Another Birthday in Manhattan

To celebrate my birthday today, we went to Manhattan.  We viewed the progress of the World Trade Center site, walked through Battery Park, and went to the Skyscraper Museum.  This part of Manhattan has been ordered to evacuate in preparation for Hurricane Irene, but you never would have known it today.  Then we hopped on the subway and went up to Nolita, where we ate a late lunch at Rice.  Then we walked over to the Village and stopped to buy a slice of cake for my birthday at Amy's Bread.  I got a slice of carrot cake AND a slice of coconut cake.  Yummy.

Julia Goes to School

Today we took Julia to River School, where she will be going for childcare starting in mid-September.  The school is located just a few blocks away from John and Nancy's house.  There will be 12 children in Julia's "Tiny Tigers" consortium, which starts in September.  After one year, they graduate to the next level.  During the transition session we attended, the children had "circle time" where they sit on the floor with their teachers and sing songs, clap hands, and other activities.  The other children were very welcoming to Julia, bringing her toys to play with.  She sat there quietly, playing with toys and watching all the activity.  They also have some soft climbing toys to help the children with large motor skills.  They said most days they take the children for walks (in multiplex strollers) twice a day.  I think Julia is really going to enjoy being with all the children.  The staff to child ratio in the "Tiny Tigers" section is 1 to 3.

BRAUERPOWER

The Brauer family celebrated Mary's birthday at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem.  And we all got new Brauerpower t-shirts, including the newest Brauerpower, Julia.