New york!

monday afternoon we left for NY. we had a fairly easy trip down. the girls watched a movie, then we drove along for a while, then we stopped at a costco in connecticut for some dinner and supplies. we got to NYC at 8 or 8:30, and everyone was tucked into bed by 10. success!!

tuesday morning we woke up bright and early to head to the museum of natural history. it was school vacation week in NY too, so the museum was pretty crowded, but the girls had a great time. the mascias came with as, as did another friend and her son, who we've known since nina was a baby, and uncle henry, aunt marilyn and the girls met us there too. we divided our time between the 4th floor, with all the dinosaur bones, and the 1st floor, with the whale and the origins of man exhibit. maggie said her favorite thing was the giant tree stump (it's a cross-section of a tree about 1500 years old. yowsers! i'm not sure if it was a redwood or a sequoia. but you could see all the rings, and it was about 12 feet in diameter. really something! nina liked all of it.

on wednesday we went to the playground at our old co-op and saw some old friends. it was fun to see how all the kids have grown and catch up with everyone. nina is at least a head taller than everyone, it must be all this fresh country air! she's always been the tallest of the group, but now the difference is even greater.

wednesday afternoon and evening we had a lovely visit with great grandma and great grandpa. the girls both fell asleep on the way over, so i was afraid maggie would wake up grumpy and grandma and grandpa wouldn't get to see her cute, fun side, but she was great! when they were taking pictures, grandma said "say cheese!" and maggie kept yelling "banana!" so cute. nina also did some math (it was her idea, she just likes to do math all of the time, i swear i wasn't pushing her to show off!), and she impressed everyone by adding 25+25 in her head, and then explaining how she did it ("well, 5+5 is ten, and you can't have forty-ten, so it must be 50!" she's really good!).

then thursday morning we hit the playground one more time and then hit the road. we had a really smooth trip back. we stopped at a mall with a carousel inside of it (the girls LOVE carousels), and even picked up some clothes for nina, who, being so tall, has outgrown pretty much everything she has. we got in at about 9:30.

what a great trip!

oh, one other cute funny thing that maggie said: little penelope had gone to the bathroom and had pulled down her jeans without unbuttoning them. that went fine, but she couldn't pull them back up. so she sat down on the floor with her pants half pulled up, and they were covering her feet. she started to cry and maggie and i went over to help her, and maggie said, "why are you crying pepe? is it because you lost your feet?" that cheered pepe right up too, she started laughing! maggie and pepe really have a little bond between them.

wow, i'm tired. but glad to be all caught up, and still one more day left in february!