Washington D.C. - Day One

Driving into D.C. was like coming home.  I was a missionary in the D.C. (North) Mission (Spanish Speaking) and then both Geoff and I lived in Northern Virginia after graduating from BYU.  We ran around with the same large group of friends, both of us worked with the youth in a Spanish branch of the church for several years,  eventually we dated, got married (in SLC) and lived our first newly married months in the area before heading to Boston for grad school.  Geoff was helping start up Grameen Foundation while I worked at Georgetown hospital, got a certificate in Corporate Training at Georgetown University, worked in Internet sales at washingtonpost.com, then moved into project management at the same company.  They were rich, active, adventurous, happy and memorable years for both of us.

The first afternoon we drove through the District to get an overview, and admire and remember the architecture, the National Mall (my first of three softball leagues was played there), my old 5-mile, daily, running route, where we used to play roller-blade hockey, and Geoff's old office.  We drove past our old apartment in Pentagon City, through Georgetown's quaint little streets and took a peek at the campus.  It was a delightful drive down Memory Lane.

Georgetown University

We stayed with Geoff's brother Ian and his wife Liz and their kids.  Our girls LOVED playing with these young cousins, and Geoff and I loved seeing their full lives there.  Those first nights Geoff, Ian and the girls had very competitive soccer games in the basement while Liz and I tried to have a conversation amid bangs on the walls and yells of protest and victory.

Philadelphia

We drove from New York to Philadelphia, spent the day, and then drove to Geoff's brother's home in Northern Virginia.  The old Colonial part of Philly is beautiful.  But overall we felt it was/is a missed opportunity.  With its rich past, important characters and significant events the state and/or government and/or managing leadership hasn't caught on how to make it a meaningful experience to visit the sites, especially for children.  The girls were dreadfully bored on the tour of Independence Hall, the visitor center's movie was a snoozer, and the lines to see the liberty bell were long, and out in the cold.  Having been to several places from the same period of history, we felt it a tragedy that they haven't made it more engaging.  Having said that, we dragged our kids through the necessary sites of Philadelphia, ate dinner at the famous City Tavern, wished we had time to stop at Valley Forge and Geoff's dad's childhood home, and drove on.

Independence Hall

This is where freedom all started

Looking at the Liberty Bell through the window instead of standing in line?  Good enough

City Tavern

A sample of Philadelphia's great architecture

New York - Day Three

The girls had a fashion show and art display at the end of their final fashion class.

Ceci's clothing line logo, collage and designs

Tennie's logo and designs

Adele's creations

Hat creations (made of duck tape)

First sewing project - shoulder bags

The following dresses were 100% created by the girls. They are so proud of them and have worn them to church several times since.  All want sewing machines for Christmas...

Back to Grand Central

The rest of our day wasn't so smooth.  We made our way to Battery Park to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island only to find out both were closed due to flooding and electrical damage because of the recent hurricane.  Bummer.

Very hungry at this point we walked to a planned lunch at Fraunce's Tavern.  We had read Pheobe The Spy, a true story about a little African American (free) girl who saved George Washington's life, and who grew up in this tavern, owned by her father.  It was closed due to flooding too.  Actually, all of Wall Street was silent and barren.  So this was one of those moments when traveling and the kids are tired and super hungry and the time bomb is ticking and everything is closed.  

Eventually we found food and finally made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a few hours.  We wished we had more time in that amazing museum...like a week.

Fraunce's Tavern, the oldest building in New York

The Met

We met one of Geoff's YGL friends for dinner, packed up our things, and slept soundly before saying goodbye to NYC.  (What we didn't see or do and wanted to: Belvedere Castle in Central Park, and dessert at Cafe Lalo.)

New York - Day Two

We didn't see too much damage from Hurricane Sandy, but trash pick-up was delayed and their were piles like this occasionally

The subway was always packed as we joined the rush at 8:30AM every morning.  On this particular day, soon after taking this picture, a woman (I think that is her there holding the sunglasses) asked me if my girls were "represented".  I had no idea what she was talking about.  She explained that she was a casting agent and, if we were interested, she would she would like to hook them up with a top New York modeling agency.  She knows what they are looking for and she knew they would love our girls.  She would have to take a few pictures of them at her office that day so we could try to meet with the agencies before we left New York.  The girls were elated.

While the girls were in their fashion class I called Geoff to tell him about it.  After researching this woman's company we decided to take the girls to see her.  We live across the country and figured it wasn't going to work, but do you remember being 10 to 12 years old and feeling beautiful enough to model?  If someone would just discover you?  This was an experience they would remember forever.  So instead of going up the Empire State Building (something the girls were more than willing to give up for their pending modeling career...) Geoff took them to get some pictures taken, and I went and stood in a very long line to get discounted Broadway tickets.

The next day we got an email from our scouting friend who said the agencies loved the girl's look but wanted people who lived in or around New York.  It was just as we anticipated.  And a perfect tween New York experience.

Grand Central Station

Inside Grand Central

Lord & Taylor's holiday windows

Have you heard of New York's Naked Cowboy?  Well we saw him in Times Square that night.  The girls we captivated.  It was COLD.  Adele said, "That looks like Uncle Nate on his Christmas card."  I laughed out loud because it is exactly the kind of thing Uncle Nate would wear on his Christmas card!  As all three stood frozen, staring at him, trying to make sense of him, he turned our way and waved at them.  They were so embarrassed and hid behind me.  Ceci said, "Mom, he's waving at you!"

We saw Annie.  It was incredible!

Meeting Annie after the show

New York - Day One

One of Geoff's YGL friends offered us her apartment in the upper East side of Manhattan (while she was out of town).  It was fun to have the New York-small-apartment experience.  The girls loved having a doorman and elevator.

We were in New York three days, and unfortunately Geoff was sick those days.  He ventured out with us a few times, but for the most part he stayed home in bed while the girls and I explored the city.  I felt very brave.

Every morning for three hours the girls were in a private fashion class with Keri at The Fashion Class.  They had so much fun, and looked forward to it every morning.  They learned to sketch the figures and clothing, design a dress, choose the fabric at Mood, measure and cut the fabric and sew their dresses, a bag and make accessories.  They fit a lot in and were so proud of their creations.  Keri worked miracles in such a short period of time.  

In the afternoons we walked around, mostly.  I'll start with Day One.

Grand Central was the station nearest the fashion class.  We took an express line from the stop right by our apartment.

Designing a logo for their clothing line

Mood Fabrics with Keri

Sewing a bag

Times Square by day

Toys R Us in Times Square

American Girl Store (heaven on earth)

Saks 5th Avenue

The Plaza Hotel

FAO Schwartz

Rockefeller Plaza

Last stop was the Anthropologie holiday windows in progress...amazing

To say we were exhausted at the end of this day is an understatement.