Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dan! We had a short celebration, but one that I hope Dan really enjoyed. He had a special coffee cake for breakfast, and a feast of books in the afternoon. New titles include "The Forgotten Man", "The Lone Survivor", and "Gray's Anatomy", which Dan has always wanted but never purchased for himself. A fourth book, "Common Sense" by Glenn Beck, was supposed to be a part of the celebration, too, but it was actually sold out. That was a surprise in liberal Connecticut! We finished our celebration with one of Dan's favorite desserts, an icecream cake.

Thanks for being such a great daddy for our little girl! I hope you know how much she adores you.

New York Trip

Dan is still doing a rotation in New York. He gets to come home for the weekends, though, so Alyssa and I went down a little early on Friday to have some fun before bringing him home on the train. We randomly found this statue on our walk from Grand Central to the Central Park Zoo. Alyssa recognized it as a rabbit, amazingly enough. And since it spouted water, she had to go check it out.


Here we are at the zoo. Alyssa is studying our map very closely.


I was surprised how much she wanted to watch the monkeys. I have always found them to be a little creepy.


She just looked so beautiful among the flowers. Here she is getting quite tired. I ended up taking her to some swings to help her fall asleep for her nap. While she was sleeping we went to Columbus Circle and looked at Williams Sonoma and Borders. It has been quite some time since I was able to browse books without interruptions.

After she woke up, we went to the fountains out front to wait for Dan to meet us. She was again mesmerized by the water. Which was a good thing, since she was still a little groggy and really hungry. We went to Bangkok House for dinner. It's a restaurant that we used to eat at when we lived in New York. It is a slightly different experience with Alyssa, but we still enjoyed it. There was a couple eating a couple of tables away that made us reflect somewhat on how different our life is now. It will be interesting to see what changes the next year brings with the end of residency.

Key What?

Every other business trip I take the family with me. The last one was to Florida in May. I also took a couple of days vacation so it wouldn't just be them having fun while I sat in the meeting.

Our first hotel was an Embassy Suites by the airport where the waterfall in the lobby was a huge hit with Alyssa.

The plan was to spend the next 2 days in Key Largo. Lots of good songs mention Key Largo. Of course all of those songs are at least a generation old. We found out why. There isn't much there now, kinda like a tropical truck stop. Our hotel (booked on Expedia) had boasted a private beach, but it was more like a parking lot out back with some sand sprinkled on it. We cancelled, pulled into a Starbucks, got online and booked a new one on Hotwire (I love that site). We had decided to go all the way to Key West.

Below are pictures at our hotel, the Reach Resort, that turned out to be part of the Waldorf Astoria collection (I really love that site). This one really did have a private beach.

Unlike the rock-coral upper keys, Key West is a true Caribbean Island, that just happens to be connected to Florida by a 3 hour drive on the oversea highway.

Supposedly the southern-most point. Looking at the map, I am not sure. Still it was apparently cool enough for Americans and foreigners to line up for pictures. The triangle on top is a symbol of "the Conch Republic," a nod to a semi-serious past secessionist attempt. Some nice Brits took this picture of us.

Daddy/Daughter Swim Lessons

Dan has been gone a lot for work lately, so I thought he and Alyssa could use some bonding time. I signed them up for swim classes at our local YMCA. Here is Alyssa, all ready for her first class.

Dan didn't really want me to take any pictures, but they were just too cute together. Passing the ball around was one of Alyssa's favorite activities. She also liked to splash, as long as she was the one doing the splashing. Daddy and daughter look so much alike!

Spring on the Trail

It has been quite a while since we updated our blog. I know this is a little out of season considering it's mid-June, but the pictures of Alyssa in the Connecticut spring were just too cute to never share.

A couple of months ago we posted pictures of the trail by our house in winter. It's amazing the difference that the seasons make out here. The flowering trees are one of my favorite things about spring.

Here Dan and Alyssa are looking down at the stream that borders the trail. Alyssa is a little obsessed with water.

She is such a big girl!

I just love this picture of her among the flowers. This is her pensive look. I wonder what she is thinking about?