On the Road Again....

Two weeks ago we made a drive up to New York City for a few days meeting family there. Of course we couldn't help buying a few new and good quality toys for Cecilia from FAO Shwartz and we visited the World of Disney in the hopes she could see Mickey or Minnie there but the only character they had out was Cinderella and she doesn't really know her.

My highlight was visiting the J.P. Morgan Library, which I've wanted to see for a few years now but they had during previous visits been renovating. I could have spent hours browsing the library and study - so many books and so little time! Cecilia is not even 16 months old and though she doesn't know it, she has already seen a Gutenberg Bible and original sketches by Bramante of St. Peter's. She mostly just wanted to run around the rooms though. It was quite fascinating and well worth the wait. They also have other wonderful exhibits like original documents from Shakespeare, Beethoven and Mozart but as they share their collection with other libraries and were still working on the upper and lower floors, we were unable to see those.

The Florida trip of last weekend, which you can read about Cecilia's return trip on her website, began well with good timing which was a greater blessing than we had realized as we got a flat tire outside Vero Beach. Cecilia sat quietly watching her video as we changed the tire to the spare along the side of I95 with cars and trucks going by at 75 and 80 miles an hour - talk about unnerving.

My brother's graduation went well though Cecilia wasn't fond of it - she found it too long, too crowded and far too noisy (some people brought blowhorns) though she did like the beach balls the students repeatedly tried to get into a volley without success. But she did see him receive the award for Fine/Performing Arts and see him get his diploma. The party afterwards went well for her as she loved all the fruit and veggies out to snack on. Cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, tortilla chips - you name it and she was onto it - except the strawberries, she still doesn't seem fond of them. We alternated letting her wander the party where we had to follow her everywhere to make sure we didn't get into trouble and retreating to a private room that was at least partially baby-proofed allowing us a break and her some space to herself. We tried to minimize her time outside as it got warm quickly and she would begin sweating and we had to watch her like a hawk around the pool. She absolutely loved all the "Congratulations Graduate" balloons around the house though. She even collected three and brought them back to "her" room.

Cecilia absolutely loved my brother's dogs - two Shelties named Andy and Alicia. At first she was scared of them as they moved very quickly. Then she gained confidence and began chasing them as they fled - all around the house! Eventually Andy developed some courage himself and would walk right up to her and put his nose in her face (I think that began the moment he realized she might be carrying cookies or some other food). Alicia remained a coward until the very end, but she is by definition an adorably sweet courage and intellect-challeneged dog. I think by the end though Andy and Cecilia had an understanding as he would let her catch him and pet him and she would throw food from her high chair for him to get. What are you gonna do?