The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge

Today we attended the Little Red Lighthouse Festival at the foot of the George Washington Bridge.

The Little Red Lighthouse stands proudly beneath the George Washington Bridge on the New York shore. She reminds us that all things big or small have a significant place in our world. The children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift taught this lesson well. The Little Red Lighthouse served as a navigational aid before and after the bridge was built.

When the lighthouse was commissioned in 1921 she served the Hudson River mariners, always keeping a good light until the USCG deactivated it in 1947. Swift's book played a major role in saving the lighthouse, for it was the millions of children who loved The Little Red Lighthouse story who spoke out when the USCG wanted to sell and dismantle the light. The children won-and today all of us can enjoy its beauty.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to actually go in the lighthouse. We arrived too late to get tickets, but the park ranger told us to come back on October 21st... so watch for us there on that day.

Lexi also had her face painted for the first time.  

 

Cookie Monster!

One of our favorite places for treats is a chocolate shop owned by french chocolatier Jaques Torres (aka. Mr. Chocolate). Lexi and I stopped in for a cookie today. 

5 Years

Today we visited a flag memorial in Inwood Hill Park (on the northern tip of Manhattan) dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. 3000 flags were set up in a large field- one for each life lost. It was a breezy and beautiful day, probably much like the day in 2001. A touching memorial.

Part of me wishes we had been here in 2001, because I think that no one can really understand what the city went through in the days and weeks following without having actually lived here at that time. I want to know how people felt, how they coped, and how they continued to live their lives. At the same time, I am so grateful that I wasn't here, and that no one I love was directly impacted.

Some video footage of the memorial can be seen here.
 

Observations by Lexi

Yesterday we went to the Museum of Natural History to pass a very rainy afternoon. While gazing at the diorama of the ostriches, we talked about the eggs- some of which had hatched, and some of which were still *unopened*. I talked to Lexi about the babies that had come out of the eggs and she said, referring to the unhatched babies, "Those babies are still taking a nap?"


After watching this commercial for iTunes, featuring Bob Dylan, (which entranced her, by the way) Lexi remarked, "That man is a farmer man." Daddy was very proud, since Bob Dylan is one of his favorite musicians.


After waking up from a nap in which she had been sleeping on her arm, Lexi said, "My hand has polka dots." Presumably referring to the pins-and-needles she was feeling.

Ms. Cope

Matt's students return to school on Tuesday, so Lexi & I went down to his school to help him set up his classroom. Lexi helped hang borders on the bulletin boards and put some books on shelves as well as clean up some of the mess we left in our wake by sweeping.

She is a remarkable little helper and really wants to help with anything and everything. She is becoming a superstar at making a smoothie and helps make the salad for dinner. She loads the dishwasher and puts away the silverware when it's clean. Sometimes it's a trial of patience for me, but she really is much happier when she helps, which makes it much better for all of us. How does that primary song go? "When we're helping we're happy and we sing as we go..." 

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

One of the downsides to living in Manhattan is that not many of our friends are planning on staying here for too long (including us, I suppose- though there are no plans to leave at this point). This past year I took care of Jett while his mom worked 2 days a week. Lexi came to love him like a brother. Today, they packed up their car and headed out of the city to *greener pastures* west of New York. We love the whole MacDonald family and wish them all the best! We'll miss you!!  

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Since returning from California, our days have been very rainy. Last Friday morning was particularly gloomy. We even had a tornado watch in effect for Northern Manhattan! So what better way to prepare for a possible tornado, than by sitting at an open window? In any event, it was actually quite enjoyable to just sit and watch the rain and the people dodging puddles below. 

While riding the Staten Island Ferry, Lexi spent some time with the Great-Aunt Barbara pointing out all the buoys in the water. That's the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the background. 

The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee

My cousins were down in the city to see some sights and were very generous to take us to see a Broadway show. We got tickets to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A cute show! And a good NPR report here.

We spent Saturday with them as well- eating pizza in Brooklyn, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (a favorite activity), seeing Ground Zero, riding the Staten Island Ferry and then up to China Town for some delicious dumplings at the Dumpling House.

