Good Morning Baby Girl

It was early when I first heard her.  Tim was trying to keep her quiet so that I could sleep, but I had had a great nights sleep and I was ready to spend some time with my niece.  I think I went to their room around 6:45 and asked if I could take her so they could sleep.

Lina and I hung out while her Mommy and Daddy slept in.  One of my favorite places to stand was at their living room window.  I loved to look at the apartments across the street and down at the river walkway.  I would stare at the Freedom Tower.  But my first morning a thick fog had moved in.  You could hardly see the Freedom Tower and had it not been for it's lights, I don't think you would see it at all.  Can you see it in this picture?  All you can see is it's bright white lights peeking in between the other two buildings.

Here is what the view looks like without fog!

picture courtesy of tvd photography

I took some early morning pictures of Lina... I still haven't taken my big camera out, so this is all with my phone.  Don't worry my big camera does make an appearance later on in the day... Tim took me on a walking tour of lower Manhattan and I looked like the paparazzi or at the very least a tourist that is a little over the top.

An Evening in New Jersey

January 10, 2014 was a day of lots of firsts.

You all know about all the firsts with flying and going on my first solo vacation,  and the first time I had met Lina and held her.  This day was the first time Lina left the Island and travel to a different state.  First time I ever slept while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge (every good Van Dyk sleeps while traveling... the early morning killed me).  Lina and I met some of our cousins on the Van Dyk side of the family for the first time as well.

When I figured out the dates I was going to go to New York, I asked Tim if we could make a trip to New Jersey to see Kevin and Liz.  Kevin is my 1st cousin on my Dad's side of the family.  I also wanted to meet their children especially little Sofie.

Sofie was the baby who has a heart condition that caused Kevin and Liz to go to California for her birth and first open heart surgeries.  She is not much of a baby anymore... Here she is with her Daddy.  She is a "mini-me" of Kevin.  If you were to look at their baby pictures side by side you wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

Aunt Carol (Kevin's Mom) came and brought my cousin Arlene's two boys, Nick and Zac.  The last time I saw them they were boys, now they are at the brink of becoming young men!  I couldn't believe how big they were.  It was so nice to see my Aunt Carol and spend some time talking with her (she gave me a well deserved scolding over not blogging more often).

Towards the end of the night Greta (Kevin and Liz's middle daughter) got a little tired, Tim was holding her and she fell asleep on his shoulder.  It was so sweet!

I am so bummed I didn't take my camera with me for this visit.  All I had was my phone that was just about dead... So these are the only two pictures I took.  You would think that I would learn my lesson.  I always feel so self conscious hauling out my big camera and then later regret not taking more pictures!

They Flew Away Today

Today was the day the girls flew back home to the waiting arms of Tim.  We had one last visit this morning to play with Lina and hug her and Melissa good-bye.

It's so hard to say good-bye, we miss them so much!  Next time we get to see them, Lina will be sitting by herself and eating all kinds of wonderful foods!  She might have some teeth and she might even be figuring out how to crawl.  So much will happen in the next 2.5 months!  I love that at least we can facetime to keep up on all the happenings in New York and there are always text messages flying back and forth from New York to Michigan.

Just to have it documented.... It was on this trip that my brother taught my children how to play Poker!  HaHa!!

We Love You and miss you already!!

Busy Special Time

I know a week has gone by and I haven't updated, but we have been very busy spending our time with this special family...

How cute are they!!???!!!  We have been loving every minute we have had with them.  The kids wake up every day asking if we can get together with them.  The kids counted down the days until they arrived and then they counted down the days until Uncle Timmy had to leave and now they are counting down the days until Aunt Melissa and Lina have to go home. That will be a sad day, but then the countdown will start back up for their next visit in a couple months!!

Stay tuned for more from my NY trip!

Today is THE Day!

I was informed today, by two very special people, that everyday they wonder if "today is the day" that I will post about New York and share the pictures of that trip on my blog.  I know I am not done writing about our UP trip and trust me I have lots more to share.  But it's getting put on hold because when you ask... you shall receive.  So Today is THE Day!!  Enjoy!!

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My nerves were just a-flyin... It had been 15 years since I was on a plane... pre 9/11.  Last time I had flown alone I was 18 yrs old.  I was leaving my whole family for the first time ever.  I was landing in a city that I had not been to in 18 yrs.  I was meeting my niece for the first time...

The night before I took off, I was packing like a mad women.  Kevin was making fun of me, I was worried I was going to forget something.  I was worried that I was going to over sleep (which I ended up doing).  I was worried that I didn't have our house in order, school schedules worked out, dinner options ready... the list went on and on. I headed for bed praying that I would sleep.

My flight was early, I had to be to the airport at 5am.  I woke up at 4:20am.  For those that know me, I take a little while to get ready in the mornings.  I was planning on waking up at 3:40... so I was really on a time crunch.

