Fun in New York

Well, after sitting in traffic for 2 hours and being gently rear-ended, we arrived in one piece at the home of Pedro and Claribel and their two lovely children, Enoch and AJ. They welcomed us with open arms and loving care. While in NY, they took us around with them to church, to site-see in Manhattan, pointed us in the appropriate direction for tasty NY pizza, and overall just cared for us. Sunday was a long day, but not bad for having attended two church services, one in Spanish and one in English. Canaan sat wonderfully through the first and slept beautifully through the second. Everyone was so loving and friendly. I don't know if we've ever been more loved upon than with this congregation. I dressed Canaan in red overalls for church, and he was mistaken for a girl several times. Everyone said his eyes and eyelashes were just so beautiful! Note to Mommy, no more red when we are first meeting new people! In between the services, we enjoyed a picnic in the park next to the church building (which was actually a rented chapel on a college campus). The two boys, Enoch and AJ, provided a couple hours of entertainment for Canaan as they ran around, occasionally stopping to bring him a gift of a stick (quickly confiscated) and flowers (also taken up). When at home in the evenings, the boys also entertained Canaan, reading him stories (in both English and Spanish) and handing him all his toys that he dropped out of reach! The next day, we all enjoyed a tour of NY. We took the subway and saw the site of the WTC, the statue of liberty (from a distance), walked down Broadway, and picnicked in Central Park. As you can see, Canaan was entranced at it all, right up until he fell asleep in his stroller. Our host family then graciously sent us on our way to Pennsylvania with supper, drinks for the road, a baby bottle scrubber (which I had left at home), and some hand-me-downs, that Canaan is very excited about wearing when he grows into them!