New York Nortons

$5 to the first person who can name where they have seen this? And by $5, I mean $5 internet money… which is pretend money… I think.

family, nyc, travel

Please read this post immediately after or preceding the post about September 11, 2005 because that’s when the events described occurred.

We had our third visitor recently… well, it was Ashley’s dad who is actually a repeat visitor, so how do you count that? Since it was just him for the weekend, I say we count his visit as visitor number 3.

As a birthday treat, Jerry (aka Dad to some) came up specifically to go to the US Open with Ashley since Robbi Ginepri was playing in the semi-finals against Andre Agassi. They had a great time at Arthur Ashe stadium and Robbi almost came away with the win losing in the 5th set. Afterwards the two of them met me at Buster’s Garage, our local spot to watch UGA football with the UGA Alumni Association.

Sunday was September 11, and Jerry and I went to ground zero which I wrote about already. He called Taylor to let her hear the names being read out, and after I went home to make breakfast for Ashley, he attended a church service at St. Paul’s which he described as one of the most moving sermons he’s ever heard.

Here are Jerry’s own words about the rest of the day:

Later on Sunday, something fantastic happened. We went on the best bike ride ever (excluding Sanibel) for 20 miles. We went several miles with the Hudson River on one side and tall buildings on the other. Near 59th street, we cut over to Central Park, about 600 acres and a six or seven mile ride of perfect land. Thousands of NY’ers were all over the park having a super time. There were so many bikers and skaters, it was so fun. I also got something I was looking forward too, that is a relish hotdog and a sour kraut hotdog (YUM YUM). Daniel got a fairly plain dog, something is wrong with him. We biked several miles back and finished of the ride in typical NY Norton fashion, cream filled doughnuts before returning home. After a quick shower, we were off to Times Square. You have to see this before you die, you have too. There are just too many incredible lights and advertisement signs lite up with so much activity. It is to die for. We ate at the Times Square Brewery and I had the best ever crab meat sandwich.

Here are a couple pictures from his visit.

atlanta, family, nyc, travel, visits

Ashley and I flew to Savannah last weekend to surprise Mom for her birthday. Grammy and Mr. Leitch planned an oyster roast at the Savannah Yacht Club, and they pulled it off perfectly. Uncle Jim and Aunt Dorothy went out of their way to get my brothers down to Savannah for the party. Uncle Jim rented a car for them, and Aunt Dorothy got them a hotel room. It was an incredible gesture. In fact, Mom said that it meant so much that all three of us were there.

I took this picture just as she walked in the room.

birthday, family, travel

I said that I would post about Jana and Dad’s wedding, but I got a little distracted this week.

Anyway, the wedding last weekend was beautiful. It was a very intimate and sweet ceremony. The only people in the santuary were Jana, Dad, my three brothers – Jonathan, Matthew, and Spencer; Ashley, the pastor, a musician, and a photographer. During the ceremony, we all lit a unity candle signifying the bond of the family.

Afterwards, the rest of the family and several friends came to the reception to celebrate their wedding. It was wonderful to see everyone, and Dad and Jana were great hosts. They really seemed to enjoy the whole day (ok, they were a bit stressed out when we first saw them.) Melanie and crew did a fantastic job making everything go smoothly.

On a side note, this was the first trip back to Atlanta for Ashley and me. We took the opportunity to eat at Chick-fil-a, Ted’s Montana Grill, and Moe’s (what’s up NYC? When are you going to get these franchises?) We also managed to see everyone at least for a little while. It was a bit like a typical holiday where we drive from Atlanta to Marietta to Newnan and back. Here’s a shout out to everyone that we saw last weekend – Grandaddy, Grandmama, Denise, Jeannie, Jerry, Uncle Jerry, Memama, Wagner family… boy, it sure seemed like a lot more people than this list. It certainly took all weekend.

atlanta, family, travel

Hello from New York!

Ashley and I have been in New York for about 3 weeks, and I’ve just now gotten this blog off the ground. Part of the problem has been a lack of time to devote to setting everything up. Shout out to Shane who has been extremely generous in lending me some space to host this blog and helping me troubleshoot problems with my PHP install and other general technical headaches.

I don’t know how this blog will take shape yet. I envision it as a place to keep our family and friends up to date on our lives here. I’ll try to be diligent about posting pictures and writing about adventures, but I’m not making any promises. Mostly, I think it will probably be similar to my free blog yeahnotreally which is about nothing, and lately less nothing than usual. Plus, most of our friends don’t read (and definitely not blogs.) Just kidding friends… except Shane.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Leave a comment if you do make it here.

family, nyc