Sunday, August 8, 2021

July 25-30, 2021. New York City trip

We started the week with a traffic filled drive to NYC.
We saw some sites, shopped for shoes and school clothes, watched lots of Olympics, ate some yummy food and drove home 4 days later.
Then we hosted Ally’s gymnastics team to watch the Olympic All-Around final. 


The night before we decided to take Daisy with us. It was a little stressful because she was not feeling well, and cried a lot every night. But it really helped Ally to have Daisy with us.
The drive should take 3.5 - 4 hours but it took us over 6 hours!!! I was pretty wiped when we got there after driving the whole way. Ally sits in the front because when she sits in the back she gets headaches and sometimes nauseous. 


So happy to go to sleep Saturday night and wakeup Sunday morning with Daisy curled up under the covers with her. 



The view from our hotel…it’s the Empire State Building! 

We headed out to walk thru the 911 Memorial. It was a pretty somber yet peaceful site.





Then before brunch we walked around the financial district, saw the Church from National Treasure, the bull statue, the NY Stock Exchange building, and the Girl Protest statue. 






After brunch we took an Uber over to Brooklyn. We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge. 

All to cross off a bucket list item for Ally! She told me all Spring that she wanted to go to a Cat Cafe. We do not have any in Boston but NYC has a few. I decided to support the non-profit Brooklyn Cat Cafe and booked us a kitten party.


An hour of us and 4 kittens in a private room.



Ally loved it!






I would say we all had fun.


But back to our hotel afterwards to snuggle with her own cat.

Who really enjoyed the wide window ledge so she could look out. 

Becky got us pasta for dinner from a place near the hotel and then later I ordered Insomnia Cookies to deliver ice cream and cookies to our room. Pretty yummy and fun!

Monday was my birthday! We planned some shopping and dinner out. No pictures from the afternoon. But we did get dressed up and enjoy a nice dinner at our hotel’s outdoor seating.


My beautiful family.


Selfie with Ally in our booth. 

Our room came with 2 free drink tickets so Becky and I both ordered Palomas and she drank them. 


Family selfie.

Ally and & Mommy. We are laughing because we are in the lobby waiting for the elevator and I tried to take the pictures but I am terrible so Ally had to do it.

And we wrapped up the day in bed watching the Olympics. 

Tuesday we were supposed to go see the Statue of Liberty. But after getting ready to go Ally said she didn’t feel good. She fell asleep pretty quickly and yes that is Daisy curled up around her head.


After some quiet conversation with Becky I ordered bagels and sandwiches delivered to our room. I got the iconic rainbow bagels. And then Becky went to the Statue of Liberty by herself and I stayed with Ally.








Eventually Ally woke up and felt better.

Notice her cat never strays far from her side. Especially when Ally is not feeling well. Daisy is always there.

Eventually I told Ally she had to get out of the room, she was feeling better and some fresh air would be good, to get up and move. I have her a few choices and she decided to go to a special sneaker store that sold her coveted Air Jordan’s.


As you can see she had a hard time deciding. (She got one pair the day before). We bought 1 pair and she used her money for the other 2.
We got pasta take out again for dinner. 


Tuesday before we left we walked to the High Line park. Ally humored me with a handstand picture and a mommy daughter selfie.




But then things took a turn for the worse. I was so engrossed in taking pictures of the buildings that I got my foot stuck in a groove and I fell. Into those bushes in the picture above. I scraped up my wrist and ankle as you can see below. Ouch.



So we decided it was time to leave the High Line and head back to our hotel. We walked thru Chelsea Market and took a final NYC picture outside our hotel. The Meatpacking District was a big change from Times Square where we usually stay. 




Waiting for Becky to bring the car around. 

There is Becky!

So we packed up Daisy and headed down for the drive home. 

As we left NYC I asked if the trip had been worth it. Ally said yes, it was good to get out of Massachusetts (for the first time in 17 months) and get away.

As we exited the highway towards our house we talked about our highlights from the trip.
Ally:
Cat Cafe
Traveling with Daisy 

Becky:
Cat Cafe
Getting rainbow bagels delivered to our hotel room

Julie:
Spending time together as a family; Hotel room watching Olympics. 
Finally getting Ally her sneakers

No more pictures for the week. We did have 6 teammates and 1 mom over to watch the Olympics and see Suni Lee win a Gold medal in the all around. And in bad news Daisy did not get better once we got home. The whole time we were in NYC she refused to eat and cried all night long. So finally we called the vet and I brought her in Friday morning. Bc of COVID only 1 person in per animal. So Ally stayed home. Turns out Daisy had a high fever, vet said sometimes cats, like people get sick. So they gave her an IV of fluids and a shot of Ibuprofen and took some blood to check and make sure it was nothing serious. 

Daisy did start to eat a few days later, the blood tests came back normal and Daisy is back to her usual self. What a huge relief.

 


Sunday, August 1, 2021

July 11-24, 2021

2 weeks in one post. I’m a bit behind. It’s Summer. We went away for a few days this past week and I was busy wrapping up some work things, planning and packing and working hard on some Ally health issues. 

Here are the pictures:

The morning after her sleepover we had our Guatemala Girls group get together at the pool. Ally was not happy to pose.


But did so willingly with her friends.


PS5 COD is a favorite past time this Summer 

Always holding Daisy. 

A shot of Ally before getting her top braces off!

So happy!


Then we went bike shopping. Ally is too tall for her old bike and even though she doesn’t ride much, having a bike is important.


Ally counting her cash earnings from cat sitting for our neighbors.


A rare outside on our deck selfie


A first!!! Our neighbors asked Ally to babysit. Maren is about 20 months old and his parents asked Ally to come over after they put him to sleep and stay with him while he slept and they went out with friends. Ally was pretty psyched. 



So cute. Such an easy way for her to make some cash. They paid her $50 for 3 hours.


Daisy was confused because Ally left out our back door and did not come back right away.


Ally and I finished a puzzle 








And in really big news Ally got her ear pierced. Well her upper ear cartilage. She’s been asking for well over a year and we said as long as she used her own money it was fine. 



Then it was directly to the orthodontist after the piecing to get the rest of her braces off. 

She’s thrilled!

Looking back I guess we did a lot over the two weeks. Ally also had her friends Penelope and Juli over one Saturday afternoon. The girls played board games, watched Tv and hung out. I didn’t take any pictures but it was something else that happened. 

So medical stuff. There have been some developments and we are working on things. Finding specialists to meet and consult with and talking with Ally’s current team to proceed in a way that is helpful and productive.





Monday, July 19, 2021

Happy 70th Birthday Aunt Martha


Aunt Martha. GREAT Aunt Martha.

We love you so much! Here is a sampling of our adventures and fun times:



























You have always supported me. Always loved me. 
You took me to shop for my first real bras.
You suggested I adopt long before I had even considered it. Over 24 years ago at the pool at Leisure World you told me I should be a mom. 
You’ve never missed a birthday or any other Holiday. Valentine’s, Easter, there is always a card from you. And you do the same for Ally. 
Lots of fun times, Florida, London, Isle of Man, Ireland. 
So much laughter. 
Thank you for being so generous to me and my family. 
Happy Birthday.