Dan Looks Good!

Dan looks pretty good for a guy who almost died and was thought to never walk again. This photo was taken just before we left Lake Placid. Dan took a walk around the speed skating oval.

Out Trip Back to Colorado

Going back to Colorado was an adventure. First, we had to get all our bags from the place we stayed at 31st and Park into the SuperShuttle that we had reserved to take us to the airport. We had tons of luggage since this trip included the Lake Placid skating competition: skates, competition clothes, rollerblades, a tape recorder, and lots of other things.

Then, we drove all around the streets of New York for about an hour to pick others up in bumper to bumper traffic, but finally reached the La Guardia Airport. The place was mobbed and we had tons of luggage to move around. We got in the wrong line with all our stuff at first (that link had about 200 people in it) and we did move to the shorter line that took "E" ticket reservations after waiting in the wrong line for about 30 minutes. Moving the stuff was really hard since we had about 16 pieces to move! One man took pity on us and helped move the two heaviest bags.

Dan was great. Who would have thought he could have moved the stuff at all?

Finally, we checked in and the baggage people even made us move the bags to be checked to the x-ray area. We were glad to have a lighter load after that and went towards our gate. There we had to go through the area that searches each passenger and luggage. We were very glad to make it through with all pieces passing inspection. The idea of going back to the check-in area was NOT appealing.

We found our gate, got some food (another long line and an expensive venture) and waited and then boarded the plane. Were we glad to be sitting down!

The flight was nice. We saw a movie (Shrek the 3rd) and rested. We arrived to a peaceful Dallas Airport and had a short walk to a new gate. The only thing that went wrong was that Annabelle left her pillow on the plane from New York, but we were able to get back on the plane and get the pillow. Once we got on the plane in Dallas and headed for Colorado Springs, things felt calm. The flight was not long. When we left the plane we were shocked to enter an empty and quiet terminal. We got our baggage without worrying about someone stealing it from under our noses and our friend Larisa Gendernalik picked us up and took us home. The only challenge we had was fitting all our baggage in her car.

Home felt good and yes, trips like ths make us realize that there is no place like home.

Our Visit to an Orthodox Jewish Community in New York

Since the summer of 2003, I've been studying weekly over the phone with a program called Partners in Torah. I originally signed up for the program so I could learn to read Hebrew and teach Hebrew to my children, but after learning to read Hebrew, I continued to study weekly over the phone with my study partner, Dena Leff, who lives in Far Rockaway, New York.

When I signed up for the program, I didn't know that the study partner that Partners in Torah matched me up with was an Orthodox Jew, but as time went on, the two of us studied together about the Jewish holidays, Jewish customs, Jewish living, Jewish events, and also about our lives.

I learned about Dena's life and each week, as we chatted on the phone, I entered another world and learned about traditional Judaism.

Dena invited my family to visit. Dena suggested that we have a Bar Mitzvah for my son Joel if we ever visited. Well...finally we did visit Dena and her family! This is the story of our adventure:

We first walked to Penn Station from where we were staying at 31st and Park Avenue. We walked along a busy 31st Street to Penn Station. It was about 7:00 AM. One "interesting" thing we passed by as we walked was a huge group of homeless people lined up and eating breakfast in front of a church. The homeless were so absorbed in eating that they did not notice us, but I noticed them.

At Penn Station, we bought tickets for the Long Island Railroad and boarded a train for Far Rockaway. We met people on the train that suggested sites to see in NYC. Fortunately, they also told us we needed to change trains at a certain stop! They were so nice. Not everyone in NYC is nice, so it felt good to talk to some friendly people that rode the train to work every day.

After changing to a train that was much emptier, we looked out the window and enjoyed a pleasant trip to Inwood, the station just before Far Rockaway. When we got off the train, Dena had not arrived yet, but arrive about five minutes later. She and I hugged and met face to face for the first time.

We drove to her house to use the bathroom and then, we went off to the Shul. We arrived at a late morning men's Minyan that was scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM. The place was packed. There were men there of all ages wearing tefillin. Some were dressed in Chassidic clothes, others wore tallis, all wore kippahs, some had black hats, some wore casual clothes. Boys were there too.

Dena found the assistant rabbi and he was too busy to help Joel, but then Dena found a young man named Jared Stark, who helped Joel put on teffillin and shared the prayers Joel would say. We got to watch from a opening in a room and Joel went into the Minyan and got to read from the Torah (with help) and had a Bar Mitzvah! There was dancing and celebrating after that.

Someone out of the blue gave Joel a $100 bill! Another man gave us a check to buy study books for Joel. There were Mazel Tovs coming from everywhere. Partners in Torah provided cake and drinks to celebrate.

We then went to Dena's house to celebrate. Her oldest daughter had prepared a brunch. One of her sons and one of her daughters joined us for the meal and her oldest daughter came by to see how all went. (She was working at a day camp and took a short break.)

