Communicating

I often wonder how my parents survived without cell phones.  I don't know what I'd do without mine.  I can check my bank account while I'm watching a ballet lesson, order from Amazon while  I'm cooking dinner,  and pay bills while I'm on the treadmill at the gym.  Let's not forget that I can use my phone to pay for coffee!  And, incredibly, I have the ability to reach out and communicate with my loved ones every minute of the day. 

Yesterday proved how difficult communicating can be.  The AC in my car was out and I simply couldn't go another hot day without it.  Les offered the use of his car so we dropped my car off at the shop.  I drove him to work, said I'd be back at 4:15, and drove off.  As I rounded the corner of his building, an alarm went off and lights started flashing on the dashboard.  "Warning!! No ignition key!!"  Oh no!!!  Les has a keyless ignition and had taken the keys with him.  I would be able to drive as far as I wanted.  But, once I stopped the car, I wouldn't be able to start it again.

 I slammed on the brakes, turned around, drove back and parked in front of Les' building.  As I dialed his office phone, available options flashed through my mind.  A little background is necessary here.  Les works in a "secure facility."  After he enters two sets of locking doors, he stores his cell phone in a cubby.  Although he has an office phone, I've never yet reached him that way.  Instead, I get the voicemail belonging to the person who used to occupy Les' desk.  It seems that can't be fixed.  In summary, it's virtually impossible to reach Les directly during the day.  I have to leave a message and wait for him to check his voicemail.  So, my options were to desperately try to reach Les or to drive to work so I wouldn't be late and then take a taxi home.  I spent 15 minutes dialing his cell phone and office phone.  In between calls, I pounded on the door.  I examined the buttons on the keypad, hoping to find some kind of buzzer.  Nothing jumped out at me and I was worried I'd set off an alarm.  So, I kept calling and knocking.

I saw lights on in the second floor windows and contemplated looking for rocks to throw.  As I leaned against the car in frustration, I thought about just leaving the car and taking a taxi home.  But, it would have been too late for me to get a substitute and I didn't want to leave my students alone.  As I was about to look up the number for a taxi, one of Les' co-workers drove up and rescued me.  Now, if we had an old-fashioned car that required keys, this never would have happened.

I had a pleasant day and left on time.  Cassie had asked permission to go to Starbucks with a friend.  I hadn't heard from her so I tried texting her.  No response.  I then tried calling.  No response.  I called again.  No answer.  I called home. No answer.  Finally, she texted to let me know that she and a friend had arrived home.  She apologized, saying that her phone had died.  Funny how that phone always dies when I want to reach her.  I pulled up to Les' workplace at 3:58.  I was early.  So, alas, no Les waiting.  Yes, I was dumb enough to try calling.  Of course, nobody answered.  I stood outside until another kind co-worker exited and begged him to fetch my husband.

Later, when Lacey asked about my day, I told her!  Lacey thought for awhile and then said, "You know, Daddy's not really a good communicator - at least with electronics."

The Bus Rides of New York

Over Spring Break we took a trip to New York.  We each had separate goals for the trip.  Les wanted to visit the 911 Memorial, and do as little shopping as possible.  Cassie wanted us to not look like tourists, and to do as much shopping as possible.  I wanted to walk as much as possible, and to make sure that nobody got hit by a car.  Lacey wanted to play in Central Park, and visit as many different restaurants as possible.  In fact, she wanted me to blog only about what we ate on the trip.  I told her that I would share some of the details that took place between meals.


We took a bus from Virginia that arrived mid-afternoon, and checked into the hotel.   Our first stop was the City Kitchen.  This is a little food mall on 8th Avenue, right next door to our hotel.  The girls loved the food and the view. 

Next, we dragged Les to Times Square.  The girls showed him the Polo store where they can buy shirts for $12.  This store was, of course, so crowded that we could barely get in.  The music was loud and the customers were louder.  I let the girls select a couple shirts while Les opted to wait outside. 

We walked around Times Square until it started to snow.  On the way to our hotel, Lacey spotted Guy's American Kitchen and Bar, owned by Guy Fieri.  Lacey absolutely loves watching his show, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."  She was so thrilled that we agreed to have dinner there.  She was disappointed that Guy wasn't actually there.  But, she still enjoyed visiting the restaurant.

Dinner at Guy's

Times Square

Monday morning we got up early and set off to visit the 911 Memorial.  While some of us love walking, the memorial was pretty far away.  We asked the friendly concierge for the easiest way to get there.  First, she recommended the subway.  Then, she suggested a tour bus that would allow us to simply "hop on" and "hop off" at multiple locations.  In fact, she had all kinds of suggestions.  One package would give us bus fare and entry to museums.  For a few dollars more, we could also get a helicopter ride. Another package offered four days of bus fare, plus all of the above.  We had ridden the tour bus once before and, although I couldn't remember why, I was pretty sure that we'd agreed to never ride it again.  But, I let Les talk me into the two day bus fare because it included free admission to the 911 Observational Tower.  The concierge took our money, gave us a receipt, and told us that we could catch the bus out front.