Hope I was a satisfactory tour guide!

Back in NY

We made it back to New York with no major issues. It has taken me a few days to unpack and resettle into the idea that we have no car and have to schlep our groceries home in a *granny cart*. But we are happy to be home- although we much prefer to sleep in the waveless waterbed at Matt's parent's home as opposed to our bed, which is slowly turning into a *taco bed*. (We finally "rotated" the mattress the other day and I am sleeping much better now).

Unfortunately, during our trip we ran out of memory card on our digital camera, so we downloaded all our pictures to the computer at Matt's parent's home. I guess when I burned the photos to a CD to take home with us, I somehow missed all the pictures from our last week there. So for now, you can see the majority of photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kendracope/CaliforniaAug2006

DisneyLand & California Adventure

Went to Disney today. Extra special BIG thanks to my sister, Laura, for sharing her *comp* tickets from her days as a server at the House Of Blues on Disney property in Orlando.Lexi got to meet Mickey and ride on most rides, including the Matterhorn (only need to be 35"), and a kid's roller coaster in Toon Town.
 

Corona Del Mar

Took Lexi on her very first beach trip today. We went to Corona Del Mar, just south of Newport Beach. It's a very family-friendly beach- really small waves, a short beach, and lots of kids. The water was FAH-REEZING, but Matt & I braved it and spent a little while bobbing in the waves. Lexi was scared of the water because it was so cold and didn't even want to put her feet in the shallow parts. She was content to just play in the sand for 3 hours... fine with me. I didn't realize what a production it is to go to the beach: blankets, towels, chairs, umbrellas, cooler with food, sand toys, boogie board, sun screen, extra clothing, reading material etc. Don't think we'll be dragging all of that on the subway in NY... 

Yucaipa

Visited with Matt's brother's family: Lewis, Kathy, Michael (returned from his mission in Texas in January), Kimberly (headed to BYU this fall as a freshman) and Dallin. Had dinner and spent the afternoon/evening with them. Jennifer & Duane recently bought a house, so I got to see the pictures and drool over them.... it's such a cute little place!! Congrats to them!

Cousin Steve

My cousin, Steve, has recently relocated to LA to take a job with a construction firm where he is a *Field Engineer* working on the *Most-Expensive-High-School-In-Los-Angeles*. It was originally built over a field of natural gas deposits which made it unusable, so now Steve's firm has been hired to *fix* the whole problem. When this school is done, it will be the first new school in LA in 30 years.... it's about time! We went swimming and out to dinner and then headed to the grocery store to buy some avocados for some of my famous guacamole. Steve & Lexi had a little bit-o-fun in the grocery cart! 

LA Zoo Again

Took another trip to the LA Zoo. Grandma has a yearly pass & can get us all in free....

Dodgers v. Giants

Attended a game of one of the great rivalries in baseball- Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the San Francisco Giants. Both of whom used to be teams based in New York, I might add... The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants (who played at the Polo Grounds, which was located at the bottom of the cliff where our apartment building now stands.) Dodgers win 3-2!! An extra special thanks to Jim Smith who got us the AWESOME tickets in a field box behind home plate!!
 

Sea World

Visited Sea World today. Saw Shamu, and lots of amazing sea creatures. Fed the Bat Rays, and touched star fish. Wonderful day. And with no nap, Lexi was an incredible trooper! Too many exciting t hings to see & do- no time for a nap!  

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Attended taping of the Tonight Show in Burbank, CA. Guest was supposed to be Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order: SVU, but she had a family emergency. We saw Ashley Tisdale, and the kid who did the double flip on his motorcycle at the X Games. Musical guest was Todd Snider.

We didn't get on camera, if you were wondering. We also were not allowed to bring cameras in the studio, so we were unable to document Joan (Matt's mom) in a dance contest on stage. She was picked from the audience before the show started- I guess as a way to entertain us... she got the biggest cheers and as we left the studio afterwards, she received many comments of praise to her dancing and her good sportsmanship.