Joel hit it off with Dena's son, Meir, and Annabelle and Dena's nine year old daughter, Pearl, hit it off. The kids played. We saw Dena's house. It is a huge old brick house. We saw the apartment in her basement that her family makes available to newly married couples for the first two weeks of their marriage. Dena's 4 year old son returned home from his day camp since he was acting up. The kids went outside and jumped on the trampoline.

Once Dena's baby ate, we all piled in Dena's van. Meir rode his bike around the neighborhood and we all toured the neighborhood. We first saw the mikvah. The women's mikvah was closed, but we saw the men's mikvah. Dena explained that even dishes are purified there. Then, we went by the Jewish volunteer fire department, saw where the Eruv wire was in her neighborhood, saw girls playing at a day camp in front of a Jewish day school, and then visited a Jewish girls school. So many little ones wearing long dresses were everywhere! It looked like any school and was nice.

We then went to see the Yeshiva. I met one of the teachers and saw young men studying Talmud in a huge room. It was amazing. They all wore black and white. Joel went downstairs with Meir and saw many little boys playing in a gym. Joel was impressed that one kid was wearing Heelys!

We got back in the car and saw another group of teens dressed in black and white playing baseball as we passed.

We passed shul after shul, all in a small space. There were yards full of women with heads covered and many children playing. Women were pushing strollers. I didn't see any pets.

We drove to the next village, Lawrence, and went to a kosher pizza restaurant and then to a huge Jewish bookstore and bought books and music. The pizza was fantastic. Dena bought Rebekah a book that Rebekah read while we were still in Far Rockaway. (Rebekah told me it was so good she just couldn't put the book down.) I was introduced to a young woman on the street who announced she was engaged. Everyone was saying "Mazel Tov!" We looked into store windows that sold women's head coverings, yarmulkes, and wigs. I noticed a bakery where huge challah bread loaves were displayed in the window.

Dena wanted to show us the kosher supermarket, but we ran out of time. We returned to her home and she showed me her wedding pictures and her son's Bar Mitzvah pictures. The kids had ice cream.

A phone call from a neighbor across the street came. The mother had gone into labor...could Dena's family watch her other six children? Dena's house soon became filled with her other children who had been at camp and also the children from that family. My kids didn't know which kids were which!

Dena showed me a house across the street where a family with 13 children lived. The house had just had an addition put on. All the houses were alike, but huge. The lots were huge too. Dena's house had three bathrooms and several bedrooms upstairs. There was an entryway that had a dining room and living room on each side. Books and pictures lined the walls. There was an area for the computer and piano. Earlier, she showed me her kosher kitchen and how it was laid out.

Dena's children were all wonderful. They were so polite and so interested in talking. I wish we'd had more time to visit with her oldest son who had just returned from his camp. He mentioned how much he enjoyed visiting and exploring NYC. Joel loved playing computer games online with Meir. Annabelle loved hanging out with Pearl.

Dena drove us to the subway station and I hugged her good-bye. We had all had so much fun.

Once we got on the subway (which was empty at the time) we all talked about our day. We agreed that the visit to meet Dena and her family had been the best part of our visit to New York. We learned so much. We felt a bit like we had visited another country. We enjoyed learning about traditional Judaism and meeting Dena's family and friends.

It was a long subway ride back to mid-town Manhattan. We had to change subway trains and almost missed our stop. Dan announced to get out and I put my hand in the door to stop it from closing to stop Joel, Rebekah, and Dan from being left behind. Fortunately, the door opened and did not crush my arm. Some kind people helped us get all our belongings and we left the train safely and made our transfer.

Actually, the first train we tried to enter was too packed with people and we had to push and shove to get out of the way as the train left, but we took another train right to 33rd and Park that was not as full. Once we dropped our stuff off at where we were staying, we walked up Park Avenue for a few blocks and ate at a kosher restaurant called Mendy's. I just wanted to eat out to celebrate our last night in NYC. We promised the children ice cream and noticed the 31 Flavors near Mendys' was approved as kosher, but we didn't stop there.

We walked along 5th Avenue towards the Empire State Building. It was still open, but we decided not to ride up since it was expensive. We did go inside a New York public library (not the main one) and saw a description explaining the improvements planned for lower Manhattan. We also walked by the main library again. We saw the Flatirions Building from a distance.

We finally returned to 31st and Park and got the kids their ice cream at the local 31 Flavors. We then returned to where we were staying to pack. What a day!

• A Bar Mitzvah Minus the Year of Planning - From Parsha Partners: September 2007

New York City!

Our family went to New York City from August 6 through 10! We couldn't have done the trip without Dan. He is able to walk and move so well now and helped move luggage, find our way around, and just be a great daddy. This is an experience our family will never forget.

He drove our rental car into the city and dropped our luggage and me and the children off in mid-town Manhattan. Then he drove the car in New York and to the car rental place in Queens and returned the car. He then took the rental car shuttle back to the airport and took public transportation back to mid-town Manhattan.

