to the younger kids. Unfortunately, Susan's group didn't exactly have any "older" kids - although her 4th grader was a great helper. By the end of the week, Susan was worn out by those four little people and she was reminded once again why she didn't go into Elementary Ed! Kudos to you primary school educators who manage to put up with kids who can't read, don't follow directions, and only listen to you if you tell them to "put on their listening ears" (I don't know about you, but I was born with my listening ears firmly attached to my head!) Who comes up with these things?!

She was thankful that other people were in charge of the snacks (thanks, Janet!), teaching time (great job, Won!), crafts (you rock, Susann!), and games (hurrah, Caleb!) [and, of course, honorable mentions to Skeeter and Miss Skeeter - yes, if you say it fast enough it sounds like "mosquito" with a southern drawl]. We learned some great Bible verses and heard all about the miracles God performed in freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We also learned about passover and how it anticipated the Messiah's death, burial, and resurrection. We are so thankful for Jesus, our Messiah, who lived a perfect life and died the death we deserve for our sins and then rose again demonstrating His victory over death. It's always good to be reminded of that and so, instead of focusing on the exhausting time with a bunch of rug rats, we need to look back on this week of VBS and praise the Lord that many children heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and pray that He would use this week to draw some of them to Himself.

Labels: NY

This summer our pastor started a Preaching Lab for some of the men in the church. Ivan was invited to join and, with about 10 other guys, he met regularly with the pastor learning and practicing sermon preparation. Last night, Ivan had the opportunity to preach at our Wednesday night service. It has been quite awhile since Ivan has preached (unless you count teaching 5th-6th graders at our church in California), so there was a fair amount of nervousness. Ivan took the day off work to finalize his notes and then spent the bulk of the day practicing. His assigned topic was "Bearing One Another's Burdens" (we're doing a "One Another's" series on Wednesday nights) and his main text was Galatians 6:1-6. I must say he did a fabulous job. Sure there were some hiccups (for example, he started out talking far too quietly and there was microphone feedback), but overall it went quite well. I consider a "good" sermon to be one where I learn something new (or am reminded of something that I already know, but need to hear again) and where there's an applicable "call to action" or suggestion for change. I got both of those last night and thus his sermon was a booming success in my opinion. Sitting in the audience I was nervous for Ivan and I'm really in awe of those pastors' wives who sit through their husbands sermons week after week. How do they do it?!

Labels: NY

NY, how do I hate Thee? Let me count the ways...


So, for those of you who follow us on Facebook, you might have noticed that I'm having some trouble sleeping tonight. I blame it entirely on an evil NYS DMV experience.

Let me start from the beginning...

Having decided to abandon our CA residency (which is a long story in and of itself which might get it's own posting some day), we agreed to get NYS driver's licenses and register our vehicles in NY. I spent about 3 hours on Thursday doing research on the NYS DMV website to determine what forms and supporting documents were necessary to bring. It required a few phone calls to DMV and our auto insurance company to get everything in order and on Friday morning we found the closest office to Ivan's work. We rendezvoused around 10am and walked to the Herald Square DMV, arriving between 10:30 and 11am. The first thing we see is a long line at a window marked "Information - Service Tickets". After doing some reconnaissance we were told that everyone had to wait in that line, explain your business, and get a ticket to be serviced. Oh, if only it were that simple. Truly, the only entrance to the DMV office was that roped off line, so we determined that the information we received was reliable.

Instead, we got to the front of that line and we were told that we had to go to a different, even longer line to get our photos taken for our driver's license and then they would give us service numbers to actually get our licenses and change our vehicle registration.

After an hour, we made it to the front of that line only to learn that there was a different "shorter" line to get the photos we needed. We did manage to get a service number for the car registration issue. Indeed, the other line was shorter - no one was in it - but there was also no one servicing that line. We asked a few people and finally after about 5 minutes someone came to help us. He looked over our paperwork and determined that the documents we brought to prove our NYS residency were inadequate because half of them had "FL 3" as part of the address and half didn't. The half that did, would have been enough to prove our residency, but neither had both of our names on it. The half that didn't were supposed to have been enough to prove our residency, but the person at the window said he couldn't accept them since they were issued by the same company. Nowhere on the website did it say that there was a restriction about bringing documents issued by different companies. We then tried explaining that we rent the top floor in a house and we get our mail whether it has the "FL 3" or not, but he wouldn't budge. He did, however, give us a service number to talk to his supervisor. So we waited some more.

The supervisor echoed the same things the first guy said, but consented to walk over with us to discuss the issue with the first guy. We had to wait some more, since the first guy was helping someone else. Eventually they relented and they approved our residency documents. Then we had to wait in line to get our photo taken. Then we had to wait in line to get a service ticket. Then we had to wait for our numbers to be called. So we had three numbers: one of each of our licenses and one for the vehicle registration. By now, we've had the number for the vehicle registration for over an hour and they still hadn't called it. Eventually they called the number for our vehicle registration. Ivan kept watching the "big board" for our other numbers to appear, but then they needed both of us in order for them to process the vehicle registration since both of our names are on the title (although, one of my questions over the phone to the DMV the prior day was precisely this and they said I could do it without Ivan's presence). Meanwhile, Ivan's number was called, so he left. It didn't matter anyways, because the special insurance card that I had requested from our auto insurance company didn't have both of our names on it, so they couldn't process it anyways. Blech.

As that was being explained to me my number for my license was called so I collected my documents and went to the next window. Finally, something was being processed. Although I had filled out a special application to get the enhanced driver's license, the guy helping me assumed that I was getting the regular license, but thankfully asked before completing the transaction. When Ivan was done with his license we double-checked what type of license they gave him and found they had done a regular one instead of the enhanced, so he had to go back and have the transaction reversed and process a new one.

