Vacation, Day Three: Arrival and the Bronx

We got up very early to catch a flight from Atlanta to LaGuardia, in New York. We weren't sure how long it would take us to get from the airport in Queens, to our hotel on the east side, to the game in Manhattan, so we had several plans and backup plans.... the one we executed was going to depend on the flight.

Well, the flight landed right on time, and since we hadn't checked luggage, we had plenty of time. So we executed Plan Cheap, which was taking a bus into Manhattan. I know we're grownups now, and believe me when I say that Mark and I are way less cheap now (even when travelling) than we were even five or six years ago, but we just don't like to spend more money than we need to. Anyway, we took the bus and it went fine.

We got to the game in time to explore the stadium a little (which was nice, since seeing the stadium, which will be torn town after just 10 more games, is the reason Mark wanted to come to New York in the first place). We also had time to get some lunch.... I had the best spicy sausage I have ever had (and I lived in Germany, people). The people in front of us seemed to enjoy their Chinese food. (Only in New York would people eat Chinese food at a baseball game.)

The Yankees lost, which was ok. Our choices were to pull for them or a Canadian team. We really couldn't have cared less who won. But the experience was neat.

We had dinner on the upper east side, and then wandered around for a while, just enjoying the city. Our hotel is great, and is in a great location (midtown, on Lexington and 49th), but we can't extend the stay past Tuesday, since a bunch of UN delegates will be checking in then. But that's ok... our next hotel is in an even better (if louder) location near Times Square, so we'll get to enjoy staying in a couple of different neighborhoods.

For more pictures of our first day in NYC, click on the stadium below.

by mgoetts

Vacation, Day Two: Atlanta, GA

Today we experienced Sporting Event #1 for this vacation.... Clemson vs. Alabama at the Georgia Dome.

We started early this morning from Mark's parents' near Lake Wateree, SC.... we drove about an hour to the Charlotte airport, took a city bus to the Greyhound Station, took a Greyhound bus to Greenville, and took a small sedan with our friends Joe and Brittany (and unborn Baby Law!) into Atlanta. Whew.

I was expecting my first Greyhound experience to be more of an experience, but to be honest it really wasn't. Sure, some bus stations were in less-than-desirable neighborhoods, and the people on the bus weren't the classiest set on the planet (that includes Mark and me, for the record), but everything ran on time and the most interesting part was the driver who was equally passionate about the no taking your shoes off rule, and how to get his passengers to be saved by Jesus. I think I have had too many adventures on the budget travel circuit to be fazed by much anymore.

The game was... um... well, it was something. Clemson didn't play well. Mark was livid with the refs (who couldn't hear him any better from our nosebleed seats than from the tv in our living room, but he yelled just as loud anyway). I always forget how crazy he is at sporting events until I am with him again. His friends just take it in stride since they see it all the time, but it's not a side of Mark that he shows anywhere except in a crowd of Clemson fans.

The Alabama fans were really great, with the exception of one obnoxious guy (who was sitting right behind us, since I'm a jerk-fan-magnet like that). And the atmosphere was good. Since it was a neutral-territory game, they sold exactly half of the tickets through Clemson, and exactly half through Alabama. Where the sections met, it caused a neat line in the crowd between orange and crimson (which you can see in the picture below, behind the Clemson end zone).


Next sporting event Yankees vs. Blue Jays, in the Bronx, NY. Yep, that's 12 hours and 900 miles away. Here goes nothing.

For more pictures of our first two days, click here.

Vacation, Day One: On the Road

Well, we're officially on vacation. We made it safely to Huntersville (and dropped the dogs at my mom's) and then to the infamous double-wide (where Nathan is playing on the floor with new toys after a yummy spaghetti-o dinner from Oma).

I don't think that Nathan knows yet what the suitcases piling up by the front door mean, but Simon sure knows, and he was in his usual pre-vacation funk today. By tomorrow he will have forgotten why he didn't want to be abandoned on five acres of land with lots of dogs to run with (read: heaven).

He was even a little clingy with Nathan in the car on the way here, as you can see.

We also said good-bye to Brad for the indefinite future -- he heads back home to St Croix tomorrow.

Right now I am more focused on leaving Nathan for a week than being on vacation. Also, I can't help but wonder if his bedtime nursing tonight will be the last time I ever breastfeed a child (we'll likely be gone before he's up in the morning). If he wants to pick it back up when we;'re home, that's fine. But if he's done, then my heart won't be broken either. (The fact that he drew blood earlier this week helps cement that sentiment.) But I think once I have given my hugs and kisses and we're on our way tomorrow morning, I will be in full-on vacation mode.

