"You're my favorite Mommy!"

How can the day NOT be fantastic when it starts with your kid saying that to you first thing in the morning??

We played two rounds of "Old Maid," (which Rachel is getting quite good at) before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch and playtime with Valerie. Before we left, Rachel said, "I'm going to run to Grandma and give her a big hug, and she's going to scoop me up. And I'm going to say 'please' and 'thank you' and 'excuse me' when I burp and fart and....that's all the manners I know."

We, of course, laughed our heads off. Because, really, that about covers it for good behavior.

So, we spent a delightful afternoon in Mt. Kisco. Grandma made her famous matzo brei, which Rachel, disappointingly, did not like -- oh, that kid doesn't know what she's missing -- and then Grandma served the most amazingly decadent Passover cake from a local bakery. It had a crushed almond crust, and whipped cream/chocolate ganache filling, and mocha icing -- ah, I would LOVE to take it back to Oregon to get over the misery of not being able to eat flour until Friday night -- but that ain't happening so I'll just sigh and hope Mom gets it next year.

The kids were unbelievably adorable together. It's almost like they realize they're all they've got after their parents go, so they bonded very quickly and were incredibly nice to each other -- sharing goldfish crackers, hugging each other, each asking if the other wanted something. Grandma had a wonderful stash of toys that Valerie and Rachel pounced upon, and they ran through the house, shrieking, as all of us pretended to be monsters and chase them. "Let's go upstairs, Rachel!" Valerie yelled at one point, and I heard the faint tinkle of piano keys.

Then we went to the local park while Grandma rested, and Rachel insisted Drew and I play "chase" (her name for hide-and-go-seek) and the kids climbed all over the play structure, went down slides, swung in the swings, checked out a pond to try to see frogs or fish or geese (none were observable), and then, when everyone was tired, we made our way back to Grandma and Grandpa's for COOKIES (Rachel had three before I knew what had happened) and dark chocolate matzoh. We all decided to go to dinner at a local restaurant, where Rachel had penne with red sauce (unusual for her, since she doesn't like sauce these days) and then insisted on ordering chocolate chip mint ice cream -- and then ATE IT ALL UP! I was hesitant to let her order it because she'd never tried it before, but she was a good girl and finished it. I was so proud of her. So proud of her good behavior, her demonstrations of gratitude and how well she got along with her younger cousin. She really seems to love Valerie. Let's hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Great story of the day, told by Daniella:
Daniella, Darryl, Valerie and Tia (Daniella's friend Amy, whose family is from the Dominican Republica) were at a sushi place Saturday night, and Valerie announced, "We had a Passover Seder last night!" and began to sing the four questions. The woman to the right was from Eastern Europe and was very impressed with her rendition and told her how smart she was. The woman to her left looked at Daniella (red-haired Caucasian); Darryl (Chinese); Valerie (Caucasian/Chinese); and Amy (Latina), as if to figure out who was related to whom. As they all left to go to their table, Daniella heard the woman on the left say to the woman on her right, "Only in America!" You betcha, sister.