Eventually, 4 1/2 hrs later, we left the DMV having only accomplished 67% of what we went there for. And they aren't open on Saturdays, so we have to go back next week with Ivan taking more time off work, to get the registration straightened out.

Labels: NY

The 4th of July. What a great day for picnics, parades, and fireworks. Well, does one out of three count? Which of the three did we get? Fireworks!! And where, do you ask? The National Mall in Washington, D.C.!! Although we technically lived in DC last 4th of July, that was the day Susan's dad and his friend, Peter, rolled into town with the UHaul to take all of our stuff to NY. In the interest of beating traffic, we left DC around 3pm, made it to Claire's house in NJ (she was gone camping with friends, so good thing Dad had a key). And on the 5th we made it to NY and unloaded all our stuff. That means no fantastic 4th of July show last year and we wanted to get a chance to see the celebration in the nation's capital while we're still living on the LEast Coast (no, that's not a typo - that's intentional... as opposed to the BEST Coast AKA West Coast - at least if you believe my sister...)

So, our holiday weekend began a bit early as Ivan got Thursday and Friday off. Thursday morning we got ready for the trip and drove down to NJ to pick up our friend Kristen. We spent the night at her house and headed for DC around noonish. Traffic was significantly better than we had expected, so we took a detour through Annapolis. We had never been there before, so we went to the Capitol building and walked to the pier. It's a quaint little tourist town. If we had more time we would have liked to visit the Naval Academy, but that will have to wait for another trip.

We stayed with friends from our church down there and had a nice time visiting with them in the evening. On Saturday, we packed some PBJs and water and headed downtown with the purpose of seeing the parade and going paddleboating (or peddleboating, if you prefer) on the Tidal Basin. "But I thought you said you didn't see a parade?" you ask in confusion. Quite right. Although technically we did see the last float of the parade. Twice.

It took longer than we expected to get going in the morning (hey, we were on vacation - prime time to sleep in!), so we didn't get to downtown until about an hour after the parade started. We decided paddleboating was more important than the parade and thought we still might have time to catch part of the parade after we were done. While walking to the Tidal Basin, we passed the starting point for the parade and there were the Hare Krishna's congratulating our country on it's birthday. Or at least that's what the float said. (Here's a photo of the float - the words were on the back).

We made it to the Tidal Basin and rented a 4-seater (although only two can peddle at a time). We got some nice photos of the Jefferson Memorial and enjoyed the sunny, while not too hot weather. We ate some sandwiches, reminisced about many of the important lessons Ivan and I have learned during our marriage, and talked to Kristen about life in general. It was a great time. Eventually we got tired of peddling and we returned to the dock. It felt like forever, but was really just over an hour later.

We then headed to the Old Postal Tower to get a nice view of the city. Our path took us across the parade route and what did we see but the last float bouncing along (yes, the Hare Krishna float again). So I don't think that counts as having actually watched the parade. When we made it to the Postal Tower there was quite a line, but it moved quickly and we enjoyed a brief look at the skyline and the crowds below. We were somewhat surprised that there wasn't more decorating done to commemorate the occasion and apart from the crowds (and the garbage left behind) it could have been your average Saturday in DC.

We went back to our friends' house to cool off and recuperate before heading back to the National Mall for the evening fireworks display. The show was set for around 9:30pm and we got there about 2 hours in advance. We had prepared ourselves for the prospect of standing room only on the Mall, but brought a blanket to sit on just in case we found a square of grass. Surprisingly, although it was crowded, it wasn't as bad as we had expected. Not knowing the best place from which to watch the show, we approached the Washington Monument from the East and got a front row seat along Independence Ave. There was a tree blocking the bottom two-thirds of the monument, but from what we read on the internet the fireworks would be exploding above the monument, so we figured we would be all right. Well, you know what they say: "Don't believe everything you read." Sure enough, that lone tree was blocking 95% of the show, so we (along with a hundred other people sitting in the same vicinity) quickly jumped to our feet and skedaddled to a spot on the sidewalk with an unobstructed view. It wasn't too bad standing for the show, but now we know that the fireworks actually explode on the north west side of the monument and you're better off approaching the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial side than the Capitol side.

Apart from a strange malfunction to the screen on our camera, we enjoyed the show and got a few photos and a video to boot. Perhaps I'll post some of them when I get them on my computer.

One of the benefits of vacating our spot on the ground and heading for the sidewalk was that we were about 200 people closer to the metro and we didn't have to waste time gathering our belongings after the show. Instead, we high-tailed it out of there and made it to the Federal Triangle station with the first thousand people. The station was a madhouse, but the federal employees did a remarkable job at keeping everything running smoothly. We had opted for the Federal Triangle station over the Smithsonian station because for the direction we were headed we thought the metro cars would fill up before even getting to the Smithsonian. However, the Metro employees were on the ball and sent completely empty trains to the Smithsonian station every now and again to keep things moving.

We had prepared ourselves for an hour long wait for a train, but it was really more like 20 minutes. Once on the train, us gals had a seat the whole way while Ivan gave his up to an older woman (like the gentleman that he is). Once the train left DC and ran above ground, we could see some of the locals making their own fireworks displays (highly illegal in LA county, but apparently not so in MD). We had a few scares as the train stopped on the tracks waiting for the platform to clear and some locals seemingly intentionally aimed their bottle rockets in our direction. We thought we were in for a direct hit, but there were just a few near-misses, instead.

On Sunday we got an early start back home (we were planning on staying for church, but since Kristen and Ivan had to be back at work on Monday we didn't want to risk the afternoon traffic). It started out as smooth sailing, but we were glad we left when we did because by the end things were quite congested.

And now we can say we saw 4th of July fireworks in our nation's capital. And it was so worth it :)

Labels: NY, Quick Trip