) Lexi and Olivia spent quite some time watering (drowning?) the flowers. 
Thanks to our Bank of America perks, we were able to visit Van Cortlandt Manor on Memorial Day. It is a living history museum where you canl experience the domestic life of a patriot family living in the years just after the American Revolution - the New Nation period. There was a special festival going on called Animals & Acrobats where we saw a puppet show, a magician, a slack-rope walker, storytelling and a juggler. We brought a picnic lunch and toured the historic buildings on site as well.
As rather unsatisfied customers of Citibank, we decided to switch to Bank of America for a number of reasons, which I won't detail here. One of the perks of our new account ownership is that during the entire month of May, we are able to get 2 free tickets each to a number of museums in the New York area. I took Lexi over to the Children's Museum of Manhattan one rainy day, where we had a blast. This picture was taken at the Guggenheim in the lobby where you can look up and see the interesting circular architecture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We were able to see an exhibit of some of Jackson Pollack's works and we have decided on a print we would like to get for our *new and improved* living room. Unfortunately, a portion of the museum was closed off as they are preparing for an upcoming exhibit. Still a fun trip!
So this man, David Blaine, has been submerged in a bubble of water for a week now. He is commanding an awful lot of attention since he is right smack in the middle of Lincoln Center. Tonight, he attempts to hold his breath under the water for 9 minutes, or something extremely crazy like that. We waited in line for 15 minutes to get a chance to walk up beside him and get a close-up view of him. Here he is giving Lexi a high-5.
Thanks to all the medical students in the ward, we are able to have fantastic barbrques on the roof of the dorms at Columbia University Medical student housing. There is an incredible view of the George Washington Bridge to the west, and the Bronx to the east. Today, there were a few other students out sunning and *studying*. This student let Lexi & Aiden feed her little dog. They spent a good 15 minutes just giving him pellet after pellet of dog food.
In January, a little European bakery opened up, literally, around the corner from our building. We are pretty frequent patrons. They make the most delicious, buttery, flaky croissants in all sorts of yummy flavors. We also love their breads- baguettes & other fancy loaves. Tonight Lexi and I ran down to get a baguette for our dinner and I caught her trying to sneak a bite!
Grandma Cope recently sent a beautiful poncho that she knit herself. She is a most talented lady! When Lexi first put it on she couldn't stop saying how much she loved it: "I love it, Mommy. I love it!" I do think she looks most adorable in it.
During Matt's spring break we had the pleasure of a visit from one of my very best friends, Lisa Russell & her husband Scott (who is also a very dear friend). Here we are in the garden of the Home restaurant in the West Village. Me & 2 of my very best friends!
The Saturday before Easter we went down to Central Park for the Easter Eggstravaganza. There was a big easter egg hunt, which we found out upon our arrival had been cancelled. So we stuck around for the puppet show put on by the Swedish Marrionette Theater and then attempted to do a few other things at the fair, only to realize the lines were incredibly long and neither we nor Lexi had the patience to wait. So we ended up riding the carousel and heading home for naps.
Lexi received her first bonafide musical instrument- Matt gave one of his harmonicas to Lexi. Here they are having a little jam session. We got some good video of it, too.
Yesterday Matt entered the building with full hands, a wound-up Lexi, and another man. I had left to go to Costco with friend Jessica. When Matt got up to the apartment, he couldn't find his keys anywhere even after re-tracing his steps. So either he dropped them down the elevator shaft (through the space between the elevator & the door) or he left them in the outside door to our building where they got swiped. Due to traffic in New Jersey and congestion at Costco, I was gone for 2 hours. Matt waited with Lexi in our lobby, bummed an empanada off Enrique at the bodega, and kept Lexi happy (which was a task since it was past her naptime!). When I got home, we decided to try and keep Lexi up for another hour or so and then put her to bed early. In the meantime, we had to pay our Super a little extra so he would tend to our needs right away by replacing the cylinder lock on our door. As one of the few white tenants in the building, we were nervous that whoever may have swiped the keys would know right where we live and clean us out... we put a movie on while Matt ran to the hardware store and I assisted the super & she was OUT by the end of the first 5 minutes.
The cold and rainy weather today was appropriate for our farewell to our car... we are officially New Yorkers now, relying on mass transit to get around. We posted our car on Craig's List (a sort of online garage sale) and it sold in 2 days! I wasn't expecting it to go so quickly (maybe we should have asked for more money!), so I wasn't really emotionally prepared to say goodbye to the first car I bought with my own money right after my mission. It's been a good car, but more of a liability than an asset here in the city, so we are actually glad to see it go.
A few weeks ago, Pepsi had a big promotion day in Manhattan to promote the new Diet Dew drink (Mountain Dew). Grandma Susan came to the city to hand out lots of free samples and other paraphenalia, and then got to meet Shaun White (aka. The Flying Tomato) who won gold in snowboarding at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. She is standing on Shaun's right.
We recently went out to dinner with Grandma Susan at a delicious Indian place near her house. The server delivered the check to the table, and Lexi was all set to sign...
Yesterday we had some unbelieveably gorgeous weather, so I took Lexi down to Bryant Park with my friends (and hers) Jessica & Julia. We rode on the small carousel they have there, and when the ride ended all Lexi could say was "More!"
We went out to eat with Carolyn Forbes last night and the guy at the restaurant gave Lexi a temporary tattoo... let's hope that's the only kind she ever wants!
Today Lexi & I took a trip up to Purchase, NY to visit Grandma Susan in her element... at Pepsi's Headquarters. We had lunch in the delicious cafeteria and walked on the beautiful grounds. We were also able to meet lots of grandma's associates and her boss, Bevan. Lexi loved her time with Bevan... they spent a while coloring on his whiteboard and then erasing. He also gave her a pom-pom which she can't put down. Later in the afternoon when we were home, I found her sitting on the couch watching "Clifford" holding her pom-pom from Bevan. She wants to take it everywhere we go! During lunch, Lexi spilled a large amount of orange juice on her shirt, so Grandma bought her a new one at the gift shop. She was so excited to have a "new Pepsi shirt!" (in her words).
While putting my makeup on one morning, I was interrupted and left the mascara on the bathroom sink ledge. When I came back, I found Lexi with the top off, and a lovely smattering of mascara on her *eyelashes*. They start younger and younger nowadays, don't they?