The Nature of the Bear

In my family there is a saying that it is just the 'nature of the bear'. We are just the way we are and that is our nature. We each have our intrinsic personalities that are solidified into our ways of dealing with the world. Cynthia is organized and loves to play the piano. Michie loves looking out the car window to search for birds. And Max.... well Max loves to laugh.

It is never more apparent then when we go to the theater. Last night we saw "Wall-e". I realized that what I love most about seeing movies with him is that he laughs. I love that my son has a sense of humor. He gets the joke of a situation whether it is a physical or verbal. His unbounded joy makes me laugh and soon we are cracking-up together over the silliness of it all. I think it is the best sound a parent can ever hear. Their child happy and laughing.

Shreve and Co. Made Me Cry

It was worse than those sappy Hallmark commercials that always made you cry. I was driving home and a local diamond company came on the radio with their usual wedding ring commercial. I have listened to these commercials for years. Always the man or woman states how much they love their woman or man, how Shreve is a San Francisco tradition and that they will buy their wedding rings there.

I though to myself, "Geez isn't it time they included all couples in their ads?" And then they did! The ad continued with a lesbian couple, and a gay couple saying how excited they were to be getting married. It made me cry.

I know they just are taking advantage of the windfall that will come from all these marriages. It is just marketing and sales. But there is something powerful about hearing your relationship confirmed. It felt like the first time I ever saw a lesbian relationship portrayed on TV. It was mind jarring to see my future normalized is such a basic way. It is just nice to be part of the flow. Nice to be part of a San Francisco tradition.

Wrap Up

Even after an amazing trip there is nothing like coming home. All the signs are there: fog settling over the fence in our back yard, mocking birds mockin' my sleep at three AM, and when I wake-up the distant roar of the ocean drifts through our bedroom window. There is nothing like the city by the bay. The sounds. The smells. The bills to pay....

Overall, the trip was fantastic. New York was a great end to our little journey. We saw dinosaurs and great works of art. Visited the M&M store at least 4 times and took the subway everywhere. We took a carriage ride through the park with a driver that should have been cast in Jersey Boys.



The last night we spent in Queens with my Mom's cousins Caroline and George. Caroline and George are as good as people on this earth can get. Kind. Generous. Funny. "Salt of the earth", as my mom would say. They were so incredibly warm and welcoming. We also got to see our cousins, Peter and Robert and their wives and sons as well.



It feels amazingly good to be home, but I am tired. After we unpacked, I spent 36 hours in bed just sleeping and trying to recover from exhaustion. Michie did manage to get a Wii Fit while in New York so we have also been very busy exercising in our virtual environment. Fun. Fun.

Tikva

Tonight Dave and Gal's daughter is having surgery to correct a hole in her diaphragm. She is only a week old but has already touched the hearts of so many. I am asking anyone who reads this to please put her into your heart tonight and send her all the love you can muster. Her name is Tikva, and the surgery will be at UCSF this evening.

You can see some photos of her sweet little face at:

http://growinginside.blogspot.com/

New York, New York

Just a quick update: We arrived in New York on Sunday after a non-eventful trip from Lancaster via Philadelphia. Today was spent at the Museum of Natural History which hosts an amazing display of dinosaur fossils. Max's dinosaur education from last year was evident as we toured all the exhibits. He is a T-Rex authority. We decided to walk back to Times Square from the museum, and got caught in a rather dramatic thunder and rain storm walking through Central Park. We hid under some trees and let the worse pass, and then scurried back to the hotel.

Right now my family is out shopping (the rain just started again - glad they took their coats) while I stay at the hotel due to an upset stomach and foul state of mind. So far we have gotten through the entire trip without anyone getting sick which really has been a bit of a miracle. I think I am just suffering from "tourist food" and being overly tired and therefore grumpy. I am sure they were glad to flee my mood for a few hours.

Other Highlights:
-Seeing the red carpet at Radio City Music Hall for the Tony awards last night... really we saw the red carpet. Nothing else, just the carpet being pulled up after all the stars arrived.
-Pigeon poo on my shoulder on our first walk about town. (It's good luck! Really!)

More photos tomorrow. Love to everyone.

Hershey's Park

Max and I went to the park today. Michie spent her day trying to get some good photos of covered bridges. (Apprently they are all red and don't have good parking near by.) Max loved driving the little cars (lower photo) where he is very serious. I am appropriately goofy after a day of sun and water rides.

Valley Forge

Valley Forge: Cold Winter, No Supplies, Lots of dead soldiers. Surpassed their environment and won the war anyway. Very Impressive.

Michie took photos, and so did Max and I.

Sewing and Nation Building

Today was a delightful surprise. Frankly, I thought we were all a little worn out from playing tourist. Maybe it was the cooler weather, but we had a lovely day walking around historic Philadelphia. We started by taking the bus downtown and viewing the Liberty Bell. Max was very interested, in part because Michie has been talking it up for months. He took a lot of photos. We hunted for the story about its' crack and on the way learned how it has be used as a symbol for many groups including abolitionists and suffragists.

Then onto Betsy Ross' house, for a lovely audio tour of her life and a magic show in the court yard outside. We learned that she was quite a woman in her own right: ran her own business, had three husbands (widowed each time) and sewed that flag while raising 7 girls.

