Williams Family in Florida: December 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas Vacation - Part 1

This was the first Christmas since we have been married that we spent it with Richard's family. In looking at plane tickets and then the price of gas, we decided to drive to Ellicott City, MD. When it was all said and done, we spent 235.00 on gas and eating...and we got to take Boo with us. We left home at 1:38 Thursday morning and got there just after 2pm. It was an easy ride up...on the way back home...we ran into delays through Washington DC and NC...but we'd do the drive again. I've broken this trip into different parts because we did so much. The one thing that I realized that I don't have pictures of was Christmas dinner. We had a wonderful dinner with all the trimmings! After dinner, we sat around and played a game "Would You Rather". That was fun with everyone laughing. We also had some quieter moments like watching movies together as a family. The only bad thing that happened was that Mary's mother, Donna, was hosptialized before Christmas with Congestive Heart Failure. Thank you, Ron, Mary, Alexis and Cheyenne for opening your home to us!

Below are pictures of us packing for the trip. Boo had to be in the middle. And then a picture of how packed the explorer was.

Christmas Vacation - Part 2 - The Most Tackiest Christmas

There is a street of Row Houses in Baltimore that is known for their "Tacky Christmas Lights". We had to go visit them. They are correct - we saw some crazy lights and trees made from funny things like hub cabs, records and metal crabs.

Christmas Vacation - Part 3 - Arlington Cementary

We went to Arlington Cementary on Saturday. I don't remembering ever being there before. I was amazed at the quiet respect that was given by all. We got to see the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown...just so Patriotic at the love of men and women for this Country. As you look at ALL the head stones, it is amazing at the price that America has paid for it's freedom. There are still 15-30 funerals there every week day.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Vacation - Part 4 - The Hustle and Bustle of NYC

Mary booked us two nights in NYC...at the Marriot right on Times Square. It was bitterly cold while we were there, but we made such good memories. Below are pictures of our time in NYC. (One big event that I didn't take pictures of was when we went to the Today Show. We stood outside for over an hour waiting to see Ann and Matt.(That morning was -4 with the wind) Finally, they came out and did their piece. As Ann Curry was walking back to the studio, she stopped over by our corner and as she was talking with us, she held Richard's hand...he still hasn't washed that hand)

We got to see Grease on Broadway. Each of us loved the show....men, women, boy and girls! I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the show...so there aren't any of the outfits or the dancers.

The next few pictures were taken at Toys R Us...the biggest one...there is even a ferris wheel. Andrew spent his money here...he bought Legos...The legos were incredible...King Kong and Statue of Liberty were some of the Legos on display. Hannah bought some candy and Sarah bought a couple of gifts.

Standing in line for the ferris wheel

Riding the biggest indoor Ferris Wheel in the world.

We went Ice Skating at The Pond in Bryant Park. (We wanted to skate at Rockefeller but the lines were crazy long)We had so much fun!! I fell twice...second time really hurt...but we had a blast! Below are pictures of us Ice Skating.

(We were hoping to see snow, and though none fell while we were on vacation, there was plenty on the ground in NYC)

I know the following picture is dark, but as we skated around the rink and looked up, you saw nothing but sky scrapers with their lights...it was beautiful.

Hannah and Sarah

Ron and Alexis

Hannah and I

Sarah and I

This year the Rockefeller Christmas tree came from Hamilton Township, NJ. We were told this one was small (It looked HUGE to us)- 72 feet high and 40 feet around with over 30,000 lights. After Christmas, the tree is used for mulch.

We took two bus tours. One during the day and one at night. It was great to stay on the "inside". And we got to learn about the construciton of the buildings (did you know the Empire State Building took only 13 months to complete) and so much history. Below are pictures of Richard and Andrew waiting to get on the bus and then us on the bus.

Here we are at Macy's...the largest retail store. We bought toys from here and took them to the Today Show's Toy Drive. I have to say that this store was incredibly packed with people and dirty....that really, really surprised me.This store also has the frist escalators...they are wooden and rickety...but still in operation. We only stayed for about 45 minutes because we had to get back to the Tour of Lights. Sarah and I came back down here around 10pm...and it was even more packed...but it was warm.

This Church, St. Paul, stands across from the Twin Towers, built in the late 1700's. On 9/11 when all the buildings around the Twin Towers received ash and damage, this Church did not receive a single crack. This Church became the headquarters for the search and rescue. This is also the Church of George Washinton's Inauguaration.

These two plagues are on the wall of Station 10 who was the first to respond on 9/11. They lost six men that day. There was a Christmas tree outside of their station with notes written. One was written by two sons. "Merry Christmas, Dad. We still miss you."

The following pictures are from Staton Island Park which is across from the Statue of Liberty and the high rises of Bronx. We wanted to take the Ferry over to the Statue but it was so cold that we didn't think that we could handle being in the cold for three hours.