A visit from Emily

We just spent a week with my cousin Emily. She came fresh from her first year of college at the University of Idaho en route to spend the summer at home with her family. She put up with a lot--our apartment is, ahem, not exactly ready for visitors. But she handled our chaos and messiness with ease. The kids very much enjoyed having her around--she french braided Maya's hair, played lots of games and made endless pearler bead things with them. I also don't know how we would have moved the pantry we built into the kitchen without her help.
It was our first trip to La Guardia airport--the kids and I subwayed and bused to meet her. The bus was jam packed--we lucked out that a bunch of people near us got off so we could have two seats. Jonah promptly fell asleep in my lap which was a blessing--it was rush hour and the trip took us an hour. A woman sitting near us took me on as her project, and I spent a painful hour listening to her ramblings with no escape while Maya read a book she had brought. Emily rode back with us and it was a much shorter return trip. Not sure what kind of impression a bus trip through Harlem makes on a new visitor to NYC.
Saturday was a big day out. We played in the park during the day then Emily and I went and had pedicures before going to our show--Five For Fighting in the Times Square Nokia Theater. Check out this if you don't know this band:
FiveForFighting
They were really great, the theater was so cool and the crowd was mixed ages and fun. When the show was over and we walked outside it was pouring rain! So we stopped in to the Hard Rock Cafe next door and had snacks before heading home.
Mother's Day was next--Brett and the kids made omelets and I was treated to breakfast in bed. We finished building the pantry and Brett put an air conditioner in our bedroom (after hauling all 60 pounds of it home on the subway). We played in the park again later--found the kids' rockets and a Nerf football and Frisbee. My Mother's Day prezzie is a new camera--you may notice that our digital photos frequently have lines all over them, and most of the time we have to whack it 5 or 6 times before we can even take a photo in the first place. Will shop for the camera as soon as we get our more immediate projects under control.
Monday we had reservations to tour the Statue of Liberty--this time from the inside. It is kind of an all-day affair, especially with the Ellis Island stop, which we hadn't done last time. It was lovely out--actually the weather all week has been pretty nice. Warm, sometimes hot, with occasional rain showers that feel refreshing. At Ellis Island we saw a short play about the immigrant experience--it was really good and the kids enjoyed it as well. We came back via Ground Zero and Brett's office, which really offers the most impressive view from the 32nd floor of the massive construction site that used to be the twin towers. We picked up Brett, walked to China Town and had Dim Sum for dinner. I thought I had had Dim Sum before, but apparently had never really had the full experience. We check marked our choices on little slips of paper and were soon rewarded with towers of bamboo trays filled with dumplings of all kinds. We weren't always sure what we were eating, but it was pretty delicious. The noodle dish I ordered brought back this intense smell memory of being in Malaysia and eating at the little roadside shacks. Yum yum.
Tuesday Emily went out on her own--armed with a Manhattan map and a Subway card. Sounds like she had a nice time exploring and walking through neighborhoods. That night was our Beauty and the Beast show. When Emily was young that was her favorite story, and her whole bedroom had a Beauty and the Beast theme. The show was wonderful. The scenery and special effects were amazing and it was a delight to see how much the kids enjoyed it. Our night sort of fell apart toward the end--Jonah fell asleep in my lap, which wasn't a problem until it came time to carry him home. Something about the show triggered sadness in Maya--she missed her friends from home. We arrived home to find that Banchi had gotten into the pantry and ripped open a bag of flour. His nose was white around the cracks, his paw fur was stiff and where he had licked the floor the flour was glued in chunks. There was flour everywhere--it was a real mess! By that point Jonah had woken up and was grouchy and crying (more like yelling, as is his style), Maya was crying and sad and the spell from earlier in the evening where we were all dressed up and eagerly anticipating our first Broadway show was broken. The kids fell immediately to bed where they were unceremoniously dumped, and after vacuuming and scrubbing the kitchen floor we got the mess cleaned up. Not sure how much flour Banchi ate--he had diarrhea all day the next day (luckily he always made it outside in time), but am happy to report he seems back to normal now.
One of our biggest tasks is going through the boxes of things to get rid of...the ice cream maker we inherited from friends who moved to London a couple years ago was among those items. We decided to try it out once before tossing it. So yesterday, we made homemade mint chocolate cookie ice cream. It was fun to make and it turned out OK. But I'd take a pint of Ben and Jerry's any day, so the ice cream maker is in the "to go" pile. We ordered in a pizza and watched the rain falling from our window sills while we watched movies. Emily later went out on her own to visit Macy's.
And that brings us to today. Emily is safely on her plane, after waking up later than expected and then having to take a taxi to the airport after she accidentally got on the wrong bus (she didn't realize that more than one bus used the same bus stop). I was a little worried there for a bit that she wouldn't make her flight as we tried to figure out what to do via phone as she was heading the wrong direction on the wrong bus and the clock just kept ticking. Also feeling a little guilty that I sent her on her way on her own. But it sounds like she made it! And really, no NYC experience is complete without a taxi ride anyways, so maybe it was all meant to be.