"Nieces"

As you know, I have a few blogs to catch up on , so here we go.

I am the proud aunt of one awesome nephew but this summer I have been lucky enough to meet my two "nieces". One introduction was made in May and then one more recently in July.

My first "niece" is Miss Ellie Sexton. Her daddy, Brandon, was my boyfriend in third and fourth grade. Now that meant, we played together on the playground, were around each other constantly and gave each other presents. On Valentines Day in fourth grade, he presented me with a heart shape box of candy. Everyone in the school knew we were " serious". I think it mostly entertained all parties. We continued to be good friends throughout all of our schooling years, topping off our high school experience by going to senior prom as friends. Since then, we have always been there for each other. We visited each other in college and have attended each other's weddings. It was such a proud moment for me to see him and his wife venture into the journey of parenthood. Ellie was born April 30th. We met three weeks later and have also celebrated her two month birthday with dinner out. She is a doll and I love her. This is Miss Ellie and a pic of me and her daddy the last time we visited weeks before her arrival.

My second "niece" is my cousin Nancy's daughter Anna. She is two days short of ten months old. She has such a sweet disposition. We have been shopping with her several times these last few weeks and she is so patient, just hangs out as one of the girls. She is very talkative and has taken to all of us Griswolds. It was amazing to meet her for the first time and great to fix the insane statistic that Nancy and I had not seen each other in a year. Since she lives in Arizona and had Anna last September, there hadn't been a lot of opportunity. I have never gone a year between seeing Nancy! This time together has been so great and loving on Anna has been too.

I'm Still Here

Sorry the blog has gone a little stagnant. I just have been really busy. I have plenty to share. Here is what you can look forward to soon ( and what has been keeping me busy):

- Myrtle Beach trip with Brad
- Seeing my cousin for the first time in a year and meeting her 10 month old daughter for the first time
- Spending time with my best friend since third grade Brandon and his wife Lindsay and three month old daughter Ellie
- Attending a Cocktails and Canvas evening with Nicole
- Going to Savannah tomorrow with my mom and aunt

Have a good end of summer and I will be back soon

Why I Teach

Last Friday night, Brad and I went to the home of two of my students. It was the home of the fabulous "B" boys. I work with their mom and adore her. The boys are precious, so well spoken and so loving. I have taught both boys for two years now and am looking forward to a third. "Jo" will be in third this year and "Ju" will be in fifth. To give you an idea of how much I cherish these kids, Ju called me his "school Mom" last year. We have a close relationship still although I think the coolness of fourth grade caused that title to fade a little. He still comes to me , asking me to squeeze his head when he has a headache. They are a fabulous family.

So fabulous that to show me how much they appreciated what I have done for them this past school year, the family invited me to dinner and games at their house. It was such a special night. We ate pizza, played Cranium, Apples to Apples, team bowled in Wii. It was so great and I had such a great time. The appreciation they gave me left me inspired to fight for what I believe is right as a teacher. And what did I give them?

Well, I offered to bring something to dinner. When asked what Mrs. Dillard should bring, "Ju" said dessert. I rose to the challenge. I made a dessert out of ice cream sandwiches and brought sprinkles so they could decorate it before eating. It didn't take them along due to their outstanding creativity and help from little sister.

So these are the reasons I teach - not for the pay, the summers off , or the easy way out - to make a noticeable difference in the life of a child.

Summer So Far

Summer so far has been going great. I have the freedom to operate on my own schedule and do my own thing. I sleep in some ( the alarm goes off at 8:30 and some days I actually get up then) and I get up some. I get to clean up - my closet has made the annual switch from winter to summer and goodwill be taking in some new items because of it, our laundry piles are noticeably shorter and the kitchen stays cleaner longer. My physical fitness is getting attention with a daily effort to do something for at least thirty minutes - usually the exercise bike, sometimes a walk or some Wii Fit. Our dinner time meals are definitely less prepackaged items since the end of year craziness has subsided. And I have seen family members - the last two weekends my mom, myself and Aunt Brenda have had spend the night parties, bowled and shopped. It has been fun. I also have had some quality time with my Grandma. I had lunch with her last Friday and took her to dr visits this Monday. I even have moments when I don't know what to do with myself - which doesnt happen during the school year too much. But to make things even better, I have so much to look forward to in the next two months:

Remainder of June

- This weekend I am going to spend the night with my Dad for a couple of nights. We should have some really good father/daughter bonding time just in time for Father's Day.
- My nephew Carter is turning two this Friday and his birthday party is Saturday. His personality is evolving so quickly. Each time you see him, he is a little more grown up.
- We are going out to eat with one of my best friends (also my college roomie) and her husband this Friday near Perimeter Mall.
- I am going outlet shopping with another best friend next week.
- We have tickets to a Gwinnett Braves game.
- Eclipse is coming out!
- Brad is working weeks of four ten hour days rather than a five day work week so we should have some fun Fridays coming our way this month and in .....

