The Roberts in Korea

The End of Summer

This is the last summertime post for this year.  This summer was a bit different with Ryan spending three weeks in New Jersey studying and being away from Dina and girls but it was a good summer all the same, filled with friends, family and fun times.

Some of the highlights of the summer included our vacation to New York City and Washington DC, lots of dinners and talks with friends and family and lots of laughter with one another.

The busy summer included Dina getting lots of shopping done for the girls (because we can't find clothes that fit them in South Korea), and Ryan getting lots of errands done that have to do with being a U.S. citizen (taxes, house responsibilities, etc.).

We had a great summer.  We had a great place to live at Chris and Liz's, we created lots of memories, we hung out with lots of loved ones and we even spent some time together as a family.

More Summertime...Family Time

Dina and the girls got to see some of the Cuffe family this summer.  Dina's parents, Tom and Carol Cuffe, came down to Boise for a weekend and hung out with Dina, Becca and Sarah.  It was a fun time with Grandpa and Grandma.  They all spent a lot of time around the pool at the motel and they played some games in the room in the evenings.  During the days they ate lots of ice cream and even did some clothes shopping.  It was great to see Grandpa and Grandma Cuffe.

Dina, Becca and Sarah spent a week in Denver, Colorado visiting Dina's twin sister, Dana, her husband Roger and the cousins.  They had a good week being a part of the Oliver family and engaging in the many fun and busy activities of the summer.  They visited Mandie's dance competition, watched Jordie play Lacrosse and did some swimming.  It was a fun time for Becca and Sarah at the cousin's place in Denver.

While Dina and the girls were in Boise they did lots of visiting with friends and Becca was even able to connect with some old friends from her elementary school days in Boise.  The weather was hot in Boise and one day Becca and her friends spent a fun afternoon at a waterpark.  This summer was a disjointed one, but a good one.  We all got to see lots of people that we love.

  

Summertime...Family time

Summertime in Idaho included a brief opportunity to spend some time with our families.  Our summer pictures and experiences are spread across three different cameras and this batch of pictures only includes pictures from Ryan's side of the family.

Dina, Becca and Sarah had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Cuffe in Boise and Dina and the girls flew to Denver and had a fun time hanging with Roger, Dana and the cousins.

We had a great time visiting with Grandma and Granddad Roberts, Aunt LaVonne, Amy, Dan, Randy, Rhonda, Lukas and Brock in Boise.  These pictures include a trip to the Boise zoo.  It was a hot day and a fun time.  We wonderfully culminated our zoo adventure with a visit to "Famous Dave's" and platter full of ribs.  Yum! 

Short Summer With Friends

After our family was separated for three weeks while Ryan did his studies in New Jersey and then after the week long vacation on the East Coast there was left only a very short two week period of time to spend with friends in Boise, Idaho.  We are sorry that we only got to see a few of our many beloved friends in Idaho.

We did enjoy living with our friends, Chris and Liz Johnson.  They were so gracious in sharing their home, their time, their food and their friendship with us.  We loved staying at their beautiful home and even more than that-- just plain hanging out with them.

We did get a chance to see some of our friends this summer and have included some of those summer friends pics in this blog post. 

 

 

Washington DC--Last Day

Our last day in Washington DC was a short one because we had to board a plane headed for home in the afternoon.  Even though the day was short it was a fun one.  For our last day in the Nation's Capitol we decided to head back to Union Station and see if we could find a coffee shop in its vicinity called, "Ebenezer's."  Ebenezer's is a coffee shop that is owned and was founded by the National Community Church in Washington DC.  The pastor of the church is Mark Batterson.  The church meets in three places in the city (one of them being the movie theater in Union Station) and they established the coffee shop as a place to house their church offices and as a gathering place for people of that part of the city.

I (Ryan) have read a couple of the pastor's books and I have read a lot about the church and the coffee shop on the pastor's blog and I thought it would be fun to visit the place that I have read so much about.  A great book by Pastor Mark Batterson is, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day". I highly recommend it.  As we were sitting in the coffee shop enjoying the coffee and the atmosphere we were surprised to see Pastor Mark Batterson walk in the door of the shop.  We said hi and were able to get a picture with him.  It was a real treat.

After coffee, we wandered around and shopped a bit more in Union Station and then gathered up our luggage from the hotel and headed for the airport.  We had a fantastic visit to Washington DC.

