Enjoying the Weather and The Pope

Well, it's been a slow couple of weeks around here, until yesterday. Getting over colds, strep throat (Mzee) and ear infection (Milan). The weather has been WONDERFUL here this week, so we have been spending a lot of time outside. Last night we went to the playground after our Friday night dinner at the local pizza shoppe. We took Mzee's bike as there is a huge paved area for bike riding, skating, etc. Social butterfly that he is, he befriended 8 and 10 year old brothers who were trying out their new roller skates. I thought roller skates were out of style, replaced by roller blades! Looks like, as usual, everything old is new again. In any case, the three boys had a great time. Mzee actually seemed to be the "coordinator" and got them started racing across the playground. They did this for quite some time and had a blast.

Milan is finally feeling better, she had a rough couple of weeks with her ear infection, a horrible cold and teething. She is on antibiotics for the ear infection. The week before last she only went to daycare one day out of five as just when we thought her cold was getting better, she spiked a fever and had the ear infection! Milan on antibiotics is not a fun thing!! She despises any type of medication and has found several different ways to spit her medicine back at us. I think we've wasted more than we've actually gotten in to her stomach!

This morning while Mzee was helping me shake out some rugs outside, I mentioned that it was a beautiful day, to which he responded, "Yeah, it must be 106 degrees!" For the record, it was probably about 65 or 7o at the time!

Today Mzee had his last basketball game. He did great. It was so interesting to watch their game as it mainly consisted of a kid getting the ball, running (travelling) with it, to the other end of the court and shooting. There was virtually no dribbling or passing. Once someone scored, it would reverse and go the other way. At this age, they all want to shoot...then again does that really change as kids get older? Mzee did finally pass the ball to a teammate who scored. So, we explained to him the concept of an assist and how that was a really great thing! After the game they all got trophies. Mzee is in love with his trophy and has carried it around since he got it today!

Don and Mzee, practicing dribbling

A great shot!

Mzee shooting during the game

The TROPHY!

Check out that face!

The weather was so nice we spent the afternoon at the zoo after basketball. It was VERY crowded today, now that the weather is nice. However, we saw some great things that we weren't able to see the last time we were there. The highlights were the giraffes, the gorillas and flamingos. And of course we rode the bug carousel again. Of course this time, Miss Milan decided she didn't like it once the ride started. I thought I had gotten her back to a happy place, only with a smile for one time around and then it was screaming the rest of the ride. Mzee was very excited to ride on a Praying Mantis, but Milan did not like riding on the Bumble Bee. Mzee said she was crying because it stinged her!

Mzee posing at the zoo sporting his new haircut and Daddy's sunglasses

Nine pictures of us on the carousel and not one with both kids looking in the general direction of the camera...such is life in pictures with more than one child!

Daddy, I'm tired...

Milan now likes to count with us and will sing the ABC's from time to time. When counting she only hits about 3 out of 10 numbers when counting to 10 with you, but gets very excited. If we sing the ABCs there are certain letters she likes more than others and says them really loud, ignoring the rest of the alphabet.

I'm sure many of you are wondering if I was able to see the Pope this week while he was in New York. He gave an address specifically to UN staff. There were only 1700 tickets given out for the event. The day of the ticket distribution people started lining up 2 hours in advance. When I saw this as I was arriving at work that day, I decided I didn't have time to wait in line. I also knew that many REALLY wanted to see him so wanted as many to have a chance to see him as possible. About 15 minutes after the tickets were to be handed out I went down to the cafeteria for some water and saw the line moving quite quickly. I decided to see how long the line really was, so followed it only to find that it stretched the full length of my building, through the tunnel that connects our building to the next building and then all the way through that building. By the time I was at the end of the line, I decided I was already there, so I might as well wait. It only took about 20 minutes to get to the front of the line and I received a ticket.
Yesterday was the quite a day at the UN. Security was extremely tight. I went to work earlier than usual to be sure I could get through security quickly to get to work as I had some things I needed to finish and knew I would be taking time out for the address. Thankfully, I got through security quickly. My office looks right down on the circle drive in front of the UN, so I was able to see the enormous motorcade arrive. I could see many of the bishops and cardinals walking up to the building from their cars. I went down to wait in line about an hour before the address was to start. We had to wait in a very long line to go through airport type security before making our way to the General Assembly Hall. Luckily a friend of mine got in line quite a bit earlier than me and she saved me a seat in the hall. We were quite far back, but on the first raised level so we had a great view. Unfortunately, it was far enough back that I wasn't able to get great pictures.

Introduction of Pope Benedict XVI by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon

Pope Benedict XVI

The Pope's address was directed to us as UN Staff Members, so it was encouraging. It really was somewhat surreal to be there. Being in the GA Hall has that affect on me regardless, as this is where I took the written exam at the initial stages of being accepted to work at the UN. So, being in the GA Hall and having the Pope speak so highly of our roles as UN Staff Members was really meaningful!