After Dan got back to us, we all ventured out and walked to the American Girl Store. The girls got ice skates and a skating outfit for their dolls. We bought a book about Kirsten, a girl who lived in 1854. After leaving that store, we walked along 5th Avenue to the New York Public Library. We arrived to late to go inside, but we did stand on the steps and see the lion sculptures in front. We finished out evening eating ice cream at a 31 Flavors near where we were staying.



The next day we walked along Park Avenue to 23rd Street and caught a bus across town to Chelsea Piers. There, we met out friends Sam and Hellene Anderson, who were in New York at the same time. We skated two freestyle/dance sessions at the Sky Rink. It was so fun and everyone at the rink was so nice. They also complimented the children's skating.

The kids got to eat New York pizza right in the rink!



After leaving the rink, we took a look at the Chelsea Piers center. We then got back on the bus and tranferred to a subway and dropped our skates off at where we were staying. We took another subway to Grand Central Station and then took the Times Square Subway Shuttle to Times Square. There, we (with Sam and Hellene) went to the Toys R Us store. The kids got to ride the Toys R Us Ferris Wheel. Then we looked around the store. There girls ended up making their own stuffed animals at a place similar to Build A Bear. Annabelle got a teddy bear named Fluffy and Rebekah got a white dog.

Sam and Hellene left Toys R Us earlier than us. We were on our own and decided to walk around Times Square to find out the price of Broadway shows. We first found the full price ticket office and a policeman there gave us directions to the half-price office. When we went to inquire, we found out the shows we wanted to see were sold out, but also the tickets began at $65 for even the half-price shows, so we decided seeing a Broadway show was just too expensive for our entire family and decided to do something else.

We got back on the subway and returned to the area we were staying in mid-town Manhattan. We ate pretzels and hot dogs which we bought from vendors on the street. We discovered that taking subways and walking made the children tired.

That night, a huge rainstorm hit New York City. The next morning, we had planned to skate again with Hellene and Sam, but decided to change our plans due to the rain closing down some of the subway lines. We decided to go to the Museum of Natural History. We had no idea how crowded the streets would be. Also it was so muggy!

Anyway....the buses were hardly moving and cabs were impossible to get, so we walked from 31st and Park Avenue to Grand Central Station. We found a wonderful grocery/restaurant right before Grand Central Station, so we had breakfast there. Then we went inside of Grand Central Station and saw the historical building. After that, we went below and found a subway line that was working and began our trip to the museum.

We had a terrible scare....the subway suddenly stopped and we had to wait inside a hot car packed people for about ten minutes. I was so glad when the car began to move since it was hard to breathe in the car when it stopped.

After we got off that subway car, we made our way to where we planned to transfer to another line and waited a bit. It was announced that there was a delay. We decided not to wait. The idea of being stuck in another subway car did not appeal to us.

We went up to the street and waited for a taxi. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long and soon we were right in front of the museum. We had a great day at the museum. We saw an IMAX movie on dinosaurs and saw dinosaurs, mammals, birds, Indians, Indian masks, whales, human orgins, a children's hands on area, and and area about space and spaceships. We saw things about the natural history about New York State. There were many historical dioramas showing that history.

We bought a book about a night at the museum that the movie was based on. The children wanted to buy the DVD, but it was too expensive there. (I ordered the movie at a much cheaper price.)

After leaving the museum, we walked across the street to Central Park and walked around there a bit. The kids got ice cream from a street vendor. It was too hot to venture too far into the park, so we decided to take a cab back to where were were staying. This time, the streets were much more crowded, but the cab drive was pleasant.

After resting a bit, we walked on Lexington Avenue and found a nice coffee shop called the Murray Hill Diner and had a light meal. We were very tired from doing so much walking that day!

The next day, we had the adventure of our lives, but I'll share that in a separate post.....

Our Stay with Tom and Lori McHugh

Tom and Lori are people we knew from an interest outside of skating. We first met in the early 1980s. We haven't seen eachother in over 20 years, but Tom has become an ice dancer and found me online in 2002 and we've been in touch ever since. A friendship has developed.

When Tom heard we wanted to come to Lake Placid for the competition, he and Lori invited us to stay with them in Connecticut for a couple days before we drove to Lake Placid and for a night before going to New York.

Tom and Lori and their son, David, were great hosts. We got to meet Lori's mother too. Tom found places for us to skate and helped with finding road directions as we traveled. Tom made sushi! Tom took us out to dinner. Tom played the guitar for us. Lori played the piano with Rebekah. Tom did card tricks for the kids. The McHughs were wonderful!

Tom took us to skate at the Hickory Hill Figure Skating Club's Sunday ice dance session. He also took us to skate at his local rink in Danbury, Connecticut. He found a rink in Brewster, New York for us to skate at on Monday on our way to Lake Placid.

It was so nice to have friends to go to when we got off the plane and before going to New York City.

Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships 2007

Our family went to Lake Placid, New York, from July 30 until August 5, 2007. Joel and Rebekah did a great job and skated beautifully. I awarded all three children gold medals! It is sometimes amazing to think that Dan is here with us and that we are traveling together as a family!



See Joel and Rebekah's wonderful ice dance performances from Lake Placid in the videos below: