The first of two wonderful weeks

Included in the list of things I have learned in my 65^th year is that spending two straight weeks with grandchildren is exhausting! So it has taken me a few days to rest, recover, go through the hundreds of pictures, and sit down to write. Maya came to visit first, so I will begin with her.

We had a somewhat different start with Maya than we usually do with the each child. Our original plan for her week included seeing a Wednesday matinee of “The King and I” on Broadway. But a few weeks before she was to visit we received notice that the play was closing. This was quite a disappointment because I really thought she would love the story and all the adorable children. Instead, we were able to buy tickets to the Sunday matinee of another show, “Finding Neverland.” We had first row seats and we enjoyed the show. Before the performance started, someone sitting in front of us asked me to take a couple of pictures and then offered to take some of us, which came out much better than the “selfies” I had taken.

With the long drive and the Broadway show, Sunday turned into an exhausting day, so we decided to spend some down time on Monday. We made our trip to the grocery store, as we do with each of the children, to stock up on the things Maya likes. It was a beautiful day so we walked to the store, and Maya hitched a ride on my scooter.

On Tuesday we went to the Bronx Zoo. We had a wonderful time seeing the real animals and Maya added quite a bit to her collection of stuffed animals.

We spent Wednesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maya listened intently to the audio explanations, not limiting herself to those intended for children. The wonderful thing about these annual visits is watching each of the children grow in their appreciation: rather than moaning “we saw that last year,” they are anxious to go and see the works again and again. Barry and I are already talking about our choices for museums for next summer.

On Thursday we went to the Museum of Natural History. The planetarium was a bit hit, as was the exhibit called “Dinosaurs Among Us,” which traces a connection between dinosaurs and birds.

On Friday morning we packed up and headed back to Sharon, stopping at Mystic along the way. Maya had been influenced by Ella’s selection of a Beluga whale last year and chose one of her own.

We had a quiet dinner ourselves on Friday night and spent Shabbat lunch with Dina and family who returned from camp while we were in New York with Maya. They had a terrific time and everyone grew so much in just four weeks! Physically, Joshua and Ella are taller, Julia is bigger and talking more every day, and Dina is four weeks further along. All five children seem so much older – they each had a healthy and active summer and are now back in school. Where did that time fly?

Next post, our week with Ella.

Love,

Rebecca