My Employer

Hello everyone. Not a whole lot new with us here in Harlem.

This is a promotional video for Village Academies, the charter school I work for. I don't know if any of you are interested in this, but I figured I'd put it up anyway because I thought it was nicely done and gave a glimpse into what charter schools on the East Coast are all about (they are a lot different than on the West Coast).

Jim and Irene Invade New York

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Mom and Dad Sinn. The first few days were filled with city stuff...eating at Afghani, Korean, and authentic Italian (located in the heart of Little Italy) restaurants. Friday and Saturday were full of touristy things around the city, like a visit to the top of the Empire State Building, touring old churches, walking around Battery Park and Central Park, etc. After a couple days in the city we decided to venture out and head up to the Catskills. The trees were in rare form and we were all impressed by how many of them there were!

These first few are from the Morse Estate, the guy who created the Morse Code. Our hotel happened to be right next to it so we took a walk through it.

The next few are from the Catskills State Park.

This House was built around 1717. It's amazing how old some of the buildings are.

This is close to West Point. We stopped by, but really didn't get any cool pictures. It was a gorgeous area though.

Laurie Simmons' Visit

Sunday we had the privilege of hosting our first visitor, Laurie Simmons, Wes's first cousin. We spent the day window shopping on 5th Avenue, exploring Central Park, venturing out to Brooklyn for a good pizza restaurant (which happened to be closed until the evening), viewing Statue of Liberty from Battery Park, stopping by Ground Zero, dinner in "The Village," and braving the crowds in Time Square. Yep, all in one day. Needless to say, the soles of our feet were very sore! Here are some pictures from our adventure.

This is on the bottom tip of Manhattan in Battery Park. Ellis Island is that blurry land mass in the distance.

This is in "The Village," a trendy part of Manhattan, with a lot of great places to eat. If you look closely, the Empire State Building is just beyond Wes' ear.

Of course this is Time Square.

Ducks, Bread, and what have you

Not a whole lot new with us. The past few weeks have gone by fast and with it summer. Fall has definitely set in with a constant chilly breeze. However, in comparison with the sticky stale summer warmth, neither one of us is complaining. We just have to remember to schlep our wind jackets around with us at all times, sweaters wont do.

I had a bit of excitement at work Friday. Apparently a small fire started in the laundry shoot in the hotel below our office. 3 city blocks in midtown Manhattan were completely blocked off with fire trucks (between 15 to 20 trucks). Only floors 8 and 9 were evacuated, but our floor had quite a few firemen standing around and with there the big fire hose causing a LOT of water damage. Luckily our office was unharmed and the only inconvenience it caused me was 21 flights of stairs in my dress shoes, ouch!

Wes has had a pretty easy month with school. He had Tuesday and Wednesday off this past week, Thursday off this week, and Monday off the following week. The first three for a Jewish holiday and the last for Columbus Day. School is going well for him; at least better than last year. Seems like the children are easier for him to handle and he is able to keep their attention a little better with science.

After church today we walked to central park to feed the ducks some old bread we had in our apartment. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

I have been looking for this particular bridge for a long time and we finally found it. It is a pretty peaceful little hiding place in the park.

Feeding the ducks.

What started with just a pair of ducks quickly multiplied.

Afterward, we decided to feed ourselves. Here we are at Amy's Bread. I'll have to say this is the first place I have eaten in New York that I can truly say is better than any Oregon equivalen. Prior to having a little baked good, we tried some Afghani food and ate it along the waterfront. It was surprisingly very good, however, it did cause simultaneous digestive problems. Wes thinks the Taliban had their hand in it.

Rachel decided to cook the Sinn calzone. Delectable. -Wes