Any of you monkeys want a banana?

Dear Diary,

Time to play catch-up. It's been weeks and weeks since I last wrote you. Hard to believe until I think about all the stuff that's going on.

Track is going full-tilt. With both High School and Junior High, the average is three meets a week. Sometimes more. That's going to decrease though, since the last Junior High meet is next Thursday. Veronica had a meet yesterday, and did very well. She was so excited after running the 200 meter and coming in 3rd. 'I cut 3 seconds off my time, and I beat that Ellsworth girl'. Ronnie lost to her in the 100M at Ellsworth, so it was a big thing. Her relay races were good too, except a couple handoffs slowed them down a bit. Ronnie's a great kid. I'm quite proud of her.

I love track. It's so much fun to get out and watch the kids run, throw, jump, etc. It's always a plus when the weather is good. Lately the weather hasn't cooperated too much. Well, after all, it's only the middle of May, right? It's a relief when the season's over, as well, because of the number of meets so close together. They have to do the whole season in seven weeks, so they have to be close together. It's hard on team supporters, but it's harder on the kids. The end is in sight, since Ronnie just has 4 more years, but by then Laini will be in school, so I guess it never really ends, does it?

Right after the meet, we went to the Rye's farm and got a pig. yes, she's doing it again.....I wasn't asked, so didn't get to say no. Since I apparently have no input into this, I decided that I get to move a computer upstairs (Rose has been against having anything but a laptop upstairs. She just lost her vote). The media computer comes up here, finally. I doubt she knows that includes the stereo (hee hee hee).

The trip to New York came off without a problem. Kevin and I drove Rachel to her new 'home' and met the family she is living with. As we drove away, I was pretty uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her there. But, this was her choice, and she is old enough to make decisions for herself. Well, she called last night. Apparently, she's uncomfortable there, and is thinking about calling the Nanny service to help her find a new family. She still wants to do this, but it appears that this is not the right family for her. I really wish she had been able to meet them before deciding, but it didn't happen. It's hard to stand by while your children go through these inevitable growing pains, but you do them no favors by trying to bail them out whenever a problem occurs. We're still trying to figure out what the right amount of involvement is......

While we were in the 'Empire state' we were going to check out Manhattan, so on Saturday morning, we headed by train into the heart of New York City. Once we arrived at Penn Station, we walked the 4 or so blocks to the Empire State building. I knew it is a huge structure, but you have to see it to really appreciate the SIZE of it. Tickets to the top can be had for only $12 a pop, follow this line, please. At least some of the workers were polite. They have the cattle-herding process down pat, but I'm sure it's necessary. We waited in line for 20 minutes to buy tickets, then another 30 minutes in various holding pens until we got to step out on the observation level. During the whole process, I couldn't help it, every now and agin, a 'Moo' or 'Baaah' would slip out. I don't remember any of this from 'Sleepless In Seattle'. What's up with that???

Anyway, it was a nice day, very clear, visibility at 25 miles, and the view was spectacular. I plan to post some composite pictures from my trip to the top, just as soon as I get them done. After coming back down to earth, we found a subway station and got on, heading to the World Trade Center site. We were told that Canal Street is the place to get off, so we did. As it turns out, that's about 12 blocks from the site...12 BIG city blocks. By the time Kevin and I got there, we were both limping. It sucks getting old.....I'm glad we decided to go there, but I was a bit disappointed with the inability to see much. The fencing was not camera-friendly, and was too far back from the edge. I'm sure they need to worry about crowd-control, and keeping people from exercising their own stupidity, but it was still a little disappointing to be so restricted. Oh well, I'm sure they're upset I was disappointed (not).

Getting back on the subway (at the station right by the site, by the way), we found it was too crowded, and there were no seats. That was ok with me, it's walking that hurts. Kevin, however, was trying to not fall down from his sore ankle. A seat opened up fairly quickly, and he was able to sit down then. When we got back to 34th Street, we had about 4 blocks to walk to Penn Station. Four very crowded blocks. There were people everywhere, and one lesson quickly learned is that you can't be polite when trying to move. You have to walk as if people will get out of your way, and generally they will. We finally got back to Penn Station, caught our train back, and headed back home. I've had an experience I've wanted for a long time, and as far as I'm concerned, once is quite enough, thank you very much.