Apple Picking 2011

Today was my 3rd annual apple picking trip with TGC. The past 2 years the weather has been cold and rainy, but today it was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was in the high 70s, so a perfect day to spend outside. We went to the farm a couple of weeks earlier than in previous years, so there was not as much fall foliage, but I think I prefer the warmer weather.

Riding the cow train.

Ben, Bryan, Jennifer and Laurie out in the apple orchards.

Joe and Jessica Joy...with yummy apple cider donuts (that I currently can't eat).

Suzanne and I...Suzanne is in Investor Relations at Pfizer, so we have gotten to know each other over the past year or so.

Sweet Noah.

The corn maze.

A.J., Evie, and Ella in the corn maze.

My group that I hung around with most of the day. Suzanne and the Hoover family. I know Vu from KPMG (we started together) and he just transferred to KPMG's National Office which is in NYC. He and Amy have 5 kids (Addie, Savannah, Ella, A.J. and Evie) so I invited them to come along for the day too.

Joah and I. This was the end of the day and Joah was so tired. I still wanted a picture with him because I love this little guy.

Mike Anderson and John Nelson.

In the van on the way to the mall. We always make a stop at the mall on the way home - this year everyone went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Today was such a fun day. Days like today make leaving NYC a tough decision because I love this community of people.

Surfing!

Since we are in the middle of a massive heat wave (it was 104 in Central Park yesterday, the second hottest day ever in NYC), we decided to go to the beach. I thought it was just going to be me, Joe and Jessica Joy, but when we got there we found out there was a group of people there from the Chelsea and LIC TGC locations. A few of them had rented surfboards and so Joe and I borrowed two of them and went out surfing for a bit. I am good at catching the wave, standing up is another story. It was still fun though :)

UES MC Christmas Dinner 2010

Yes, I am going backwards...trying to get caught up to my Philadelphia trip. Back on December 15, 2010, we had our annual (my 2nd annual) Upper East Side Missional Community dinner. We went to Sotto Cinque, the same restaurant we went to last year.

This was everyone who attended.

Part of my current Lifegroup at the time - Me, Megan, Jessica Joy and Tina.

Ben and Laurie.

Me, Steve and John.

Tom and Grace.

Dina, Veena, Eric and Zach.

Joanna and Mike.

Jessica Joy and Joe.

Dad and I. Dad was in town for this dinner, so I just had him come along. I think he enjoyed it.

Macy's Balloon Inflation

I decided to start blogging again after my little hiatus the last month. I have started scrapbooking again, and this blog has been a great tool in helping me remember details of certain events. So...later this year (hopefully) when I am scrapbooking 2010 I am going to be happy that I did this.

On the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, we were supposed to have Lifegroup. It was just going to be me and Jessica Joy, and she called me that afternoon to see if I wanted to go to the balloon inflation. After last year, I said I would never go again. But, she had never been and it was not terribly cold out, so I said I would go. When I met up with her, Joe was with her (he was headed to the subway) but I told him that he should come to so he did.

Jessica Joy and Joe waiting in line. This year we went at about 8pm - last year we went at 5pm. I thought by going later it would be less busy but I was wrong. We waited in line for about an hour just to cross the street to get to the balloons.

The three of us in line.

There were so many people. We only walked through half of it, and then when we got to Central Park West we crossed the street and walked home through the park.

I am going to say again that I will never do this again :)