Next stop: Atlanta, Georgia.... for Sporting Even Number One: Clemson vs. Alabama (by way of Greyhound, an adventure in itself)!

Big Apple, Here We Come!

Mark and I are headed to NYC on Sunday for a week of vacation. Besides the anxiety about leaving Nathan for so long (we have only ever spent 2 nights apart, and one was only 4 hours and Mark was there, so it doesn't really count), I am really excited to be on vacation!!

Neither of us has been to New York in our adult lives, so we need your help! Can you email or post a comment telling us your favorite place in the city? Restaurants, shopping, sightseeing, whatever. What would be on your "Can't Miss" list for a week in New York?

We're leaving for South Carolina tomorrow (to leave dogs and children with various grandparents), then to Georgia on Saturday (to see Clemson play Alabama... yes it's in Atlanta for some reason) then we fly out on Sunday. We should have sporadic internet access through all that so keep those emails and comments coming!

Thanks!

Happy 90th!!!!!

Remember last summer when I introduced you to my Grandpa Schnackenberg? (No, I did not make that name up. Yes, it's possible for someone to grow up a Bumganer, marry a Goettsch, and be descended from a Schnackenberg. I've been blessed with bad names.) Well, Grandpa turned 90 this weekend!

We had a golf-themed breakfast party (he's 90, people) at a country club near my mom's house in Huntersville. Highlights included Nathan being terrified of a giant inflatable golf club, my other Grandpa putting out a golf-ball candle with his fist when his smoker lungs couldn't blow it out, appearances from Schnackenbergs as far flung as Illinois and Florida, Grandpa's edelweiss suspenders I got for him in Austria years ago (yes, in honor of that edelweiss),and Grandpa's "baby" brother Roy (74, but clearly of a different generation) taking pictures and showing Grandpa how to look up medical info on his iPhone.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! I hope the next 90 are just as great! (I'm not saying that to be mean... since he'll either get to be reunited with his wife and other daughter in that time frame, or he'll win a record for being the oldest man ever. Either case, the next 90 years will be awesome for him.)

A few more pictures are below; click on the fruit flowers. (Hopefully I'll get the rest added relatively soon.)


by mgoetts

Nathan, Opa and Oma... at the Lake

While I was helping my mom get ready for my Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration tomorrow, Mark and Nathan went to spend some time with his dad and stepmom, Cindy (Nathan's Opa and Oma) at Lake Wateree. Yes, they're still living in the double-wide while their house is under construction, but The Marina (as we like to call their dock and array of sailboats) has been done for a while and gets plenty of use!

I wasn't there, so I can't attest to the fun times on the boat, but I think these two beautiful pictures speak for themselves.



For more pictures of their visit to the lake, including a baby "driving" a boat, click on Nathan and Mark, below.

by mgoetts

ErinAshleyBrad

Tonight I got to enjoy a very rare pleasure in my life: the company of both my sister Ashley and my brother Brad. We're almost never all together anymore, considering Brad lives more than 1800 miles away, in the Virgin Islands. I can't even remember the last time the three of us were together... wait, I think it was when I was in Charlotte for Brad's going-away dinner. I remember that was right after I found out I was pregnant with Nathan, so that would be November of 2006. Almost two years ago. Wow.

The three of us are really close in age -- about 2 1/2 years between Brad and me, with Ashley (somehow) wedged in the middle. Because of that, we got along pretty well as kids, and even had lots of mutual friends (apparently that's rare in other families). We might bicker amongst ourselves, but we would defend with a vengeance if someone else lashed out at one of our siblings.

Some of my favorite (ok, maybe not favorite, but ones I can think of right now) memories of growing up with Ashley and Brad:
1.) making Brad be the motor when we commandeered his bunkbed to be our pretend boat, and we didn't want him to talk to us.
2.) calling who got to be Mario and Luigi before we even got off the bus, we were so excited to play with the new super-awesome nintendo system.
3.) playing "college kids" and "cowboys and indians" which both somehow involved our swingset as a flying machine.
4.) terrorizing sitters on their first day by beating them home from school and hiding behind the furniture, then saying "ouch" when they sat down.
5.) sorting the socks by putting them on the ceiling fan. then deciding pennies would also be fun to put on the ceiling fan.
6.) sleeping (and fighting) in the den on new years.
7.) swimming together for Nomad and North Meck.
8.) playing with our food... specifically when Brad's spaghetti "fell out" of his mouth across the table at me, and when he bit the end of his grapes off to make them into mini Death Stars.
9.) playing drinking card games at the beach in college - I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure 10 was the "dumbass" card, where all Bumgarners had to drink.
10.) playing the opening track of The Lion King as loud as possible to startle ourselves (and our parents).

