WEEKEND UPDATE

Here is a quick weekend update.

This past week yours truly, just like the rest of the population of our fair city, was hit with the mercurial moods of the not so fair weather. By the time Sunday arrived, I thought that I was (unlike the other years) mentally prepared for the heat wave. Ha, ha, hearty har har!

Still, I was determined not to miss tulips this year; and, again judging by the mood swings of our weather, it looked like the poor tulips and narcissuses, who were fighting for about a month for the right to the full bloom, and deterred by at least three torrential rain storms and just as many temperature drops, would finally burst into full bloom this weekend, and immediately weather away due to extreme heat. So, excursion to Botanical Gardens became a matter of utmost import for this weekend.

With that thought in mind, I woke up at the un-G-dly hour of 7:30 am, and by about nine o’clock was in full battle readiness (which duly surprised my poor sister, who is used to my extreme dawdling and protracted breakfasts on Sunday mornings). Unfortunately, during their "vakashin", munchkins became even more Mommy-clingy, and adamantly refused to be dressed by yours truly; this fact resulting in our parking spot not in the immediate vicinity of the Garden's entrance. Due to not so comfortable footwear and already not too comfortable temperatures, I fell slightly behind during our trek from the car to the entrance. All of the sudden both of them almost simultaneously expressed concern of "where Papi" and "I can't see Papi". Go figure!

While in the garden, we:

Explored the "children's learning garden": same flowers, but on the smaller scale, completed with a cute tiny maze, even cuter assorted benches, and tiny telescope, through which little kids could observe the neighboring vegetable patches.

Enjoyed the profuse amount of tulips in all different colors (and, as predicted, in very ripe stages of full bloom).

Found a whole bunch of Dorothy's (for those of you living a cave, that's Elmo's goldfish, and we found a whole pond of them!

Took an obscene amount of pictures (thank G-d for digital cameras). Unfortunately, Mini Me already entered a stage where taking a good shot of her in any situation requires major maneuvers on par of Wellington's before Vittoria. Mini Not Me, on the other hand, is still happy to pose, wave at Mommy, and say "cheese". The best shot of him was the one where he was standing on a gorgeous lawn, holding a sign that said "Keep Off".

Again, due to our cantankerous costumers, we did not pack snacks (thank G-d we did pack water). So, Mini Me and Mini Not Me had to share an apple; hurray for the ingenuity of people from poor countries (because an American born mother would not be able to figure that one out).

Poor Mini Me for whatever reason developed an irrational fear of all insects, which unfortunately prevented her from enjoying the occasional butterflies.

Mini Not Me and his aunt got into another situation which would have resulted in an interesting exchange, if not for Mini Not Me's presence. We decided to cool off a bit in a gift shop. My neffie pooh was a total angel; he was just holding my hand, walking around, and quietly exploring. His extreme cuteness attracted one of the sales girls, and she decided to socialize a bit. Mini Not Me, being wary of strangers, immediately hugged my knees (in the absence of Mommy's) and hid his face in my skirt. I was able to coax him into eventual high and low fives, a little smile, and even a kiss. The girl was totally charmed and, probably due to my "sexy" accent, inquired as to where my nephew was hailing from. To which I politely replied that he was right from here; which is unvarnished truth, since he made his appearance into the world right at one of the Brooklyn's hospitals. After a bit more of polite small talk, Fluffy Head told me that he wanted to go outside. As we were making our slow trek down the stairs, I distinctly heard my recent words repeated with derision. I turned my head, and, sure enough, there was a young black couple discussing my recent (and in their eyes false) statement about Mini Not Me being from Brooklyn. Again, thank G-d for my little munchkin, otherwise, in my present mood, I would have replied with couple of well worded (printable) arguments which may have resulted in eventual personal acquaintance with that well-known defender of civil rights by the name of Al Sharpton.

We also got to The Cherry Esplanade, where Fluffies were able to run around in the grass.

Over all, it was a wonderful, if exhausting, outing (but then, all the outings with Cookies are wonderful and exhausting).

On the way home, my sis blessed her procrastinating tendencies, as a result of which she ended up with a box of Apple Jacks in her car, which by that time was very timely.

Mini Not Me fell asleep; Mini Me refused my assistance in getting out of the car. I was politely asked to "go away" and "go home". So, after unloading the stroller, I picked my bag and headed to the door, at which point I was stopped by "where are you going, Papi?" "Well, you told me to go home, so I am going." "Uhh, go to this home. Stay here, Papi!"

I love you very much, my fluffy cookie heads!