Washington DC--Day 2

At 11:00 a.m. we boarded a hop on, hop off Grayline tour of Washington DC.  The tour was in an open top double-decker bus.  It was super.  We saw so many great things—we stopped at the Lincoln monument—wow, we stopped at the White House again, we saw the Vice President’s house, the Watergate building…lots of stuff here in this city.  We saw the National Cathedral, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts…the list goes on.  It was so fun because of the open top on the bus and the cool wind that was blowing on the sunny day.

The only problem was that it was so cool that we all didn’t realize that the sun was frying us.  I (Ryan) got burned badly on the top of my legs and on my forehead.  Dumb…I should have been more careful.  We ended up this tour at the Union Station and we ate lunch there—it was a good time.  We took the subway from Union Station back to our hotel.  The DC subways have carpeted floors.  They are nice.

We got back to the hotel in the afternoon and hung out for a couple of hours.  Sarah swam and I downloaded my pictures and messed around with making slideshows of our experiences.  At 6:45 pm we board a bus for another tour.  We took the DC night tour.  This was wonderful.

We traveled for three hours all over Washington DC.  We saw the Iwo Jima flag raising statue, the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, the Korean War Memorial Wall, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial at night, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial,  (we saw lots of fireflies at this memorial—Dina said that was her favorite part).   We went to the Arlington Cemetery; we saw many of the sights (Washington Monument, the Capitol, etc.) in the night with full lighting.  It was beautiful.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of good information about the city.

After the tour we wandered down to the McDonalds near our hotel and had a snack and then we fell into bed.  It was a full day of experiencing the city of Washington DC.  It was a great day…except for the sunburn.

 

 

Washington DC--Day 1

On our first day in DC we walked out of our hotel toward the Capitol Mall area and went into the Air and Space Museum (which is just a block from our hotel).  We walked through a few of the Museums and then finally took a taxi to Union Station to catch a 1:00 p.m. shuttle tour around the city. 

The tour was great—we saw some of the main sights:  the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the White House, various museums, government buildings, Ford Theater (where Lincoln was assassinated) and the better part of the city of Washington DC.  We did get pulled over at one point in the tour as a huge procession of sirens, policemen and black cars passed us.  It was Vice President Biden on his way to the Capitol Building to swear in the new Senator, Al Franken from Minnesota.

After the tour we hung around the Union Station and ate some lunch and ended up going to a $5.00 movie…we saw “Ice Age 3.”  It was fun.  We returned to the hotel and crashed for the night.  It was a great day of checking out this great city of DC.  It is a clean and classy place.  At least what we saw of the city.  I was talking to the young guy that was working at the theater and he said that we are only seeing the top layer of the city.  He said there are some tough and ugly parts of the urban, inner-city areas of DC.  I believe him. 

NYC--Day 3

On Monday we got up and walked to the pier and jumped on a ferry that took us on a 75-minute ride on the Hudson River out to the Statue of Liberty and back.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  We saw the shore of New Jersey and the shore of the Manhattan skyline.  The air was warm and we stood out on the bow of the boat.  The Statue of Liberty was amazing.  The blue sky and light clouds made our pictures look like postcards.

We had lunch again at the little pizza place that we found.  It is a hole in the wall local joint that serves up some delicious pizza.  After lunch we walked back into Central Park and sat on a rock, ate some ice cream and enjoyed the shade.  As we walked around the city a bit we stopped and all shared a piece of New York Cheesecake.  It was delicious.

We collected our luggage that we stowed at the Paramount Hotel and we jumped in a taxi and headed for the LaGuardia airport.  We took a Delta shuttle to Washington DC.  We arrived in DC at about 9:00 p.m.  We took a shuttle to our hotel…the Holiday Inn Capital.  It is a great place very near the Capitol building, the Washington Monument and many of the Smithsonian Museums.  We went to bed early to get ready for a big day in DC.

 

 

On Monday we got up and walked to the pier and jumped on a ferry that took us on a 75-minute ride on the Hudson River out to the Statue of Liberty and back.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  We saw the shore of New Jersey and the shore of the Manhattan skyline.  The air was warm and we stood out on the bow of the boat.  The Statue of Liberty was amazing.  The blue sky and light clouds made our pictures look like postcards.

