Big Apple Anniversary/Part 1/The Museum Tour

Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a kid less trip to New York City. And what better way to celebrate never ending love than with an near-endless parade of museums! Hey, don't knock it. It's my love language.

Day 1 began with The Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side. This building was condemned in 1935 but never torn down. And there it sat for decades as a time capsule. This is the BEST museum in NYC if you want a real taste of the city. You literally get to step into the lives of immigrants and see how they lived and follow real life stories. The two families we followed lead right up to real people living in New york today. As we walked the stairs we touched the banister that about 7,000 immigrants used between the 1800's and 1935. But the side effect of such amazing stories of triumph is that you will leave there feeling like your own generation is a bunch of whiny, spoiled wimps! Hard times are not when you are unable to buy the newest iPhone!

Later that day we ended up at Francis Tavern in the Financial District. You may ask how a colonial building from the 1700's survived amongst the skyscrapers shinning of modern prosperity in the financial district? Well, George Washington took his men here for a celebratory meal at the end of the Revolutionary War. In a city that has been remade and torn down for bigger and better time and time again, only I would search out for the oldest and smallest! They are still serving food and there is a museum inside.

Day 2 sent us WAY up to 191st street! Tyron Park is beautiful in the springtime. And nestled in the back sits a hidden Manhattan gem, The Cloisters.

This museum incorporated recovered architectual pieces from the middle ages into it's building. Although they are all well labeled, the conglomerate is really seamless and you feel transported to Europe all for a $2.10, 20 minute subway ride.

Religious art reigned here with several pieces of architechture from cathedrals (1500's-1600's). Even the windows were stained glass from ruins.

And then there were the infamous medival unicorn tapestries. If your kids read the Magic Treehouse books. This is THE ONE!

Day 3 we hit the Metropolotan Museum of Art which is bigger than my neighborhood. There is so much more museum to the left of this picture that I could not fit in the screen. I suppose this is about half the museum. And no, we did not see it all. That might have prevented an 11th anniversary.

We hit the Greek and Roman art since we've had a lot of that time peroid around our house this year. Here is old Cesear himself.

And we couldn't pass up Ancient Egypt. Here is Queeh Hatsheput (she is the only woman who got to be Pharoah!). She is a favorite of ours.

Next up: Part 2/Food Tour

P.S. My spell check seems to be stuck or not working at this time. I'm sure there are a few things wrong in this post but I am kind of over it at this point so you will just have to live with it! :)

Cliff Jumping Is a Viable Hobby

Sometimes you just need to jump off a cliff. How bad could it be? Some even say it's a thrill of a lifetime.

When I look back at my life there are a few cliffs I wish I would have jumped off. In college I wish I had taken the time to go work at Walt Disney World for a summer. Instead I took heavy loads of classes as a summer pastime. Disney World does have a college internship program and I seem to have genetic material in place that makes me immune to the song, "It's a Small World." Seriously, I can listen to that song over and over again without losing my mind. Clearly I missed my calling. But still I did not take the time to explore the opportunity.

Another wild seed I never did sew was in college degrees. My love of literature and history made me consider these as options for majors in college. But since I had no desire to be a school teacher it didn't seem practical. Yuck. I have a bit of disdain for the word, "practical." Because all too often I am more practical than I want to be. I fear it's a side effect of trying to be wise. In hind sight I could have taken the time to minor in one of these subjects but I was too goal oriented on my career path to see this as a viable option.

I could go on about missed opportunities but instead I'll pause here to carpe diem and jump off this cliff before it too passes me by. You see we absolutely love the school Savannah attends. It's one of those situations where you walk in the door, meet the people and think, "This is home." As far as schools go, that is a rare find. But this voice inside me (AKA, God) began to whisper notions of homeschooling this past January. I thought this voice to be a bit of a jokester at first since we are content where we are. What would be the point of leaving?

But as Mark and I began to talk about it, many reasons came to light as to why it would be wise to take this year off and home school (hey, maybe it can be wise to jump off a cliff!). And finally we got a deep-felt peace about homeschooling next year and dare I say...even excited about it? What it all came down to was this question, "Twenty years from now would I regret taking her out of a wonderful school for a year? Or would I regret not taking a year off for us to journey together through learning and spending time together with each other and extended family?" The hardest decisions are when you have to wonderful choices to choose from.

Casting off fear of failure and knowledge of being within God's will we are leaping off a cliff with joy into the adventure of homeschooling for 1 year!

P.S. I have no idea what's going to happen next. And that's ok.