When the bus arrived we learned that we had to take our receipt down the street to the visitor's office and exchange it for actual tickets.  After asking for directions twice, we finally found the visitor's office.  Twenty minutes later, we headed back to the bus stop, clutching bus tickets along with free tickets to an adult comedy club, and a card that guaranteed discounts to many shops and restaurants in the city.  We climbed on board, anxious to get out of the cold.  The bus had an upper deck. But, because only half the seats on the upper level were covered, we sat downstairs.  We plugged in our free ear buds and settled back to listen to the tour guide.   As soon as the bus turned the first corner, a deluge of cold water came rushing down the stairs.  As we ducked and picked up our feet to escape the cold water, our tour guide explained that the water was just melting snow.  No worries.  In a few hours it would be dry!

When we got to the memorial, we learned that the "free" tickets we had for the tower needed to be exchanged at a different visitor's center, somewhere in Manhattan.  Rather than spending another 3 hours on the tour bus, we paid for tickets.  In the end, we all agreed that the visit was worth the wet bus ride.

Next we took a brisk walk to Chinatown where we visited the outdoor markets and had lunch at a Shanghai restaurant.  Lacey did her best to not look like a tourist.

We "hopped on" the bus outside Chinatown and headed back toward Times Square.   This bus' upper deck was covered and was warm from the sun.  We sat down in the front two seats.  Lacey fell asleep almost immediately.  When the driver slammed on his breaks to avoid a pedestrian, Lacey flew off her sit and crashed into the front window.  Lucky for her she was sitting cross legged and her knees hit the window first.  This experience didn't stop her from going right back to sleep. 

When we got back to our hotel, the girls and I were anxious to do a little walking.  We visited some of our favorite shops around Rockefeller Plaza.  Dinner that evening was Les' choice - the Playwright Celtic Pub.  We enjoyed the food and hatched plans for the next day. 

The plan for Tuesday was to spend the morning visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then on to the  Laduree.  The latter is a macaroon shop on Madison Avenue, near the Met.  The girls had fallen in love with the Laduree last summer and I'd promised that we would return. 

First, we had breakfast at our favorite restaurant - the Europa Café on 57th.  I know this is a chain restaurant.  But, this particular one is the first restaurant we ever visited in NYC.  Cassie loves the vanilla sugar crepes and I love the coffee.  This was a one-mile walk from our hotel.  But, we had a destination and everyone was happy to walk. 

The vanilla sugar crepe

Les reminded me that we still had a day left on our bus passes.  I argued that we had already walked a mile toward the Met.  It wouldn't be that much farther and if we got away from the buildings and walked across Central Park we would find some sun.  Les reminded me that the bus would travel clockwise up around the park, passing through Harlem and other neighborhoods that the kids hadn't seen.  Lacey was cold and voted for the bus, so it was 2 to 2.  Trying to keep the peace, I reminded Cassie that Macy's one-day sale was starting today and would give us a great opportunity for walking later that day.  We set off to look for a bus stop.  If you've been to NYC, you know that these tour buses have multiple employees stationed on each block.  We asked the next one we saw for the nearest stop that would take us "uptown."  We found a bus around the corner.  But, it was out of service.  We found another bus nearby.  But, it was headed "downtown."  We found another employee who explained the best stop for our destination was the one right in front of our hotel.  I know this is hard to believe.  But, we turned around and walked the mile back to our hotel to catch that bus.

Before we boarded the bus, we purchased three pair of gloves, a hat, and two scarves from a street vendor.  A good use of $20 in my opinion.  This bus was really crowded.  We gave the kids the only vacant seat on the lower level.  Les and I ended up in the very back of the bus on the uncovered top deck. I spent most of the ride with my scarf wrapped over my head and around my face, hunkered down behind the seat in front of me to escape the wind.    It wasn't too bad when the bus stopped in the sun.  But, the sun wasn't reaching many places in the city that early in the morning.  Each time the bus stopped, we'd peer down onto the sidewalk to be sure the girls weren't getting off.    At some point, Cassie texted that Lacey had broken the audio box and they could no longer listen to the tour.  "At least you're warm!" I texted back.  After about 90 minutes of this, we decided that walking would be warmer.  When we reached the Guggenheim, we got off. 

Our first stop was at a sidewalk vendor.  We bought bags of honey-roasted peanuts and poured the hot peanuts onto our bare hands to warm up!  But, seriously, this was the first time the girls had seen the Met.  And, of course, they fell in love.

