happy 4th of july

here are the adventures of the 4th 2009! for the morning of the forth we went to a ward breakfast in central park. it was really nice to socialize and get to know people in our ward. bryan met a missionary from tahiti and it turned out that bryan served with this elder's brother...small world!! penelope enjoyed playing with the other kids.

penelope really enjoys throwing balls these days.

we walked past the guggenheim on our way home form the park...we haven't gone yet, but we will!

after penelope got a good nap we headed to the west side of manhattan for the fireworks show. if it were a normal year they would set off the fireworks for the forth in the east river, but this years event was moved to the hudson river in honor of henry hudson's voyage 400 years ago. bryan works on the 18th floor of the starrett lehigh building, which means that from his office we would be able to see ALL of the fireworks without fighting the crowds. as we neared the river the streets were ar=ll blocked off, but bryan just had to flash his access card and they let us through...VIP baby! the views from his office were so great and the views from the roof were even better. the fireworks were beautiful. penelope really enjoyed them too. it was a little crazy getting home, but it was definitely worth the trip.

the roof

the views of the hudson from bryan's work's windows

penelope enjoyed going to her dad's work

here is a tractor they designed.

the streets below were PACKED with people trying to get a good spot to see the fireworks

the main event!