busy weekend

A couple of weekends ago (already?) Francis came to visit us.  After his whirl-wind trip around the US (Michigan, Mass, Illinois) he needed to add NJ -- and NY, of course -- to his list.  He came in Friday afternoon, so while Dexter was in school, Kyalo and I scooped him up and whisked him off to a most important site-seeing spot:  Target!

Shopping done, we picked Dexter up from school, and then settled in for a quiet evening at home.  We had chai, and pizza, and I made Francis' favorite apple crisp (not my best offering of it, but its the thought that counts) in honor of his birthday later this month.  Kyalo LOVED having Francis around, and Dexter and I loved having someone else to entertain Kyalo.

Francis was a good friend to read to Kyalo, but was a little distressed when Kyalo said, "read 'gain!" after every book.  

And there was drawing, too. They spent lots of time working on masterpieces of Grandma, Grandpa, Papa, Mom, and so on.  There Kyalo is showing off their work.

On Saturday, we ventured into NYC.  This is embarrassing to admit, but Dexter and I hadn't been there since December when Jana was here.  So, you need to come visit so we can get across the river more often!  It was a beautiful, warm fall day, perfect to be in the 'big seety' as Kyalo calls it.  

Even though we lugged the camera with us, we didn't take too many pictures.  Here are some of the things we did:  Times square (where we saw naked ladies painted in pink which somehow had something to do with breast cancer awareness month), the rushing Bull over near wall street (smaller than any of us thought), burgers at the Shake Shack, the guys did the Empire State building while I went alone (bliss) to the NY Public Library and saw a children's literature exhibit (awesome), and the World Trade Center Memorial.  Having recently seen a documentary on the memorial we were interested to see it.  The lines and security to get in were INSANE (and I can't imagine what it must have been like in the summer) but it was worth it.  Very moving!

World Trade Center One (I think it is called) a neighbor of mine is the building 'super' of this building.  Cool job, huh?

A few years ago, we visited Matt & Erica when they were still living in Long Island (and our boys hadn't yet entered the scene) and made a trip to NYC.  I took some pictures of the area that day.

 July 2010

July 2010

October 2013

I'm not sure if these pictures really show off how significant the changes are, but it is pretty impressive to me -- the building was nowhere in sight in 2010, and now it is basically completed!  There will be a museum opening in the next year or so, and I hope we'll get to that as well.  Who will come with us?

The guys wanted to make the trek up the Empire State building which my fear of heights could not really handle.  So they went there (with Kyalo sleeping in the carrier on Dexter's back) and I ventured off to explore NYC on my own.  This meant getting lost in a subway station, and then spending time in the NYPL for the first time - something I'd wanted to do since that first visit to the city with Matt and Erica.  And lucky for me there was an exhibit on children's literature.  It was really well done, I was sorry I made it there so close to closing and couldn't really enjoy it.  Some of the cool things were:  the 'real' Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals (not at all what he looks like now!), original sketches by Beatrix Potter of Petter Rabbit, and really interesting set ups for the various themes.  Since I'd left the camera with the guys, thinking they'd take pictures from the top -- only to find out later about how they nearly lost the bag with all our valuables in it -- I don't have any pictures from my library experience. But I do have this of one of the lions on the outside of the library.

We met up, walked through Time Square, and then headed home.  I hadn't really thought about it before, but the electricity usage for Times Square is kind of out of control, especially when you consider how unreliable it is in a place like Kijabe.  Perspective!

On Sunday we had to take Francis to the CURE headquarters in Pennsylvania (another state!), so after another nice relaxed morning and time of bonding we headed off to PA.  After getting to PA, we needed to get dinner before Dexter and I took the three hour trek back to NJ.  So we went to Cracker Barrel, where there was serious solitaire game playing.

According to the game, Francis is a genuis

glad we got that confirmed!

And a few more photos, of course:

It was entirely too short, of course, but we're so grateful that have had the chance to share this part of our life with Francis.  We do hope to get back to Kenya one of these days, but it probably won't be for a while yet.  So in the meantime, we relish these moments with friends when we get them.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture of our visits together. This was up in MA in September.  

pals