Back from NY

We spent the last two weeks with GajT. Ariana got bunk beds so we shared her room with her. Julian is soooo cute. By the time we left he was smiling more. He is good all the time except for Papa's bedtime, which he thinks is his crying time. Taking Ariana to her school and other activities is fun. She recognizes the routes and lets you know if you make a wrong turn. She is an avid game player, and enjoys creating "shows." When she wears her robe, she makes a "show" of tying the bow in front. She taught herself by watching Papa tie it. The family went to a circus recently so each show begins with "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are you ready for...."
One of our pleasures was minding the kids (we like that plural form) while Tomoko gave piano lessons upstairs. She also teaches Ariana on a voluntary basis. That is, Ariana goes to the piano and starts to practice, and Tomoko provides feedback and direction.
Greg and Tomoko are house shopping so it was fun to ride along and see some of the homes for sale in the area. It is a real decision between open rural properties and convenient, but crowded, urban sites.
We did get a day alone in the city. We took the train from Tarrytown, then rode subways between city locations. The Brooklyn Museum of Art had a show by El Anatsui (you can look him up) that was amazing.
The City Quilter, a shop midtown, has added a gallery next door whose current show was quite good.
Then we went looking for a place to eat. We found an Indian restaurant kind of out of the way. It was so good we were recommending it to Greg and discovered they have eaten there before. There are thousands of restaurants in NYC, what are the odds?
Our flights both ways went through Atlanta. Crowded, but nothing terrible. Some delays, but not outrageous.
One thing we did that we did not expect. We bought a bed. Peggie needed to get a good pillow. She wanted one anyway for the trailer. We found a Relax the Back store in Greenwich, CT. that carried the right kind. While lying on one of their TemperaPedic mattresses to try it out, we mentioned that we also were in the market for one of those. The salesmen pointed out that he could sell us one, have it delivered in Tucson (they are nationwide) and we would save the sales tax. No delivery fee. And he would throw in the pillow for free. Eventhough it wasn't a throw pillow. Haha. So we bought it. Again, we were going to get one anyway, for the trailer, and we saved significant money. Now we are waiting for it to be delivered (maybe today) so we can try it out before we head to Alaska.