A busy day in Central Park

What beautiful weather we are enjoying! I love it. Although, I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed we didn't have a longer spring. It feels like we just jumped right into summer weather. It's a little on the warm side. But if you stay in the shade, with a beautiful breeze, it's a wonderfully pleasant day. We've made some great friends down the hall. They are a cute couple (Bryson and Jen) with an adorable son (Daniel). But unfortunately, Bryson graduates this year, so they will be moving away. Which makes me sad, but they won't be too far away, so we can go visit. They will be moving to Rochester which is close to the Sacred Grove and a few other church history sites.

Anywho, we went with the Richards for a fun picnic to Central Park. It took a little while to walk there, being diverted a few times by the "Pope blockades" as I called them. Eveywhere on the Upper East side, it seems, was blocked off entirely for the Pope's visit. right off Central Park, was the residence he would be staying in. They had helocopters, snipers, bomb dogs, and cement blocks around it. All this was ontop of the many police cars, men, and other security measures.

If you look way back there, you can see the white tent covering the entrance and parking for him. I was amazed. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before!

Central Park holds a very dear place in my heart now. It's beautiful. Nothing like what I imagined it would be. In Missouri, parks are either State Parks or they are flat with a playground. The latter is more what I though Central Park would be. But it is anything but that. There are hills, and beautiful rock formations, trees, zoos, pathways, massive lawns, etc. It's a small piece of home in a world of concrete. I think New Yorkers would go insane if they didn't have this place. It's the gem of the city, that's for sure.

We managed to be there while many of the trees were still in bloom. It just made me smile. This of course, made the air fragrant and managed to cover up a lot of the city smell that comes along with New York city. I loved the flowers!

We plopped in a place called the Sheep's Meadow...named appropriately for the many sheep that used to graze there. It's a large piece of lawn. There is no other place in the country like this because you are in a wonderful piece of nature and you look around you and there are skyscrapers everywhere you look. There are also hundreds of people out there with you. I could have slept there or read a book all day. Gorgeous!

Bryant just got a new camera and took it out to play. He's going to be making an informational/promotional video for the school this summer, so he wanted to taker her for a test run. We used little Daniel as our test subject. I can't wait to have a cute baby to take pictures of everywhere we go. He's the cutest kid!

But Jen and I walked around the park trying to get him to sleep and Bryant and Bryson chatted about med school. They are good friends and we're lucky to have them.

Here's just a few more photos from the park. I can't believe what a beautiful day it was!

We walked down Park Avenue, one of the few two way streets in Manhatten, and there wasn't a car in site. It was blockaded. I've never been able to just stand in the middle of the street and get a pcitre of the skyline before. Probably never will again.

So we stopped in the middle and took pictures! We are eternal tourists!

Oh yeah. Earlier today, I was walking home from an appointment with the Sister Missionaries, and got stuck in all the road blocks for the Pope. And a few seconds later, here he came! So here's a picture of the Pope's car. You can't see him in it because of the blackend window, but it's him, I promise. Yeah! According to the people were surounded by, my sins are forgiven and I will have a long and blessed life because we were able to see him. Yeah! We wanted to go and hear him speak, but there would be a long line and I wanted those who were Catholic to have that opportunity. So we watched him on TV and enjoyed the chaos that comes with the heightened security. It has made for a fun weekend.