Travel to Katerina & Beyond: MAY

In May we celebrated Mothers' day (a week early) while my Mother was visiting. Susie made her a beautiful scrapbook of our cruise to Bermuda. I gave her a Shutterfly Photo Book of Katerina from the day of her arrival home through the end of 2006. I'm also working on a China book, and a 2007 book. Susie also made Mom a collage of pictures of.....Guess Who??

The weekend after Memorial Day we had Julianne staying with us so that Phyllis could attend a work-related function with her older daughter at a Dude Ranch. The girls had a lot of fun and we were lucky to have such a fun packed weekend. On Friday night we went to the Pleasantville Fireman's Parade. On Saturday was the Asian Heritage Festival at Kensico Dam. On Sunday we had a Spring Picnic at the Briarcliff Nursery School, after which we went to the pool for a couple of hours.

It was an unusually beautiful Memorial Day weekend and we certainly made the most of it. On Friday night we headed over to Playland to meet Phyllis, Jessica, and Julianne, but it was much too crowded early on. We left our car in the Playland lot and walked the boardwalk over to Oakland Beach and had dinner at Seaside Johnnie's. (We were able to head off Phyllis and they met us at the restaurant). Afterward, we played on the beach, including flying a kite. We walked back to Playland at the end of the evening to retrieve our car and found that the crowds had thinned so we took Katerina to ride some of the kiddie rides. She is finally tall enough to go on them alone. She wasn't at all nervous and had a ball. It made me a little sad to think our little girl was growing up and that we were marking one of many milestones to come. Each demonstrating increasing independence.

On the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, we again met up with Phyllis and the girls and went to the Animals and Acrobats Festival at Van Cortlandt Manor which is a historic site which re-enacts the period.

Fred Greenspan, Punch & Judy puppeteer, and Dad to a 14-year-old adopted girl from China.

The Acrobats

Katerina and Julianne somehow commandeered our chairs.

Katerina was fascinated by the living statue.

Also fascinated by the woman walking on stilts.

The girls had a ball dancing to the period music until Katerina fell and scraped her knee. So we were able to hitch a ride on a staff member's golf cart to go to the first aid station.

FCCNY's Culture Day was as wonderful as ever. This year I volunteered at the end of the day instead of the beginning and found it to be much better. I felt as if I had much more time to enjoy the activities and was ready for my shift when it came time. We made it in time for the opening Lion Dance which Katerina adores. This year was special because they had two lions and more acrobatics than usual.

When Mei Mei took the stage, so did Katerina who thoroughly enjoyed participating in the songs and dances that she loves on the Dance and Learn Chinese DVD.

Constantin could not come so Katerina and I headed off to Liberty State Park alone. When it came time for me to volunteer at the Orphanage Assistance Program table, Katerina stayed with me a little bit and thankfully Phyllis came along and offered to amuse her while I was busy. It worked out very well.