NYC

Terri and Bill are our fabulous friends (and former neighbors) from Germany. Their daughter, Jessica, was graduating from college (with honors!) and they were attending her graduation. Terri and Jessica had plans for two days and two nights in NYC and invited me to come along. We had a fabulous time together. The highlights: Phantom of the Opera, New York cheesecake, buying knock-off bags from a lady in a van in Chinatown, laughing at the laughably bad service in the Vietnamese restaurant, and walking around looking at the amazing sights.

First there were friends:

and there were bags:

and there were crazy Italians: and really bad service:

and Grand Central station:

and sights:

and architecture:

I want to go back. I heart NYC.

Elephants and Poodles

After a long blogging sabbatical, I'm baaaaack.

Amazing how you can spend so much time practicing for a show that lasts just two minutes. If you're a faithful blog reader, you'll remember Kate had her first dance recital at Christmastime and I commented on her two left feet and overall lack of coordination. She seems to have improved a bit with that, further proving that bad genes can be overcome. She really enjoys ballet now and can't wait for it to start up again in the fall. Personally, I'm happy for the rest from practices and waiting room drama. The theme was carnival of animals and her whole class was a herd of elephants, rather fitting for the beginner's class. At the last minute the teacher needed a time-filler and asked Kate to be one of five poodles in a second act. She was beyond thrilled to be chosen and was the cutest pink poodle I've ever seen.

A couple waiting shots...

There was a lot of off-time backstage, and really, I'm pretty certain that's what filled Kate's tank, rather than the actual dancing. Remember what I said about the cutest pink poodle ever? Told ya.