Christmas in New York

Jeff had to attend some training in New York right before Christmas so I tagged along just for the fun of it. We stayed right in the middle of Times Square which was lots of fun.

There is a new Disney store there so I went (several times) of course. It was very neat and I so hope that once they start reopening stores one will be in NASHVILLE

The Rockefeller Center tree was pretty, but it looks smaller in person than it does on TV

Some of the trees in our hotel

We had brunch at Bobby Flay's Bar Amercan (sp?) VERY YUMMY

The tree and Times Square at night

Compared to what many do in New York, we did very little. We just enjoyed being away and in each others company. Sometimes less is more...

Final NY post (part 6)

I'm sorry for the multiple posts, but blogger will only let me post a few pics at a time. If you scroll down to the beginning you will have more of a progression. These first two show my little cadets. They each got to keep a hat from the annual hat toss. All kids 6-10 years of age rush the field to grab one. Uncle Travis and Mim got one for our kids:)
The Christian commissioning and swearing in was really cool to watch. Travis and Jim chose to do this part together and asked one of their favorite officers to come do it.
Travis getting his lieutenant bars

Thanks for looking at all this. We are so glad we were able to be a part of this memorable experience. Travis and Kim have quite the road ahead of them. I pray God's protection over each of them as they begin their service to our country (Other officers said over and over again how Kim is a big part of this too). They have made a commitment to this life and will soon make an even bigger one to each other. Wedding Countdown: 5 days

NY pics part 5

A preview of the cuteness you'll see in the wedding...This is Kanyan, Jackson and Christian outside the chapel. They all played really well together. Can you believe that Christian is 2 years younger?!?! He's just as big as they are!!
Travis and two of his friends preformed at the Baccalaureate service. It was a great song that they had written together called "United" Josh is the other guitarist and Jim sung/played the piano. Jim will be singing in the wedding also.Just after dawn waiting to go into graduation. I must say I have some pretty cute kids

The hat toss at the end of graduation
Travis' sister made this great hat to wear

NY pics part 4

Our crew watching the parade
Drill team
all the cadets (I could fit in the pic anyway) during the parade
My little patriot singing the National Anthem

Some of the campus--the building on the hill is the Cadet Chapel. It was so beautiful

NY pics part 3

Waiting to get on the plane
She loves to have Lamby in her mouth!!
and Blankie/Puppy had to make the trip too--it has gone everywhere with us since he was 1
Christian took this pic--he did well, don't ya think?

The kids did great on the plane and walking around the city. They had been up for about 12 hours straight when they finally konked out in the car. 5am-5pm that is b/c our flight was the first one of the morning!! It was close quarters in the car too b/c Tex decided to rent a town car instead of the van/three row SUV I had suggested. I got stuck in the middle of the front seat for the majority of our drives and it was none too comfortable. We had to drive 2 hours to our hotel from the city and it was another 30 minutes to West Point everyday, but all in all we had a great time:)

NY pics part 2

My little poser--he totally did this on his own

We went to the big TOYS R US on Times Square. Christian loved it of course. We rode the big ferris wheel inside (we rode the fire truck car). Then we headed to M&M's world. Mim helped Christian make his own bag of the multicolored treats.

Congratulations 2nd Lieutenant Travis Clonch

Travis had several uniform changes over our trip Christian,Kanyan(Travis' nephew) and Travis in his Cadet uniform--won't wear that one again
at Baccalaureate in his India whites with the soon to be Mrs. Clonch
his parade uniform (he wore this at Graduation too) and yes he does have huge feathers coming out of his head! Looked a little funny, but they work hard to get those...the red sash also signifies that they have made it to Senior status
Christian in the hat and holding Travis' sword (Mim had to help b/c yes it is the real thing)
And finally here he is in his Lieutenant uniform--WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU TRAVIS

We have made it to and from West Point!! It was a crazy few days, but we are so glad we went. All the ceremony and tradition that goes along with a military graduation was pretty incredible.

A few highlights of the trip:

*We spent a couple hours in the city and visited the M & M world and the big TOYS R US on Times Square--probably Christian favorite part of the trip!!

*The campus of West point is very beautiful--LOTS of green space, on the Hudson River and all the buildings look like 'castles' (as Mim says)

*The 'parades' were nice--very formal with lots of tradition (no clowns or animals in these parades) At the end of one we saw some paratroopers come out of a helicopter WAY up in the sky. They free fell for about 10 thousand feet before opening their parachutes!!!

*We heard the Vice-President speak at Graduation--yes THE Vice-President

*Meeting Travis' good friends and their families was nice

*All the Officers we met had tons of nice things to say about Travis

*Spending time with both our own and Travis' family was a nice prelude to the wedding

Wedding Coutdown: 6 days left

I'll post some more pics later--we have tons of course