July

- We are going to Myrtle Beach for a week in July.

- My cousin Nancy is coming home from Arizona til the beginning of August. We will finally get to meet her baby girl Anna ( who will be one at the end of September).

- More fun Fridays with the husband!

So bring on the summer and bring on the fun!

Finally- the Last Full Day in NYC

Our last full day in NYC was Saturday. We got up and found weather the 60's more chilly weather that Friday had brought. Our tickets (that we had purchased the previous day at the South Street Seaport) were for a matinee show of Million Dollar Quartet. So if we were going to do anything else, we had to get up and go. That journey ended up being to the near top of the Empire State Building. It was an incredible view but also an incredible wind so Brad was the only one of us that was brave enough to go out on the exterior observation deck. Here is an example of the view we saw.

After leaving the Empire State Building, we headed back toward the hotel. We stopped at Dean and DeLuca for a small bite to eat and then got ready to head to our show. We had the concierge take a pic of us all dressed up.

From there we headed for the Nederlander Theatre to see Million Dollar Quartet. Our seats were second row and the show was great. It followed a night in studio where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis played together. Here is a picture of the exterior of the theater when we found it the night before.

When the show concluded, we went back to the hotel to change. I had one more attraction I wanted to see. In the NY Public Library, they had the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals on exhibit. These are the ones that A.A. Milne's son Christopher Robin actually played with and that were featured in the opening credits of the show. I was very happy to take this in. Tigger had always been my favorite.

We wrapped up the night with dinner on Restaurant Row. We went to Bourbon Street. It was some very tasty Cajun food. Then we went back to the hotel and prepared to leave the next day via the shuttle.

Third Day in New York

So the third day temps dropped unexpectedly into dreary, windy 60's and both of us had only packed one long sleeved item - matching gray fleeces. This was the day that we headed far south and rode the subway. We navigated it well and made it down to the South Seaport where we could buy our discounted Broadway show tickets. We scored second row tickets to the musical Million Dollar Quartet. Then we walked through the South Seaport stores. There, we completed a Dillard must on a trip to anywhere - finding a Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip.

We also found a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. On a warmer day, Meredith might have been up for walking over to it for real. However, on this day, we settled for a nice picturesque view. From there we walked down the waterfront and made our way to Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry area. When we got there, we found out that the crown of the Statue of Liberty was closed due to windy conditions. Therefore, we again opted for just a view of this tourist attraction. I had done the ferry on my previous trip.

So then we or I pondered what to do and where to go from Battery Park. This is a pic my charming husband caught of me thinking over what we should do.

We ended up walking through the downtown area on the Southside. We walked past Ground Zero and then headed to the Subway to jump on a train towards Little Italy for lunch. We ate lunch there at a coal over pizza place named Lombardi's. It was really good.

Afterwards, we rode a subway back into town. Our travels took us by some of the staples of New York tourism - Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, back to Toys R Us and H and M. While at Rockefeller Center, we went to the NBC store. We were hoping to schedule an NBC tour. This is the one thing we did wrong on this trip. When we got there, their tours were all booked up through Sunday AM, the day we were leaving. We probably could have done it but we wanted to make sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. There is always next time.

We wrapped up the day with beverages at Dunkin Donuts. The next day would be an early one.

Day Two in NYC

We got up and had breakfast at our hotel before heading out for another full day of NYC. Before going out, we snapped a pic of us fresh and ready for the day.

Our plan was to do the Central Park area. We had of course been up near there for Serendipidity the day before. However, on this day, we traveled via Times Square. Still, it would be a day with a lot of blocks traveled . Here are some pictures of our travels through Times Square.

Once we got to Central Park, we headed to two specific and important locations: Shake Shack and the Museum of Natural History. Shake Shack was wonderful. It is a green operated restaurant which specializes in frozen custard. They use their custard to make blizzard like dessert with candies or fruits blended into a flavor of custard. Mine was fabulous with strawberries, bananas and shortbread cookies. It was my favorite food consumed in NYC. They are bringing a restaurant like this to Centennial Park. The museum was interesting but I am not a history buff persay so it was a more Brad experience. Still, it was definitely something someone should see once.

Following our adventures in the museum, we went deeper into Central Park. I was on a mission to find the Central Park Carousel and also wanted to revisit the Belvedere Castle from Nicole and I's trip to NYC. Our legs were tired as we came back home to the hotel after long travels in the park. We came back via Times Square. We stopped by the Hershey and Mand M stores as well as Toys R Us on our way.

After a nap, we headed to a small, quaint Italian restaurant around the corner from our hotel for dinner and then went into our local Starbucks for a warm beverage. And that was Day Two.