One more picture

Upon viewing my NYC post, Jeff felt, that in full disclosure of the weekend and its events, we needed to add one more picture.

nyc

This past weekend, Jeff and I were able to take a little trip sans children to New York City. We've been planning this weekend for some time because our very dear friends, Laura and Charlton Wimberly, were planning to do the same. It was actually the Wimberlys idea as they decided to take a weekend away from Houston, and they invited us to join them...for which we were very glad. They are friends of ours from our days in Philadelphia at Tenth Presbyterian and whenever they are on the east coast and in driving distance, we love to meet up with them.

We started the weekend by driving to NJ on Friday evening and staying with our friends Daphyn and Rich Hauck who live in an apartment overlooking Manhattan. The view from their deck is amazing. Unfortunately, my attempt to capture it was hindered by my shivering in the cold. But, hopefully you can get an idea from the picture, anyway. (Rich, if you're viewing this, don't be too mad at me. I know my picture does your view little justice and that you could capture it in a far exceedingly better way, but I had to show off your apartment with whatever evidence I had.)

Saturday, Jeff and I went into the city armed with great ideas for sightseeing and eating from Daphyn and Rich, as well as a few ideas of our own. We met up with the Wimberlys for breakfast. The weather was perfect and it was a great day for walking in the city. All of us had already seen the usual sightseeing spots in NY on previous visits, so we had a great time doing things that were less touristy (if that's possible in nyc) and more catered to our personal interests. We visited the public library and enjoyed the beauty of the building inside and out.
We also had lunch in Soho at a restaurant that Laura had heard about. It was the Chinatown Brasserie and we shared many orders of dumplings and potstickers and a fantastic pot of jasmine green tea.

Speaking of tea, my favorite stop of the day was at McNulty's Tea and Coffee Shop in Greenwich Village. A visit to McNulty's is like a journey into another century. Upon entering the dark little store, you can smell the many aromas of teas and coffees from around the world. There are sacks of coffee and chests of tea stacked and stored all over the shop. The bins, chests, and scales, with which these products are stored and handled, date back to the previous century when the store was originally opened. Every kind of loose leaf tea I could imagine was sold there, as well as tea accessories that I had been searching for.

Saturday night, we split ways with the Wimberlys as they had tickets for a Broadway Show. After checking into our hotel, Jeff and I searched out a Thai restaurant that Daphyn recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed my pad thai.

On Sunday, we were able to visit Redeemer Presbyterian at their Upper East Side service and hear their pastor, Tim Keller, preach. We had been looking forward to visiting and hearing Dr. Keller preach and it was a joy to see a city church thrive and teach the gospel in a difficult urban environment when all common sense seems to say that it shouldn't work.

It was really a fun weekend for Jeff and I. It was good to have some time together just the two of us, to see old friends and have the opportunity to explore a city. Urban exploration is one of our favorite things to do together. A city, any city, holds so much in it and can be enjoyed in so many ways. The kids had a good time with my parents. It was altogether a great weekend.

Egg Hunt 1985

To support previous claims of egg hunting traditions, I thought I would include this photo, as well. It's hard to tell who the winner was that year. Laura, for being only 3 years old, seemed to do pretty well.

(For those of you non-relatives who were fortunate enough to be included over the years, I apologize that there are no photos of you to post. Wendy, I really did want to find the picture of you hunting eggs with us in '97. It might inspire you to make it a Huggard family tradition.)

Egg Hunt 2008

Some of my earliest childhood memories involve hunting eggs around Easter time. This tradition is long standing. It began with my cousin, Julie, and I and continued as Andrew and Laura were added to the family. We four cousins had a lot of fun over the years finding the eggs that our dads cleverly hid in the backyard. And just as we began to reach the age when we might have started to lose interest, my cousin Todd was born. Everyone felt badly for Todd since he was a late birth and most likely would miss out on so many memories that the rest of us had growing up together--and so the Easter egg collecting continued. I ran around the yard looking for eggs in high school...and college, too. By then, the group would change from year to year. College friends who lived far away were invited home for Easter and would join in the fun. Boyfriends and girlfriends changed over the years and would be included in if they were lucky enough to be dating one of us during the Easter season. Jeff and Chris even hunted eggs the Easter before Julie's and my weddings. It was truly a Rhoades family tradition and we had found brave men who were willing to put aside their mature ways and compete to find the most eggs--even if it meant pushing 9 year old Todd out of the way.


But then, Julie and I were both married. Each of us began splitting holidays between our new families and couldn't always make the Easter egg hunt. Todd was growing older and didn't care as much about finding plastic eggs filled with candy and pennies. Sadly, it seemed that a long standing tradition had seen its better day and was now a thing of the past.


Not so! Soon, there after, new children were born into the family and quickly they were hunting eggs as their forefathers had. Today we bear testament to this tradition as it was continued on for another year. Grace, Rylan, Cassidy and Joost all hunted eggs. They carried the egg hunter's torch valiantly, and will be glad to share it with any other cousins that may be born in future years. It was a cold day for a hunt (about 45 degrees), but all eggs were found--including an egg that had NOT been found several years ago. No one wanted to look inside that one. There was plenty of bounty in the rest of the eggs, and the kids ran circles around Aunt Dee's house to prove that sugar is the gift that keeps giving.

Laura's wedding

The past few days have been a flurry of wedding activities as I helped prepare for and participate in my cousin, Laura's, wedding. On Friday, many of my family members and I went to Chambersburg to help decorate the church for the ceremony. Friday evening was the rehearsal and dinner.

Saturday, although it was very rainy and cold, was a lovely wedding day with so many friends and family there to celebrate with Laura and Lowell. I was honored to be a bridesmaid for Laura. Julie, her sister, was the matron of honor. And my sister-in-law, Rachel, was also in the wedding. Todd (Laura's brother) and Chris (Julie's husband) were also able to stand in the wedding and Rylan and Cassidy (Jule and Chris's son and daughter) were adorable as ringbearer and flower girl. (All of us are to the left of Laura in the picture.)

Joost and Grace were in attendance at the wedding, and Grace let out a loud "Amen!" at the end of the service during the benediction when the pastor said amen. We were unsure if she was just agreeing with the union, or was ready to get the service over! The kids were very well behaved during the whole two days of wedding busyness.

I had wanted to be able to show a picture of my entire family so that I could show off my parents and brother, but it did not turn out. Instead, here are a few other shots from the day.

Our handsome little man, Joost.

Aunt Dee and Uncle Frank with Laura.

We wish Laura and Lowell the best as they embark on their life together.

The 1st Signs of Spring...

Today, as the kids and I played outside, enjoying the mild, sunny weather, we spotted our first official flower of the year. We had seen several green stems pushing through the dirt in our flower beds in earlier days, but this was the first to bloom. After admiring it, Joost was quick to pluck it and now it is happily ushering spring to our kitchen. We hope that Mr. Crocus has friends that will follow soon.