And, we're back.

Wow. What a nice wedding my brother-in-law had. Held @ a pretty 100-year old country club in suburban New Jersey. It was a medium sized wedding. The minister, while a bit new-agey for my taste, was a pro, and the wedding went off hitch-free. (well, almost. A had to go down the aisle twice because she forgot to toss the rose petals in the aisle the first time. Also, the bride's ring was briefly lost when the ribbon that attached it to the stem of a rose untied. Also, the hairdresser and the florist were no-shows, so the flowers were still being assembled 30 minutes before the wedding was to start.)

But the DJ was great, there was just enough champagne. And it was a romantic, sweet wedding filled with Italians. And lots of dancing.

Then yesterday was a gorgeous fall day in NYC. We spent it in the village, just hanging out and getting a little wet @ the fountain at Washington Square, then walked up to Union Square, then walked up again to my favorite park in New York, Madison Square park. I've always wanted to go to the Shake Shack, but the line is re-donk-u-lous.

It's funny how different the environment is in New York from Little Rock, but kids are the same everywhere. We played in a couple of playgrounds, and the experience was exactly the same in a city of 5 million as in our city of (not even) 500,000. Well, save for the 1000s of taxis blaring their horns just a few feet from the swingset.

So, we had a LATE night last night, as our flight didn't even leave Newark til after 8:00 EST. And we have some tired little girls today. Last night on the plane, A kicked the back of the seat of a surly business man just long enough to push him into asking me "Are these your children?" (sorry, surly man. I've been there, feeling just and tired and surly as you did last night on your sunday night business trip. But you also annoyed me by yelling "FUCK" at your smartphone more than once. Plenty loud enough for little ears to hear. And before the kicking of your seat back began.)

My children crumpled into a heap of sleeping little girls after successfully annoying their seat mates. But first, the pilot came on to make his unintelligible announcements about flying conditions, delays, etc. So when A asked S: "What did he just say?!" S replied with authority: "Whaz-chash-eblah-shcazd." Just like the grown-ups say on the Peanuts.