Scrapping challenge

I have signed up for a 16 week challenge - hopefully this will help me to create some layouts. We are given two words which are opposites and we have to create a layout using these words.

The first set of words were: Awake and Asleep.

I chose pictures of Willow taken in January 2007!

Saturday 19th April

We got our connecting flight from Amsterdam without a hitch and arrived in Birmingham on time. We waited for our luggage and 3 of the bags arrived ok but there was no sign of the fourth. Apparently they left it in Amsterdam by mistake.

We had to go and fill in forms about this piece of luggage before we could go and finish our journey home. Lizzie was waiting in the arrivals lounge for us and we then drove home.

Next day the missing suitcase was delivered to our door. I cannot complain about the service as they were very prompt. And with the amount of luggage each airport deals with, I guess it is no surprise that a few bits and pieces get left behind!

Friday 18th April 2008

After breakfast we had to pack our cases! I hate packing to go home. Even though we arrived with 2 we are going home with 4! When we were with Katie we collected one of the suitcases she took with her last August and put her skiing outfit, her ball gowns, scarfs etc., in it so that we could take them home for her and we also collected the suitcase that Lizzie had left there. We have filled that with new clothes for Frank and me!

After leaving our bags at the hotel we went back into NYC to do the uptown tour. The guy taking the tour was called Tony, he was 75 and came from The Bronx. He was so interesting. He told us loads about Harlem and The Bronx and what it was like when he was growing up there. We saw where John Lennon was shot and where Bill Clinton has his office! We were unable to travel the proper uptown route as roads were closed due to the Pope's visit. This meant we didn't get to go right around Central Park. We just drove up one side of it!

After the tour we had lunch then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and then finally back to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 8.30pm but it finally took off at 9.30pm. The flight was pretty uneventful - we only landed in Amsterdam about 10 minutes late and then we had a 2 hour wait for our flight to Birmingham.

Thursday 17th April 2008

We bought a ticket to see around NYC on an open top bus today. This included entrance into the Empire State Building so we did this first, missing all the queues because we already had tickets!!

The view from the 86th floor was good but it was a little hazy so we were not able to see as much as you would do on a clear day!

We then toured around Downtown NYC on the bus and got off to have lunch (at around 3pm!!!) at Katz's Deli - the place where Harry met Sally! We wandered through Greenwich Village and boarded the bus again to see more of the city. We got off in Times Square and joined the night bus which took us to Brooklyn over the Manhattan Bridge. The daytime tours were very interesting and we hope to do Uptown tomorrow before catching our plane. The night time tour guide was not so interesting!

Wednesday 16th April

Today we bought tickets to see a show on Broadway. We got half price tickets for a musical comedy whodunnit called Curtains. The lead man was David Hyde Pierce from Frazier. He was excellent as was the rest of the cast. The whole show was very entertaining and we had a thoroughly good afternoon.

After the show we went to World of Disney, then into Trump tower for a coffee at Starbucks. We also went into Borders for a while and then met up with an ex student of mine - Mike Chung - for dinner. He has been working on Wall Street for 8 years now and it is 10 years since he left college. We had a really good evening and a fantastic Chinese meal at a restaurant called Tao. It was really good to see him again.

Tuesday 15th April 2008

We took the car back to the rental place and then caught the airbus to Newark Airport. From there we got the NJ Transit for one stop ($7.75 each!!!!) and then finally got onto the PATH train to the World Trade Centre. We were on this train for about 20 minutes and it only cost $1.75 each!!

We walked along the banks of the Hudson River as far as where you get the boat to Liberty and Ellis Island. We queued for over an hour before catching the ferry! We had to have our bags scanned and the scanner picked up a letter opener (like a knife) in an envelope that I had ready for posting. Eventually they let us through after someone behind us had something in their bag that concerned them.

We decided not to get off at Liberty Island as we only had 2 hours till Ellis Island closed.

We took the guided tour around the Immigration Station and learnt that until 6 years ago New York State and New Jersey State were fighting over who it belonged to. As the original Ellis Island belonged to NY they now own the actual building but NJ own the surrounding land. NY are now arguing about this as the dirt used to extend the island came from NY subways so they claim it is theirs!
The chandelier on the left is an original from the building (1892) and is by Tiffany. When they refurbished it in the 1980s they only had to replace 17 of the ceiling tiles and none of the chandeliers. This is from the registry room.


Returning on the ferry gave us some wonderful views of NYC!

After eating in a restaurant called SouthWest NY we headed home to our hotel.

Monday 14th April 2008

We left Scranton, PA and headed towards New York to visit Uncle Larry and Auntie Kay.


We stopped off to buy some coffee to take home from Walmart and also to have a quick lunch. We arrived at Uncle Larry's at 3pm and they made us very welcome. We were given a wonderful meal of barbecued steak, mashed potatoes and green beens and lots of wine!

We chatted for quite a while and had a lovely time. We took some photos before heading off to our hotel for the rest of the holiday.

We left there at about 7.30 and according to the sat nav it was 1 hour 15 minutes to get to the hotel. We had petrol to last 20 miles more than our journey! After taking the wrong turn several times we decided to fill up with fuel and it was a good job we did. It took us 2 hours to finally get to the hotel and with all the u turns and quick changes of direction, by the time I got to the hotel I felt quite sick!