Silver Linings: The Johnson's Visit the Big City!

Gabe's folks, Chris and Rhonda, came to visit last week to see our life, celebrate Thanksgiving early, and to celebrate Gabe's 30th birthday. It was so wonderful to have them! We had a relaxing and productive week. Poor Gabe had to work most of the time so he missed out on some of the adventure.

On Sunday we went to church and then we had an early Thanksgiving and Gabe's Uncle Larry and Edward came down from Connecticut to celebrate as well. It was the first time I had made Thanksgiving by myself, although it wasn't really by myself because Rhonda helped a ton and Larry brought the most delicious mashed potatoes, salad, and apple cake! I did make a pumpkin pie and a blueberry pie from scratch - please note my first attempt at a lattice top, not to bad. It all was delicious as well.

Blueberry Pie

Both pies together

Larry was so kind to put together the crib. Glad he's handy as Gabe hasn't had very much time to put things together!

Working hard

Chris catching up on the world news

Gabe cheering on the Packer's

Rhonda busy cooking, isn't she lovely!

Turkey carver - putting his surgery skills to use

Taste testing the turkey - it was delish!

Looking more like a crib

Sparkling cider

Our table, thanks for the festive napkins Rhonda!

The food! No one went hungry

Now Grapey has a place to sleep, thanks Larry!

The Johnson's

Cute little hat one of Rhonda's friends made for Grape

Present from Gabe's grandparents in WI

A Packer's onesie. I think Gabe would have worn it if he thought it would fit :)

Chris and Rhonda gave us a framed picture of Gabe when he had just arrived and they were picking him up at the airport, and he was wrapped in this precious white blanket. Now they passed it on to us. Chris was brought home from the hospital in that blanket as well, so it will be 3 generations of Johnson's who get to use the blanket. How sweet!

Love this picture. I tried to have them hold Gabe like they were in the picture but for some reason they just settled for standing beside him :)

So sweet!

And then it was time to eat the pie!

Chris, Rhonda, and I went into the city on Wednesday. Gabe was busy at work, we missed having him as our tour guide. Gabe's cousin Taylor was able to meet us in the city so that was fun. We met in Time's Square, walked to Rockefeller Plaza and saw the Christmas tree- although it still had the scaffolding around it as they were busy putting up lights. Then we went to the Museum of Biblical Art which was neat, not nearly as big as any of us expected. We ate lunch at a diner and then went to the Frick Museum which was super cool. If you like art work or cool old houses this is the place to visit when you come. Frick was a steel tycoon back at the turn of the century and was quite wealthy, he has ties to Pittsburgh but he also had a house here in NYC. So you get to go inside his house, which is huge, and view his own private art collection that he hand selected, it's really pretty cool (and I don't even appreciate art half as much as some people do). My Pittsburgh friends will have to fill me in more on Mr. Frick so the next time I go I can be an informed tour guide the next time I go there :) Then we got coffee and a little treat to end our day. It was a fun, chilly day in the city!

Time's Square

Times Square

Chris wanted to see King Kong at the Empire State Building, low and behold we were walking and look what we found.

Taylor with her Uncle Chris and Aunt Rhonda

Skating Rink at Rockefeller, we were there early enough it wasn't too crowded yet

The tree being decorated

So cute those two little love birds!

Gabe had his own restaurant in the Museum of Biblical Art

Our sweet treat, it was delish!

Thanks for a fun day in the city!

On Thursday after Gabe and I were done with work we celebrated his birthday early at a new Thai Restaurant that opened up close to us. Their green curry and drunken noodles are delish! It's probably one of the nicest places in the area so we'll have to go back again!