Edgar Degas' "The Dance Class" and "The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer"

Later, the girls impressed Les by showing him the way to the macaroon shop.

 We decided to walk back to the hotel, looking for a diner along the way.  Apparently, we chose the wrong avenue because we didn't pass a single restaurant.  Even though we had sworn to avoid chains, we lunched at the three-story McDonalds in Times Square.  We used our bus passes to get a discount!  Then, Les and Lacey headed for the Lego Store while Cassie and I walked to Macy's.  We were delighted to discover that Macy's annual flower show had just started.  And, no joking, our bus passes got us a 10 percent discount at Macy's!


At dinnertime, there were incredibly long lines outside all the nearby restaurants.  We picked the shortest line . . . Planet Hollywood!

Wednesday was all about Central Park.  Again, the girls impressed Les with their knowledge of the park.  They took us to the carousel, the Boathouse, and the fountain from "Friends."   




We spent the morning in the park and the afternoon at Bloomingdale's. 

For our final day in NYC, we visited the High Line Park.  We walked the entire length of the park and finished at Chelsea Market.  Here are a few views from the High Line.

Proof that I was there

Here are my new favorite photos of the girls.  I love looking at them and seeing the joy captured in the photos.  I would be willing to tolerate a lot more rides on the tour bus just to make a few more memories like these.

Lacey Lost Her Eye

I haven't written in awhile because not everything that happens around here is that interesting.  But, I just can't let yesterday's events go undocumented.

The day started out fine.  I was in the kitchen sipping coffee and packing lunches.  Then, at exactly 5:53 a.m., I received a text from Cassie that said, "Lacey lost her eye!"

I groaned and started up the stairs.  Those readers who know us are probably groaning too.  Those of you who don't need to understand that this was no April Fool's joke.  Lacey wears a prosthetic eye.  She seldom removes it and never remembers to place it in its case.   (For a history of Lacey's eye, follow this link:  Lacey's New Eye)

Lacey claimed that she had taken her eye out to rinse it and left it on the bathroom counter.  The bathroom counter was pretty crowded.  But, trust me on this, an eye is kind of hard to miss.  It wasn't there.  We searched on the floor, through the laundry hamper and through the trash basket.  Les fetched a flashlight and peered down the drain. 

Lacey was upset and we were all going to be late.  We decided to let her decide  whether  she wanted to go to school without her eye.  A couple years ago she wouldn't have cared.  But now she doesn't want her friends to see her without it.  She opted to stay home and continue looking. 

At 7:30 I called to ask how the search was going.  She happily announced that she was having breakfast.  I suggested she eat up and start looking.  At 7:45 I called to check in again.  Lacey informed me that, although she hadn't begun looking for her eye,  she had texted all her friends to let them know she wasn't coming to school.  That made me remember that I needed to call the school and report her absence.  I briefly wondered what the attendance clerk would say if I told her that Lacey wasn't coming because she couldn't find her eye.  That would be better than any excuse my students had ever offered!

I was seriously worried about Lacey's eye.  Making a new prosthetic eye would take about two months.  And, they are not cheap.  Around 8:45 I texted Lacey.  Our exchange went like this:

Me:  Any luck?
Lacey:  Not yet.  I'm going to try my bedroom.
Me:  It has to be in the house.  Did you check your backpack?
Lacey:  Yes it's in there.
Me:  What's in there ????
Lacey:  No it's not in the backpack.
Me:  Bathroom cabinet?
Lacey:  No.
Me:  Did you shake out your pajamas?
Lacey:  No found it under my bed now
Me:  Did you find it?
Lacey:  Yes
Me:  Really?
Lacey:  Yes
Me:  Why don't you call Gladis and see if she can take you to school.
Lacey:  I'll think I'll stay home and clean my room.
Me:  Okay.  Good idea.

It might seem like a cop out for me to have let her stay home.  But, I was still recovering from having recently watched Les try to put out a fire by sitting on it.  So, having Lacey safely at home cleaning her room seemed like a good option.

Later, I showed Lacey our texts and asked why she answered "yes" to the eye being in her backpack.  She said that she had gotten the words "yes" and "no" a little confused.  After Cassie finally stopped laughing, I asked Lacey how she thought her eye got under her bed.  "Well," she said.  "I must have accidentally kicked it there."

"But how did it get on the floor in the first place?" I asked.

"I don't know," she answered.  "I guess I must have accidentally put it there.  I mean Cassie wouldn't have put it there to prank me.  So, I must have done it.  By the way, my teacher was still out of town today and the substitute we have is really mean!"

Was today some kind of April Fool's joke that Lacey planned so that she could stay home?   I will probably never know.  But right now I'll settle for a clean bedroom.