This week

. . . has been busy!

Tuesday we went to the zoo with some friends. Monday was awesomely beautiful and we went nowhere and did nothing, so Monday night I emailed my friend Kate quick to see if she was available for Tuesday and off we went! Her four kids (one infant in a sling) and my two ran around the zoo for hours and had a blast. It was surreal for me. This is the tiny local zoo that I grew up with and wow, has it changed! We haven't been there in a year and apparently they spent that year changing a bunch of things (I think they came into a lot of money two years ago because that's when the changes started). The reptile house was amazing. My kid's favorite part was the new playground of course. Bridget and I are looking forward to the red panda exhibit opening soon and the Wild NJ exhibit (opening in the summer) sounds good too.

Wednesday we went to visit my aunt Ann. She's lived in a retirement home in an apartment for years (independent living type thing) but recently this past year she hasn't been able to stay there and had to move to the nursing section. Her mind is going very quickly and then she fell and fractured her hip and a few months later, fell and broke it. She's still very pleasant to talk to but some things are hard. Bridget doesn't understand that Ann doesn't "get" homeschooling. She's a very intelligent woman who used to be sharp as a tack but now she gets confused. Despite what we've explained to her, she seems to think the kids are in a private school where they are the only students and it's not worth arguing with her (she also mentions she hasn't seen her sister lately - my Grandma died 4 1/2 years ago). Unfortunately, Bridget gets offended that Aunt Ann thinks she does "desk school" and keeps trying to explain it to her which only confuses her more. Thankfully, Wednesday's visit mostly consisted of Bridget showing Ann all the ASL signs she knows. Before we left Ann commented that with only two students in the "school" the kids must get a lot of attention and it's no wonder they are so smart. Well, won't disagree there :-)

Then Thursday was the Met. The bus ride is always fun. Bridget and Robert sat together and he pointed out a lot of stuff to her. In Port Authority we went to see our favorite audio kinetic sculpture and it was busted :-( Then we bought magnets for the kids (Bridget wants to start a collection of a magnet for each state she visits - it was going to be pins but we couldn't find any). Then we crossed Central Park which takes a long time (what with all the stuff to see and do) but it's always fun. You can people watch forever in NYC! So much going on, so many different people, musicians playing for money, artists with easels set up, schools and daycares on field trips - it's like a show! The steps of the Met are always jam packed but it wasn't so bad inside. The last time we went must have been a bad day because this time we were paid and in very quickly.

We asked the kids if they wanted to look at the map and pick where to go or just wander and see what we wanted. They chose "wander" so off we went. Owen was fascinated by the armor ("You mean knights are real?"). Bridget was sorely disappointed to find that the pool in the American Wing (Gallery? Whatever) was drained and the room was closed. So she wanted to go to Modern Art and off we went, looking and wandering along the way.

Then we decided to see the Mary Cassatt paintings and found they were back in the American wing. Since that section was under construction it took us a good 45 minutes, some map reading and guard directions (at least three different times - some conflicting) before we finally found the dang paintings. And guess what? The room is *packed* with paintings and they have computers - very user unfriendly computers - to help you find what you are looking for. I confirmed that they have ONE Mary Cassatt painting and after the computer blipped and wouldn't bring me back to the screen we gave up. We probably could have spit and hit the painting but we just had to leave at that point. We had been in the museum 3 hours and had some very hungry, tired kids.

I do have to mention the Egypitan wing. You had to go through there on the way to the American Wing and Bridget really enjoyed it. We really should have hit that section first, huh? The room with the Sarcophaguses (uh, Sarcophagi?) was really cool. There was a small tour going on and and Bridget hung out with them listening to it for a little bit (no one said anything so I guess it was ok). And the Egyptian room with the temple and the reflecting pool was awesome. We'll definitely go back there, but maybe when they are done with the construction (because man, was it confusing!).

So we sat on the steps of the museum with the crowd and ate our lunches. Then we walked down the street to the park, looking at all the stands set up to sell things. One woman had a huge floor standing harp and Bridget listened to her for awhile and put some money in her box. We stopped at the Diana Ross playground for a short time and then got ice cream for the kids on the way to the subway.

The downer of the day was that the bus home was packed and we couldn't sit together. Bridget was really upset she couldn't sit with her Dad (like I said, the highlight of the trip there) and ended up sulking all the way home to cry alone in her room. I'm guessing being tired and hungry didn't help.

So today? Today I'm procrastinating about all the things I have to do before our trip Monday. I'm a bit overwhelmed so I'm ignoring most of my list so that there won't be time to do them and I won't have to. Yes, I totally get that's what I'm doing and I'm still doing it, LOL! Sunday will be a blur of activity all right.