August 8-12, 2021

Another week means more puzzles.

One of our many cat themed puzzles. We looked up each artist featured in the puzzle above.

It was a Ipsy package week. It’s always fun to open those up. 

Yes that is Becky and Ally playing Minecraft. An oldie but a goodie for gaming.

Daisy decided to lay down in front of the TV while they played PS5. 

And this is right before Daisy jumped up to the upper sash! An electrical transformer blew and caught the pole on fire around the corner. We lost power for a while so of course Ally and I did a puzzle. But Daisy was so fascinated with the news helicopters circling over our house she tried to jump up. 

Finished this one. 

Ally did get to the doctor thing week and had 7 vials of blood taken, and a few other tests. Everything (thankfully) came back normal. Ally’s pediatrician thinks that when Ally gets a virus her body reacts with a fever and then her body temperature fluctuates as she fights the virus. 

And in other unfortunate Ally health news Ally has a rash on her face. We thought it was just acne from her mask but it’s gotten much worse and spread and she went to the dermatologist who confirmed the rash. She is now on a 30 day dose of antibiotics and has some special lotion to use. It’s so frustrating and disheartening that stuff keeps happening. 

But we are trying to make the best of things. We spent a long weekend in Stowe VT.

July 31 - August 7, 2021

Lots of appointments and consultations and puzzles this week.

Ally and I got pedicures 

We went to the craft store for journaling supplies and brought Cloey with us. 

We had family movie night and watched Jungle Cruise. Cloey really wanted some of Ally’s popcorn.

Ally and I completed  4 500 piece puzzles this week. We start and finish in one sitting and it takes us about 2 hours to finish one. 


Playing PS5.


Another puzzle 

Mid day nap. 

Ally started not feeling well again. Another mystery fever. 

But we kept puzzling

And she kept napping 

Daisy never likes to be far away

This desert puzzle was a challenge. 



Becky took a break while we finished up out puzzle


Even with her fever Ally worked hard to eat, and stay occupied. And of course humored me with pictures. 

We tell her every day how much we love her and how proud of her we are. Summer may not be what we all wanted but Ally is working so hard to stay healthy and be in a good place for the start of High School.

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.