Erie Canal Museum

On Veteran's Day the kids didn't have school and Joseph happened to be off as well.  We used the day to help Kimball work on Cub Scout requirements.  We took a field trip to the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse.  It was a cool place.  I learned a lot about the Erie Canal, how it helped Syracuse grow into a prosperous town and other fun tidbits about the area where we live.  Syracuse is the only place along the Erie Canal that has a preserved Weighlock...where the boats were weighed along the canal.

This sign shows what the streets looked like with the canal.

You can't see the numbers, but this picture shows how Syracuse has grown over the years.  In 1825 the population of Syracuse was 600 by 1830 it had grown to over 11,000 people due to the Erie Canal.  Today the population is roughly 145,000.

One thing that I learned is that Syracuse is sometimes called "Salt City".  I'm a bit sheepish to admit that I have lived in Syracuse 3 years and didn't know this nickname.  Here is a paragraph from Wikipedia about Syracuse and its saltiness:

The salt industry has a long history in and around Syracuse, New York. Jesuit missionaries visiting the region in 1654 were the first to report salty brine springs around the southern end of "Salt Lake," known today as Onondaga Lake.^[1] Later, the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784) and designation of the area by the State of New York as the "Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation" provided the basis for commercial salt production from the late 18th century through the early 20th century.^[2] The salt springs extended around much of Onondaga Lake, originating in the town of Salina and passing through Geddes and Liverpool to the mouth of Ninemile Creek, a distance of almost nine miles.^[1] The majority of salt used in the United States in the 19th century came from Syracuse.^[3] Even today, Syracuse is sometimes known as "the Salt City."

New Glasses

Kimball has been complaining the last few weeks that he can't see well at school.  He doesn't like missing school for any reason so I took him to the eye doctor for a visit on November 3rd when the kids didn't have school.  Kimball came away with some glasses.  His vision isn't horrible...20/40 and 20/50.  I got my first pair of glasses when I was in third grade, but I really hoped that my kids could hold off on glasses a little longer since Joseph's eyes aren't too bad.  It has taken me a little while to get used to Kimball with glasses.

New York City

Two weeks ago I took a trip to New York City with two of my friends.  This was a "the babies are one/Joseph took 2 week long trips this year" kind of adventure.  It was my turn to get away and have some fun.  I consider my friend, Mari, my NYC expert because she has been there multiple times and is always happy to go back.  She is even brave enough to drive in the City.  My other friend, Jackie, moved to Buffalo a few months ago and I have missed her so it was fun to have her along too.  We were just gone over night, but we had a lot of fun and squeezed as much as we could into our time away.  I'm posting a lot of pictures to help preserve the memories.  I missed my family a lot but it was nice to be just Annette for 48 hours.  

*Disclaimer--everyone in New York refers to New York City as "the City" so I will in this post.

Our first stop was the Shake Shack--a popular burger place in the City.

Festive in the City.

I really wanted to walk around Central Park so I could get a feel for it since I have heard so much about it.

Belvedere Castle in Central Park

We stayed 1 block from Times Square so we were in the heart of the NYC fun and traffic.  It was a great hotel though and reasonably priced for New York.  For dinner we had New York style pizza--a first for me.  It was really good.

Walking the street with our pizza from John's Pizzaria.

We took a lot of selfies on our trip. 

Pizza selfie.

Our trip included a Broadway show and we saw Amazing Grace.  It was the story of John Newton and how he came to write Amazing Grace.  The show opened in July an sadly it closed just 2 days after we left because it wasn't making enough money.  The three of us all loved the show.  It was so moving.  It was unfortunate that it didn't make more money, but I think it didn't have enough risque material to attract a crowd. 

We posed like the characters behind us:

The set.

After our show we walked to a restaurant for dessert.  We passed a statue of Lady Liberty so we took a quick picture.

Empire State Building

We went to the Max Brenner Chocolate Cafe for everything chocolate.  You could order non-chocolate food too, but we were just there for dessert.  It was a fun atmosphere even if it was way passed my bedtime!

Times Square shortly before midnight.

The next day we went to Rockefeller Plaza and went to the top to enjoy the view of the City.  It was expensive in my book, but it was fun to see the view and the different buildings.

That's the Empire State Building in the background.

It was really windy on top and rather chilly too.

View of Central Park.

This was a pretty church right outside Rockefeller Plaza.

I really wanted to visit the Manhattan Temple so we did a session together. 

Outside the temple.

This next picture is a picture of a lot of taxis.  I had my first taxi ride on this trip.  Our taxi driver was so nice.  My friend, Mari, is so friendly and she asked our driver his name.  He said no one ever asks his name if they are from the City so he instantly knew we were visiting.  He used to own his own business, but when the economy changed he lost his business and he ended up driving a taxi to support his wife and two children who are in college.  He lives 2 1/2 hours away and drives to the city multiple time a week so work.  About once a week he will stay overnight in the city to save the commute time.  He asked if we were career women or students and when we told him proudly that we were moms he was surprised.  He said we didn't look like moms so we took that as a compliment.  I guess I managed to throw off my frumpy look for 2 days!    

One last picture of Times Square.

Last selfie in my driveway when Mari dropped me off.

I had a great time.  I missed my family, but it was also nice to get away for a few days and regroup mentally.  Everyone missed me, especially Lincoln.  Lincoln is my "Mama's boy".   Annika ran to me the next morning when she saw me.  Lincoln didn't want anything to do with me.  He arched his back and tried to avoid me picking him up.  When I did pick him up he started to cry and when I put him down he crawled to Joseph.  I felt a little betrayed, but Lincoln probably felt betrayed first!  After an hour Lincoln decided to forgive me and then he didn't want me to put him down.  He still gets a little nervous when I leave the house without him.  Joseph said while I was gone Lincoln was silent...he didn't cry at all.  He didn't know where I was so he was probably confused.  

I admit that I'm not a big city girl.  I would never want to live in a big city, but I would like to go back to see a few more things that I didn't have time for on this trip.  The next time I go to NYC I hope I can go with Joseph because it would be fun to experience the City with him.