Post Christmas Fun

Christmas afternoon, Matt and Stacie left Canton, Michigan to come to New York. They stayed over night in Youngstown, Ohio. The weather was fine. The next day, they began traveling across Pennsylvania and things went well. As they entered New Jersey, the blizzard that was scheduled to hit New York was well into the swing of things. They were supposed to get here at 3:00 p.m., but ended up getting here at 6:00 p.m., just before the very worst part of the storm raged. We were so glad to have them here and know they had traveled safely. We really enjoyed their family.

We opened a few presents after they had dinner. Gumby and Pokey were hits with the kids. Our own kids played with those characters when they were little (not the same exact ones, however).

The boys got some books to read, and Grandpa enjoyed reading to them.

Amy and Billy watched, but when they got bored, they had their own little party. Amy and Billy stayed at Jay Steele's apartment so we weren't all cramped into our little apartment together, just Matt's and Stacie's family.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Dalebout gathering without a little horsing around. Here, Matt and Billy wedge themselves under our desk.

Scarsdale had 20 inches of snow. Here is a shot out of the foyer door.

Monday night, Amy and Billy and Stacie and Matt went to the city to see the Radio Music City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Dick and I stayed home and enjoyed the little boys. On Tuesday, Dick and I had to go into the office, but after three hours, we went with our family to one of our favorite eating places, Piper's Kilt, which has huge hamburgers and other good things to eat. These are shots we took inside the restaurant. Dad, Billy and Amy.

Matt and Owen.

Matt and Stacie

Jacob and Grandma

Matt, trying to get his mouth around that big Eastchester Burger. He really did enjoy it.

After lunch, we went back to the apartment, where we took more pictures. Here is Amy with Jacob and Owen.

Here's the whole group of us together. The cameras did all right by themselves. We love these people. Tuedsay night, Billy and Amy left, taking the Amtrak train from New Rochelle, N Y (about a 20 minute drive from Scarsdale) to Washington D.C. It was really fun to have them here.

On Wednesday, we took Matt's family down to Chinatown for a slosh around in the messy streets of New York. Some of the Chinatown missionaries showed us around Chinatown. This is the court building. Dick is standing with Elder Fan and Elder Barton.

Stacie, Matt, boys and Elder Faulkner and Elder Near.

Matt and Stacie on a colorful street in Chinatown.

The missionaries showed us where a good Chinese restaurant was. We had a nice lunch together.

We bought Jacob a New York hat, which he was very happy to get. Here is a picture of the family on the subway.

The next day, we went into the office for about four hours. Then, we came home and went to the model train show at the Botanical Gardens. It was so fun and really well done. I think I liked the homes, places of interest, etc. as much as I liked the trains themselves. Here is a depiction of Brooklyn Bridge.

This is a model of Penn Station. Jay, our friend, went with us. Jacob and Owen liked Jay and had a fun time with him.

This is a model of the old Yankee Stadium.

Model of the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. All these models were made out of tree bark.

Matt and Stacie left to go into the city for a nice dinner at a special chef's place. I can't remember the name, but he is on the cooking channel. So, Jay, Dick and I took the boys to see the Gingerbread area. Here's Jacob standing in front of the gingerbread house.

Then, we went into one of the buildings, where Owen and Jacob ground wheat and cinnamon. We had a great time with the boys and they were soooo good. We love those little boys.

The next morning, Friday, Matt and Stacie and boys left Scarsdale about 8:30 a.m. They were able to make it back to Canton by about 7:30 p.m., which was much faster than when they came. The weather was good almost all the way. We had a wonderful Christmas with our family. We missed the other members of our family, but we truly enjoyed having Billy and Amy, Matt and Stacie and Jacob and Owen. It was a wonderful Christmas!