My mom went over with me today to do some fall clean up on the garden that grows best and I get to enjoy the least. But it really is a pleasure to work in. Thanks, Mom, for digging in with me!

We celebrated Dwayne’s 50th with a brunch in Bellevue. We got to see Poiema people, meet a new neighbor, and visit our farmer’s market.

He looks so different than he did a year or two ago–finally having graduated from his black beanie (yes, he even slept with it, so no, unless he was showering, he never took it off) and Minecraft sweatshirt. I love this very parkour shot of him.

“Hey, look at me real quick, so I can take a picture on your first-ish day of school, like parents are supposed to.”

Beloveds, my maternity leave had her 18^th birthday this year! I tried to celebrate that I now have two kids and a grown up, but Kyla’s look of horror of not being a kid anymore stopped me quickly. We celebrated her adult responsibilities with an RV trip to Silverwood Theme Park. She was officially diagnosed with mild autism last winter, which stopped her not at all in continuing to straddle both high school and community college, working the same job for four years, and generally adulting.

We did our first day at Coeur d’Alene, which Dwayne has a big crush on. We both loved that for a Labor Day weekend, the town was pretty quiet. The kids got rock climbing in, Dwayne and I a long walk, we all dipped into the lake, and I found my perfect dining chairs at a local charity shop.

The girls and I did the fast and furious rides at Silverwood, after Kyla’s birthday breakfast burrito. It was a pretty sweet weekend together.

It got even sweeter when Gramma and Grandpa came over for cake and Kyla’s 3-day birthday came to a close. Happy birthday, beloved Kyla!

Our first museum we spent time at was The Tenements– tenement rooms that were curated for different decades and people groups, like a newly immigrated Chinese family in the 1950s versus a free African-American couple in the 1860s. We did a tour before and after lunch, and it was a teaching museum that could have plenty more visits had we been there longer, though only my attention could have been held much longer, I think. Good thing I’m the planner, or this wouldn’t have made the itinerary, although it is really worthwhile.

Getting an out-of-towner MET membership was just the ticket. Our minors got in free, and Dwayne and I got to The Cloisters once and the Met twice. Kyla spent the most time at the museums for the under-18 set, and Wes the least. Piper and Abby broke records for time in the gift stores. I have not yet been sated by the Met; perhaps I need a few more visits.

Another place we (okay, Dwayne, Kyla, and I) needed more time was the American Museum of Natural History, which really has the coolest exhibits. I had just finished a book where a girl remembers her favorite place in the museum, under the blue whale on the bottom floor, as a special time she got with her dad. I’m not sure what I would have liked best as a kid, but having been on a Kenyon safari since we last visited this museum, the African section delightful.

Early in our adventure, we visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, a piece of recent history our kids are taught in school as their teachers all remember 9-11 clearly (as do I). Both the outer memorial and the inside displays were beautiful and sobering.

We also explored the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, though again, thankfully Dwayne and I did this on our last visit, so when it was cut short due to tired teenagers, it wasn’t the loss it could have been. We did at least get to see Lady Liberty from head to toes, sort of.

Eight days is not enough! There were 3 museums I wanted more time at and others I didn’t even visit. Sounds like I need to start the itinerary for next time.

Places I will never get tired of in NYC are The Highline, Little Island, and, of course, Central Park. Little Island is new since our last visit, and I love it so much. Dwayne and I spent a morning out walking the first two parks, and out second accommodation was just a little more than a block from central Central Park.

Dwayne just wants his own Belvedere Castle. If that’s all you know about Dwayne, then you have the basic gist. But the girls all enjoyed the time there, too, because there are so many rocks to climb. We got our favorite sunset picture here. (Wes walked back on his own often, to get extra steps in and get his VR time in.)

I got to see 7 shows in our 8 days, and definitely feel like I didn’t try hard enough.

1. Kyla volunteered for the paint flinging at the Blue Man Group

2. & Juliet was the unexpected hit I didn’t know I needed.

3. The girls were excited to see Six again.

4. We all got to see the magic of The Lion King— amazing stagecraft.

5. Dwayne and I were excited to witness Seth Meyer’s return to his late-night show (taped in the afternoon) after his Olympics hiatus. (Hilarious– I adore Seth’s A Closer Look.)

6. We all went to see an impressive magic/mind-reading/smoke-and-mirrors show, called Stalkers.

7. On our last night, I went to see Sufs (about the decades it took to pass the 19th Amendment) by myself while Piper got to have what may have been the best night of her life– returning to see & Juliet and then getting cast to sign her playbill afterward. I walked her to and from the theater, but she went solo! Dwayne took the others to a Brazilian restaurant, but Piper and I definitely enjoyed our last night the most, methinks.