We then walked up a few blocks to visit the fire museum. We did see a memorial to the NY firefighters at the fire station. Max saw photos of the 343 men that died that day. He silently looked at it for a long time, asked me a few questions along the lines of - "Were you alive when it happened?" I explained again that I was, and he was two, when the attacks occurred. He said there were a lot of men with last names that started in B. I agreed and suggested we continue our day. He agreed and on we went.

We rushed back to Independence Hall to view the room where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. One can tell the difference between paintings by the presence of George Washington - he signed only the Constitution as he was commanding the army during the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Talk about the weight of history come down upon your heart. It was very moving to me.

Max and I talked a bit about being patriotic and when it worked and when it didn't. I told him that I was very proud to be an American but that it didn't mean that we were better than anyone else. He replied that, "It didn't mean we were worse either. All countries should be equal." I agree with him fully.

We finished the day with an amazing meal that included Martha Washington's chocolate souffle cake and George's porter. Yum! Took a quick ride back to the hotel with a grumpy taxi driver who did manage some rather amazing moves on the turn in front of our hotel. We arrived safely and now I am blogging, by the pool, while Max swims and Michie (bless her again) does laundry.

Tomorrow we rent a car for the first time of our little trip and drive out to Lancaster for three nights. It is good being on vacation. We are very fortunate. Hugs to all.

Pirates and Baby Girls

The last two days have been about science and history. We spent Monday and Tuesday at the Franklin Institute which is truly an amazing place for kids...and their adults. Electricity, space, biology, trains, gravity and a great show on pirates were all fodder for our imaginations. We saw five movies while we were there - the best being the IMAX show on the space station and the planetarium show on Cosmic Collisions. Max loved all the exhibits. It is truly one of the greatest museums for kids that I have ever been too.

Today we are heading to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Maybe... Michie and Max seem to be more into reading books and watching cartoons than getting up and moving. Fortunately, the heat seems to have finally broken and after three days of over 100 degrees things seemed to have settled into the high 80's. The change in weather was precipitated by an amazing lightning storm which we watched from our hotel window last night. I have never seen so many lightning strikes in the span of a couple of hours. We probably saw over 60!

We also want to send out our big Congratulations to Dave and Gal on the birth of their robust and beautiful daughter Tikva. She is well and strong, and in the capable hands of the doctors and nurses at UC. We couldn't be more happy for them then we are today.

Michie has gotten out of bed which is probably a sign that I should go jump in the shower. Have a good day all.

Books, Trains and Weddings - Oh My

We finished our time in Williamsburg and took a 7 hour ride on Amtrak up to Philadelphia. Max loved it! Train rides are very cool and the snack car is even cooler. It was nice for me to not have to drive that distance and to be able to walk around and even nap

We landed in Philly and into the arms of our family. Dad and Sue were waiting with open arms when we got the the hotel. My step brother got married to a great woman this weekend. The wedding was a smashing success. They made it really personal and there were lots of nice touches that reflected who they are as people. We couldn't be more delighted to have Katrina as part of our family. I know everyone says that but I really mean it. She just fits into our clan like she has always been part of us. The only down side was that it was hot. Really hot. Hotter than it has been this time of year in over 65 years. 100 degrees in the day and down to a cool 80ish in the evening. We have dealt with reality and are focusing the rest of this heat spell in air conditioned museums and swimming pools.

I made reservations for 3 days in Lancaster County for later this week. I am hoping that Michie will get lots of photos of covered bridges and wagons going down the country roads. I am also secretly hoping to go Hershey for a water park and chocolate...of course. Lots of chocolate!

More personal photos tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Mud and Guns - WIlliamsburg

Ah.... Why did I encourage him to do this?

We helped the brick makers by mushing the mud for them. Washing was a major effort as well. It was messy and very gooey fun.

YES. I did buy him the gun. He had a great time shooting imagery objects. It must be in the DNA. It is very odd the desire to shoot things. It is just the nature of the bear I guess.

We had a great time today, even though it was over 95 degrees for the duration. We visited a lot of different trade shops including: blacksmith, cooper, jointer, cabinetmakers, brick makers, and textile weavers. Then we saw a display of George Washington declaring that the revolutionary war was almost complete. The day ended with dinner at the pub and a ghost walk through town. Max swam at the end of it all of course.

Jamestown - The First English Settlement

Well after 12 hours of sleep for the whole family we went out and explored Jamestown. We enjoyed it. Max stayed interested as long as we kept moving and finding new things to look at. I gave him some questions to get the answers to during the day. That seemed to help him connect to the history around us. His question today was "Why did so many of the first settlers die in the first year?" He came up with the answer by the end.. of starvation, disease and Indian attacks.

Max is maintaining a level of excitement previously unseen in the Rickert-Wong clan. He is so excited to be traveling with both his Mom's and getting unlimited time with us. There is a lot of questions, bouncing and cuddling going on. He is also loving being in a different state and comparing it with California. (They have a lot of trees here but they are a different kind)

After dinner, we came back and fulfilled his desire to swim, swim and swim. Tomorrow we are heading off to Williamsburg and hopefully will be able to get some costumes (especially for Max) and take some photos as Virginians.