We had lunch again at the little pizza place that we found.  It is a hole in the wall local joint that serves up some delicious pizza.  After lunch we walked back into Central Park and sat on a rock, ate some ice cream and enjoyed the shade.  As we walked around the city a bit we stopped and all shared a piece of New York Cheesecake.  It was delicious.

We collected our luggage that we stowed at the Paramount Hotel and we jumped in a taxi and headed for the LaGuardia airport.  We took a Delta shuttle to Washington DC.  We arrived in DC at about 9:00 p.m.  We took a shuttle to our hotel…the Holiday Inn Capital.  It is a great place very near the Capitol building, the Washington Monument and many of the Smithsonian Museums.  We went to bed early to get ready for a big day in DC.

 

 

NYC--Day 2

Day 2 in NYC was a wild and wonderful day.  We got up early and went and jumped on the NYC subway and headed to Brooklyn.  We went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church—the home of Jim Cymbala and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  The church was amazing from the get go.  We stepped in the door and the people were loving and greeted us.  We sat and waited for over an hour (we got there early) and it was wonderful to watch the people filter into the sanctuary, greeting and hugging one another and to see the choir loft of over 140 chairs slowly but surely fill up.  The choir warmed up on the chorus “Holiness, Holiness.”  It was so beautiful.

Pastor Cymbala was away on vacation, but it didn’t matter. The service was wonderful—so full of praise by the people.  The choir sang three specials plus all of the worship songs.  It was amazing.  The special speaker was Alec Rowlands.  He was great.  He spoke on the idea that… if it is holy to God it should be holy to us—very meaningful.  We all loved the service.  It was such a blessing to be there.

After the service we jumped on the subway and headed back to 42nd and 8th street.  We walked around, ate some lunch at McDonalds and then ended up on the spur of the moment going into a “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” museum.  It was kind of dorky but Sarah said she loved it.  After that we went to the musical, “Mary Poppins.”  That was unbelievable—such great music and dancing.  It was a treasured time.

After the musical we walked to 50th street and met Sarah Kim (TCIS secretary) and her daughter, Jennifer Kim.  We had dinner at Vynl—a vinyl record themed restaurant.  It was fun.  It had four themed restrooms:  Elvis, Cher, Dolly and Nellie.  In the restrooms there were pictures of the specific artist and a recording of their music playing.  We had a good visit with the Kims.

After dinner we walked down to the Empire State Building.  We stood in line for a couple of hours and eventually found ourselves at the top.  We even paid a little more and went the extra 120 feet above the 80 floors to the top.  We enjoyed an amazing and clear view of the lights of the city of New York.  It was great.  From there we walked home and crashed in our hotel.  What a great day.

NYC--Day 1

Our first night in New York City was a wild time.  We took the train from Madison, New Jersey to Penn Station in NYC.  We taxied to our hotel, the Paramount, and then the adventure began.  We were in multiple rooms with broken air con units and wet floors, we saw a mouse running down the hallway and eventually ended up sleeping our first night in NYC in two hotel rooms and on not enough beds.  But, we made it through and got a free buffet breakfast out of the deal for the three days that we were in NYC.

On our first morning in NYC we walked to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the amazing park.  After our ride through the park we ate a hot dog from a street vendor and then walked to the Gershwin Theater to watch the musical,  “Wicked.”  After “Wicked” we found a little pizza shop, had some dinner then walked to the Hudson River and found a place to wait for the July 4th fireworks.  We waited an hour and a half and couldn’t wait any longer in the ever growing crowd so we walked back to Times Square and spent the evening shopping and seeing the sights.

Our first night in New York City was a wild time.  We took the train from Madison, New Jersey to Penn Station in NYC.  We taxied to our hotel, the Paramount, and then the adventure began.  We were in multiple rooms with broken air con units and wet floors, we saw a mouse running down the hallway and eventually ended up sleeping our first night in NYC in two hotel rooms and on not enough beds.  But, we made it through and got a free buffet breakfast out of the deal for the three days that we were in NYC.

On our first morning in NYC we walked to Central Park and took a carriage ride through the amazing park.  After our ride through the park we ate a hot dog from a street vendor and then walked to the Gershwin Theater to watch the musical,  “Wicked.”  After “Wicked” we found a little pizza shop, had some dinner then walked to the Hudson River and found a place to wait for the July 4th fireworks.  We waited an hour and a half and couldn’t wait any longer in the ever growing crowd so we walked back to Times Square and spent the evening shopping and seeing the sights.