Another fantastic day

Quick recap of the day:

--"It's a beautiful day for a train ride!" Rachel announced this morning, and it was true: the weather was perfectly beautiful and sunny and warm. Drew decided he wanted one day without driving, and we wanted to give Rachel the treat of riding into the city on MetroNorth and getting around by subway. She LOVED it (part of the reason being that I told her the story that I referred to in my previous post). "Today is my luckiest day!" she said as we emerged from the subway (we took 2 lines to get to Katz's Deli). "I got to ride on a TRAIN!" We met our friend Amy, from college, for lunch and then managed to find a playground near the deli. Rachel and played chase, and I had to pretend I was a unicorn and we were running together. It actually felt good to move my body for a while.

--She fell asleep on my hip on the way back. Drew met a very nice couple from Asheville, NC while I took a micro-nap until we got to the station in White Plains. Then it was on to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner (an unexpected pleasure, thanks Mom and Dad!)

--Rachel enchanted Grandma and Grandpa. She played very nicely on her own, then at dinner she sang all the verses of "Clementine," said the Shabbat blessings by heart AND sang the Hanukkah song. I couldn't bear to leave, but at 10 I said we really needed to get Rachel to bed. "I wanna stay and Grandma and Grandpa's house!!" she cried, and I couldn't blame her; we were all having such a good time. Grandpa and Grandpa reassured her that she could visit them again, and she gave them multiple hugs. Then we got into the car and headed back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we leave at 7, and we'll spend most of the day in the city meeting one more friend for lunch and taking care of a couple of errands. I leave with a very full heart and a longing to live closer to the ones I love. Thank you all for making this one of the most memorable vacations EVER!!