Let us high to the playground ...

Chloe had her spelling bee yesterday. I could say she was one of 8 out of 60,000 students, but that is totally misleading since there are only 31 in her entire grade. And, there is one 8th grade class in our tiny district. So, she was there representing her district of 31. It was actually Chloe herself who pointed this out to me. Still -- my kid is in a spelling bee! Whoo Hoo!

Anyway, about three words into the gig the adult giving the test said, "High. Let us high to the playground before chores. High." Huh? The parents looked around. High? Can that be right?

Actually it is spelled HIE. Hie.

Learned something new! And by the way Chloe did not place, but was given a $30. gift card to Powells Bookstore.

New York, New York

We just returned from NYC, and it was great! What an incredible place! Of course we encountered blurps we did not forsee -- like losing Emmeline's sling on the first leg of the trip. Ultimately we carried her everywhere and she was as happy as could be. See? Sleeping in momma's arms, and living the high life in the apartment we rented.

Our older children were such troopers on this trip; we are so proud of them! We took in Ellis Island, the Liberty Science Center (which was spectacular), the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum and Natural History, Shrek the Musical and The Lion King. Needless to say we were exhausted on our trip back ... which took almost nine hours start to finish.

We are caught up on laundry finally, and are back to our regular routine. Emmeline seems to have grown by leaps and bounds since before we left -- she is really engaging and giggly. We are trying to treasure her babyness as it disappears before our very eyes!