Kevin woke all the kids up and got them ready to take me to the airport.  I was crying before I even left the house.  Kissing all of my children goodbye was hard.  Having Kevin wrap his arms around me, kissing me, and telling me he loved me and to have a good time was heart twisting.  I walked away from my family crying.

People probably thought I was a blubbering crazy women.  I asked 4 different people where I had to go  to check in and check my luggage.  After finally figuring it all out, I headed in the direction of security.

After going through security I waited all of maybe 5 minutes before I was boarding the plane.  I was shaking and shivering, my heart was beating fast.  I was telling myself that people fly everyday, that I would be fine.  My phone was kind of my lifeline.  I was texting Kevin and Toni until the final second before takeoff.

I had forgotten the feeling of takeoff and how I love it.  I had forgotten the feeling of going higher and higher.  The darkness that surrounds the plane, that makes you feel so secluded.  The sounds of the air blowing out of the little vents in the ceiling.  Then as we flew east, closer and closer to the sunrise, the beautiful colors of the morning sky.

It was a smooth flight.  It was so cool to descend through the clouds and then BAM, there is the city flying by beneath us.

I was 16 years old the first time I landed at LaGuardia and here I was 21 years later landing there again on an adventure I will never forget. Can you read the words in the picture... Welcome To New York!

I know I am sappy, I know that I cry easily, but after we landed I turned my phone on and the first text I saw was from Tim... "I'm here."  The tears started to flow.  He had gotten "off" of work, borrowed a car and was parked out front waiting for me.

I walked out of the airport with my luggage, and there he was, waiting to help me load it up, give me a big hug, and then off we went.

It was kind of a yucky day, foggy, sleet/rain.  But it wasn't snowing, and there was no snow on the ground, so I was loving it!

This was my first sighting of the Freedom Tower.  It would become like my northern star during my stay.  It was the focal point that I used to find my way around the city.  It was my night-light at night.  I went to sleep looking at it and it was one of the first things I saw every morning.  I even listened to it make it's eerie whistle during high winds.

We made it to Tim and Melissa's building.  I was introduced to the doorman, the front desk guy and then up to the 22 floor we went.  Omar greeted us with lots of barking and jumping up and down.  Melissa was in the bedroom sitting in the rocking chair holding the most beautiful brown-eyed baby girl in her arms.

Melissa handed her little blessing over to me and I could not stop staring at her.  It was love at first sight. She melted my heart with her big brown eyes and her chubby cheeks.  Not long after I had her in my arms she fell asleep, so I laid her down and took this picture.

It was early afternoon the first time I got to feed her a bottle.  We just gazed at each other.  She was probably trying to figure out who this new lady was and I was mesmerized by her angelic face.

Then she fell asleep again...

More to come...

A Short Walk Down Memory Lane and Castle Rock

Last night was a trip down memory lane.  There is a little known delicacy that you can only get in New Jersey, unless you get it in Florida (that was shipped from New Jersey).

Taylor Ham... Now most of you have no idea what that is.  My best description is a toss between bacon and ham.  I fried some up last night and it transported me back to my childhood and hot summer days with the smell of Taylor Ham frying in my Grandma's kitchen.  I made Jilli bend over the fry pan to smell it.  Then the first bite into my Taylor Ham sandwich... it's was heavenly.  Kevin made fun of me because I closed my eyes and slowly bit into deliciousness.  Few things take me back like that...

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It was a bright blue sky day, the wind was blowing and the waves were about 3-5 feet on the shores of Lake Superior.  We were visiting Castle Rock (Pictured Rocks).  We were up at the top looking across at the rock formation.  Then down below we saw a group of boys climbing down the rock cliff to the water.  There is no beach where they were at, it's  just rock that the water crashes into.  Then all of a sudden one of the boys from the group jumped into the water.

Crazy.. Stupid.. Idiot, were three words that popped into my head.  What they were doing was 1. Illegal and 2. Dangerous- good way to kill yourself.  There was a young boy with them as well.  These boys thought they were being funny, they were waving at the people watching.  Then this short women came running up to the railing and started yelling at them to get out.  It was there mother.

Thankfully, they didn't get hurt, but not so thankfully the rangers were dealing with some bigger problems and weren't able to write them a ticket that day.  In case you have never been to Castle Rock, for the boys to get to where they were, they had to climb over fences and pass by lots of no trespassing signs to get down to the water.  Later we discovered that this family was camping at the same campground we were.

Here are a couple pictures that were taken at Castle Rock.  None of them really show the Rock formation, but they were just moments that we had there.

Why is Kevin's smile bigger in his picture with Andy than his picture with me???

Girls sitting and talking.

One more of Jilli and me.

Blessings!!