NYC - The Fleet Week That Wasn't

Ok, I admit it. I wasn't real excited about the whole Fleet Week thing. It's not that I have zero interest in seeing the ships, I just have very little interest in doing it with my darling husband. This is just one of those kinds of things that Brent is better off doing with one of his guy friends. While I'm willing to spend two or three hours wandering around, that's about my limit.
After breakfast with my cousins, we were a bit late getting down there. The line was ridiculous, and neither one of us wanted to stand in line that long.

Brent just couldn't make up his mind. Yes, he'd like to go, but perhaps Fleet Week would be far more crowded than he wanted. The schedule we made up didn't suit him. He didn't order tickets on-line ahead of time. But, trust me, it was all my fault that he didn't get on board the Intrepid.

NYC - It's All About the Food!

One of the best things about NYC is the incredib le variety of food. Going with Kera, Chris, and Gwen insures we'll get a real variety, including some fantastic vegan restaurants. I wish I had taken more pictures of food because it was great.

First stop on Saturday after getting the keys to our apartment was San Loco, a little hole in the wall Mexican place in the St. Mark's area. I love their guacamole, it's fantastic! Right across the street is Pomme Frites, a Belgian french fry place with a gazillion different dips. Of course, all those dips and Gwen's favorite is the malt vinegar! Ugh!

We wandered around Chinatown and ended up at a street fair in Little Italy. All these fantastic Italian desserts and what did we have? Unbelievable frozen fruit ices that were just so flavorful, they were to die for. Gwen got the last of the watermelon, that little stinker, although my mango ice was pretty darn good too.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures from Soy and Sake which is a great vegan place in the village. When will I learn that they give you so darn much food that two could easily split an entree. I had the bento box and OMG, it was fantastic!

Kindergarten, Here I Come!

Kylie is definitely a big star in a tiny little body. You can tell from the grin below that she was so proud of herself. She had some proud parents and grandparents in the crowd rooting her on too!

Quite the little artist, Kylie points to the picture she drew of her family: Mom, Dad, and Kylie.

Kylie displays and describes her artwork to her Mom and Dad.

It was so cute listening to her tell the story of her artwork to Travis. Congraulations Kylie! You're gonna take kindergarten by storm!

One Year Ago....

Well there's just nothing to a year is there? One year ago today I began my bionic journey with two brand new knees. It's been a heck of trip and I have never been so challenged nor struggled so much. The struggle has been both physical and mental. Physically trying to get both knees working was a challenge that was almost more than I could bear. Mentally it just about broke me. Strength comes from all kinds of places: faith, family, friends, and sometimes you just find it somewhere deep inside. At the end of the day, I've been very blessed.


A year later I am able to walk all over New York City for three days. I work my way through my yoga class, substituting for poses that end up on the knees, but doing pretty good. My spin bike is only about an inch off the optimal seat setting. I still struggle going down stairs, but I continue working on it. With the exception of heat flashes, I pretty much sleep through the nights. I can move from one position to another without waking up in pain. While things aren't perfect, I am so much better than I was prior to surgery.

Thanks to my husband, my family, and my friends. You know who you are. You're the one who sent me cards, called me, and visited. You're the one who came to stay with me, cooked for me, did my laundry. You're the one who encouraged me, helped me with never ending painful exercises. You're the one who listened to me when I cried and held me while I sobbed. You saved me. I can never thank you enough.

Kylie's Egg Hunt

We got to my folks place for Easter dinner about an hour ahead so we could hide eggs for Kylie. The sun was still shining, but the storm clouds were gathering. We were definitely keeping our fingers crossed as we waited for Travis and Kylie to arrive. We were sooooo lucky. As the egg hunt finished up I made the comment to mine brither that the air smelled like rain. Five minutes after we went inside the clouds cut loose. Whew!

Silly girl. Does this look like an Easter bonnet to you? Hmmm. Must have left that bonnet at the same place you left your Easter dress.

Kylie set off to find her 50 candy filled eggs. They were hidden the whole way around the house. She did pretty good, but we ended up back in the back yard to find the remaining 10 eggs.

I like these pictures. You can tell Kylie is really having a good time.

Duck under those limbs, sister!

We dumped 26 found eggs out of her basket and sent her back out to find the rest of them.

I love this picture of Dad and Kylie having a conversation about the picture coasters. I'm not sure who was telling whom about the pictures. What a great shot!

Gwen's Egg Hunt

Wouldn't you know it. The weather was overcast and drizzly all day long until an hour before G. was coming for her egg hunt. The it was all about letting the sunshine. Grrrr. We had already hidden the eggs in the house. Oh well, it wasn't the first time we were forced to hide/hunt eggs indoors.

There were 50 candy filled eggs and as always, she found 49 pretty handily and we were all left searching the house for that one remaining egg that was hidden just a little too good.

After Gwen found all the eggs, I had prepared a little scavenger hunt for Gwen to find her basket filled with other stuff. I had found some great deals at Hallmark's "sidewalk" sale at Strawberry

Square. A few little things I knew she would enjoy. I made a few of the clues a little more difficult but she still followed the clues pretty handily.

Hey, what's the point of hunting all those eggs if you can't partake?

For Gwen a large part of Easter is all about the dress. She didn't like the firsgt one I bought her. It wasn't poufy enough, glittery enough, girlie enough. We hiked everywhere at the Capital City Mall and finally, at the last store possible, Penny's, we found the perfect Easter dress. It aptly bore the Cinderella label, had plenty of poufy skirts, and lots of sequins letting the dress glitter in the light. It was perfect and as you can see, she looked beautiful!

Happy Birthday Kera!

Somehow it seems that we've had big family celebrations for everyone's birthday except Kera's. Although we do celebrate Travis's and Chris's December birthdays on Christmas Eve. But I felt terrible when Kera asked if we were having a dinner for her because we had them for everyone but her. I hope we made up for it on her birthday, April 23.

I asked Kera what she wanted for her birthday meal and she chose fetuccini alfredo with roasted root vegetables. I added a salad and Chris took care of obtaining the vegan Boston cream cake which was really yummy.

Kera provided a list of things she wanted for her birthday. I think we knocked a big chunk out of her list with a few pairs of running shorts, a tank, and a skirt, not to mention the dirt for her raised vegetable beds. Lots of gifts and heartfelt cards.

We were eating dessert when Gwen sidled up beside me and asked if we could play her favorite game Who Gnu. We had such a good time...except for the part where the geezers kept winning!
I love that Gary can't read with his glasses on any better than I can!

Happy birthday, Kera. Now please slow them down girl because you're making me feel really old! Love you.