The Wet Apple

Looking East from our hotel, across the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.

Jeremy had to work in NYC last week, so we decided to make a family trip out of it. In fact, we took our niece and her friend with us, as part of their high school graduation trip. Suzy had great plans to show them a good time in the big city. Unfortunately, the spring showers turned angry:

A combination of driving winds and intense rains left nearly half a million customers without power, was blamed for three deaths, and created serious obstacles to traveling distances both short and long around the New York metropolitan area on Saturday.

Gusts of more than 60 miles per hour also fanned a severe fire that destroyed historic homes on the Jersey Shore and knocked buildings to the ground.

The drenching came after a period of temperate relief from a winter marked by several blizzards dubbed “snowmaggedons.” But a different type of biblical reckoning came to mind as the National Weather Service predicted that at least two to four inches of rain would fall before the end of Sunday and had the area on a flood watch.

The Financial District in Lower Manhattan isn't a particularly kid-friendly neighborhood in the best of times, but with 60-mile-per-hour winds it becomes quite unpleasant. Tennyson made the most of it by watching DVDs...

...soaking in the warm tub...

...and watching more DVDs.

When the clouds briefly parted on our last day, we ventured out to see the wreckage. The number of $5 umbrellas littering the streets was hilarious.

New York is always an adventure, and this trip was no exception. Here are a few parting shots:

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges over the East River

Wall Street - cleaned out by the storm

One Liberty Plaza (location of Jeremy's NY office) rises into the clouds

Heather, come back!

Aunt Heather visited us this week, and we all had a great time together. We visited the sites, talked about everything but politics, and ate a remarkable amount of ice cream.

Heather visiting (the other) Thomas

Exploring Mount Vernon

How we feel now that Heather's gone

Four, on a bench made for three

Library of Congress -- Heather's surprise favorite DC tour (and always one of our favs)

So, who's next? We've still got some ice cream we would love to share with you.

DC Learning

It's amazing what you can learn by watching others at a DC public park.

(I'm guessing this one won't make it on grandma's screensaver.)

Serious

(Long enough for the shutter to open and close once, anyway.)

Playing with prisms

And making a goofy kid even goofier.

Best DC Winter Ever!

We broke the record. Yesterday's blizzard put us over the top. The city has been pretty much shut down for a week. But it's sooo pretty!

Reflecting at the World Bank

La Maison Blanche

Tenny has used the hunker-down time to perfect his pagoda building skills.

Next winter is going to be so disappointing.

Snowmageddon

Six winters in DC had us thinking it didn't (really) snow in the District. Our seventh has convinced us otherwise. Put Ye Stewart Clan on the record as LOVING every minute of it.

Tennyson dug a snow cave and pretended to be a snow monster.

Jeremy hiked through the blizzard the first night to see all the sights in the still-falling snow.

No hill? No Sled? No problem! (Nothing a shovel and decent set of stairs can't fix.)

Suzy dusted off the snowshoes and blazed new trails through Capitol Hill.

No Mercedes was spared.

As the inches turned into feet, it seemed like the snow might never stop.

But, after 2+ feet of snow, the clouds parted and the digging out began.

As did the snow angels.

Update: We just got this email from a Capitol Hill Yahoo! group to which we belong. East Coasters provide endless entertainment every time it snows.

"My husband heard on the radio that the birds and squirrels are starving because they can't get to any food. If you have any birdseed, bread and nuts, please toss onto cleared area for them."