Christmas in the Big Apple

Jan and I flew into New York on December 18 and left a week later. Matt got there early on the 19th; Sarah, as most of you know, lives in Brooklyn while she goes to NYU. Our hotel was in Manhattan, near the Empire State Building. It was a great time, the words I use to describe it are "exhilarating" and "exhausting"...we really walked a LOT...and took a LOT of photos.

Day 1 - Dec 18

Two from Macy's

And two from Times Square

Day 2 - Dec 19

Sak's Fifth Avenue

FAO Schwarz

Lego Chewbacca

Central Park in early evening

Day 3 - Dec 20 - We saw Blue Man Group this evening. It was an extremely entertaining show, great fun. But no photos allowed.

It snowed at bit more overnight.
(Taken just outside our hotel.)

American Museum of Natural History

Above and below: Wildabeestes & wildebeestes

Two just outside the museum entrance.

Forlorn figure (Sarah) awaits the train.

Day 4 - Dec 21 - Spent the day in Brooklyn; saw Sarah's apartment, met her cat, ate in a couple of neat restaurants.

Jan and Sarah at vegan Asian restaurant.

Statue of Liberty from the Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan Bridge (from Brooklyn Bridge)

Manhattan

Day 5 - Dec 22

Chinatown

Pic below is "The Bloody Angle," a 90 degree turn
in an alley where Chinese gangs ambushed each
other in the mid 1800s.

In a Buddhist Temple

Little Italy

On the subway.

Stage as we waited for In The Heights (a great show).

Day 6 - Dec 23

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lots of Egyptian stuff

A small part of Arms and Armour exhibit.
(First is armour of Henry II.)

And a lot from Asian cultures....

In an Afghani restaurant (Khyber Pass)

Grand Central Station

Day 7 - Dec 24

Gramercy Park - not open to the public, only to folks
who live in the vicinity or are staying at the GP Hotel; part of
an old agreement with the city (and the last such park in NYC).

Topiary near Tavern on the Green in Central Park

John Lennon Memorial (thank you Yoko)

Cental Park in the day time

Wedding photos in Central Park...how cool is that!?Christmas Eve (almost) atop The Empire State Building.
The dark "V" to the right of center is the flatiron building.

Day 8 - Dec 25 - Back to La Crosse with surprisingly no delays and a long stop in Minneapolis; thankfully Delta had changed our schedule so we didn't go through Detroit as originally planned. What a great trip it was! Back in May when Sarah graduates.

Grimm Family Reunion

The reunion was last weekend (August 15) at the park in Arpin. Good times, good food. Here are a few photos I took.

Kyle and daughter Kylie

Cindy with Kylie, Lorie, Christine, Michelle

Grandpa Reed

Cindy and Kylie

Jay

Michelle and Kylie

Kylie again (how could I not take lots of pics of her??)

Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa

My side of the family

Joyce and Larry's Wedding

Joyce and Larry were married yesterday in Milwaukee (well, Brookfield, a 'burb). Here are a few pictures I took.

Sam and Sarah

Around the table:
Nick, Natalie, Barb

Barb and Dan

Vicki and Yvonne

Linda and Yvonne

Jan and I

Hikin' and Stuff

Here are a few pictures taken from early May through yesterday (June 13).

Mississippi River at Elk River, Minnesota

On a hike in Van Loon Wildlife Area (Seven Bridges Trail)

On the Apple Blossom Scenic Road, looking down on I-90 and La Crosse

Hiking in Hixon Forest
Grand Dad Bluff from the
start of the trail

Our really nice rose bush
at our front door

Shop Talk

Here's the repair shop at SSE Music. There are three of us doing the repairs. My chair is closest to the camera, then Kevin, then Eric.

My messy work bench.

A couple of vises, lots of dent tools on the wall.

Pads, screws, etc., etc....

Threaded rods, expanders, roller burnishers, and a variety of mandrels.

Chem cleaning area. Ya got your detergent, your mild acid (Slime Away), and a stronger acid (Birght Dip, which we very rarely use). Getting a full-sized tuba in and out of those barrels is a challenge, and extremely messy.

Our buffer.

Christmas 2008

The "kids" visited for the holidays. Went to the Rotary Lights display (see previous post), went out to eat a couple of times. Didn't do much, just some together time. Here are a few pics taken during the time they were here.

Christmas morning

Out the back door.

Out the front door (OK, the garage)

Lake Onalaska
Actually the confluence of the Black and Mississippi Rivers.

Hiking on a snowmobile/ski trail along the lake.

Winter break.

Festival of Lights

Every year they have the "Rotary Lights" display at Riverside Park in La Crosse. There are over 2,000,000 lights set up by local civic groups and businesses. People volunteer to work during the weeks of the display, and those who come to view donate canned goods or money for local soup kitchens. Coworkers and Jan and I worked Friday night, December 20. It was around 20 degrees, a very pleasant winter eve. The next night was blizzard conditions with wind chills approaching 30 below (and we we driving back from the Minneapolis airport after wating 9 hours for Sarah's plane to finally arrive from Newark). The display is quite impressive and popular in the community.