saturday outing

we were to meet up with bubbe and zayde today at greenfield village. as is all too typical, i was running late. i dropped pooka off at dance class and went to get some groceries, only to get caught up in that eternal debate: paper or plastic? (just kidding, of course i use the store-branded canvas grocery bags.) but seriously, i did get lost in that place. this was not my usual store.

bottom line, i was 30 minutes late to pick her up and when i got there she was nowhere to be found. i was certain she'd be in the lobby balling her eyes out, making every parent in the place hate me. instead she was happily watching a class of young kids, not the least bit upset that i was late, until i brought it up. then she was all, "mom, why did a teacher have to come get me, why didn't you?"

so after that fabulous bit of parenting, i went home and busted kisu's chops for not being ready, etc. and we finally left for the rendez-vous. i had tried calling, but b & z had already left their house and i didn't have a cell number for them. halfway there, i suggested kisu call their son, but he said that it would take longer to get hold of b than to just get to the meeting point.

i was worried they wouldn't still be there, but a moment later i got a call from noel saying, "bubbe and zayde are waiting for you at the fountain." hearing noise in the background, i asked, "are you there, too?" turns out, noel and nancy were out for a portrait session and decided to spend the beautiful day at the village. how fortuitous! now see, if we had been there on time, they never would have caught sight of noel and nancy. the Lord works in mysterious ways, indeed.

so after we grabbed some historical grub, we headed straight for the carousel. because nothing goes better with a sated stomach than saccharine sweet (repetitive!) music and going round in circles. i couldn't even contemplate getting on that contraption, so i let the kids go with daddy while i brought bubbe up to date on the family drama (oy, the drama!) i had the camera with me, but i knew with zayde there that i wouldn't have to actually use it. and with noel's serendipitous presence, i had even less to fear. here are some of noel's shots (or nancy's):



no, i did not have another baby, that last shot is n & n's gorgeous girl; will you look at those eyes!

we spent the rest of the day wandering around and riding the train, an experience i do not recommend with a cranky bug. we wrestled the entire trip because she was determined to crawl the length of the train under the bench seats and i wasn't really so keen on her falling onto the tracks between cars.

our last stop of the day was heinz house. inside we saw the 57 varieties of goods that h.j. heinz & company sold. and here i thought '57' sauce was so named for its variety of ingredients.