I think I hate them a little for getting at least 80% of the good looks genes.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I love Ashley and Brad, and I'm glad we could go out for drinks tonight, and I'm glad Brad was willing to look for my camera (even though I eventually found it in the glove compartment) so I could post this picture, and I promise if we're ever on a road trip where we all have to sit in the backseat, that I won't look out either of your windows. Or breathe your air.

Date Night in Qum'ram

Mark's mom was here last weekend and she offered (ok, agreed after we asked) to take care of Nathan on Saturday night so that Mark and I could have a date. So we spent a lovely evening together in the Qum'ran caves.

Well, not Qum'ran, exactly. We went to the Museum of Natural Sciences here in downtown Raleigh to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are on exhibit for part of the year. There's a lot they don't know: exactly who wrote and copied them, why there are Biblical texts as well as religious texts not included in the (Protestant) canon as well as texts not relating to religion at all, why the people using the caves near Qum'ran had split away from that community, or even if they had anything to do with them at all.


What I know is how amazing it is to see something 2 inches from my face that was hand-written by a contemporary of Jesus or his disciples.

And it's now also a well-known fact that the best way to preserve Biblical texts is not to scotch-tape them to pieces of cardboard. (They did that. Seriously.)

If you ever have the chance to see this exhibit, you should. I'm not usually drawn in by the painstaking efforts of archaeologists (though I can appreciate them for what they are), but the history and culture and religious implications of this find are fascinating.

And if you can top your education off with a seafood dinner, compliments of an unused gift card from friends who now live in Kansas and don't want to eat seafood there, even better. (Thanks Sarah and Neil!)

Lezak Fries

I have mentioned this to a couple of people, but now I am making an official motion.

What say you, we change the name from Freedom Fries to Lezak Fries? I think Jason Lezak (my favorite person this week) deserves that over the Frenchies, don't you? For a really funny faux-motivational poster about the whole ordeal, click here.

Is it wrong that this whole episode makes me feel more patriotic than I did on July 4th?

The Eel from Equatorial Guinea

When I was watching the opening ceremonies the other night, I had three interesting (to me, at least) observations:

1.) Chinese drummers rock my face off. As a former band geek of a drumming nature, I can assure you that what they did on the Fou-shaped drums, completely in sync, was stunningly difficult. Playing and making sounds come out cleanly is hard enough. They managed to spell out numbers and make pictures with the lights on their instruments. I almost don't care if it was fake (please don't tell me if it was); it was that good.

2.) As good as I am at geography (go ahead: challenge me... it's the one subject I didn't study in college that would have really helped in my job... but I've learned a lot from work experience anyway), there were entire countries competing that I had never heard of. Andorra? Read a book about it, thought it was fake, it's for real. Burkina Faso? The capital is Ouagadougou, betcha didn't know that. Cape Verde? Yeah I changed planes there once. Palau? Anyone who loved Rudy Boesch as much as I did knows the first Survivor was taped there.

But Brunei Darussalam? Timor-Leste? (I don't even know it under the name East Timor.) And Sao Tome? Apparently some of the world's greatest athletes come from these places. Hence I observed my own doofusness and my geo-pride was shamed.

3.) An unaccomplished (in the most severe sense of the word) swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, named Eric Moussambani, redefined how I feel about the Olympics in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. But somehow I missed it then, so I didn't find out about said redefining until today. The announcers at the Beijing opening ceremonies briefly referenced a story about this man who earned a wildcard spot to compete in Sydney in the 100m freestyle when he had never swum that far before, nor apparently even seen a regulation-sized pool. He had been swimming only 9 months when the events below transpired.

(You should know that he just set a national record for his country, too.)

I love how into this race the crowd is. That's what the Olympics is supposed to be. In ancient times, it was all about physique and strength and speed. (If you don't believe me, ask my brother. He recycled a report about the Ancient Olympics at least four times through middle and high school.) All those things are still important now, but so is sportsmanship and effort and national pride. So my point is, yay for "The Eel" and what he did in Sydney. I assure you if I were a blogger then, and if this event had been shown on German television so that I could have known about it then, I would have shared the story with you earlier.

(You'll be pleased to know Mr. Moussambani can apparently now swim this event in less than 57 seconds. In case you're not a swimmer, I should tell you: that's fast.)