Celebrating Ruby's and G-Pa's Birthdays

Ruby celebrated Birthday #2 on July 9th, and I celebrated Birthday #65 on July 10th.  What fun to celebrate together! My original plans called for me to be in NYC for eleven days.

I arrived in NYC the day after the Fourth of July (I guess that would make it the fifth)  :-)  Joe, Joy, Ruby and Red were away visiting family for the long 4th holiday in Albany and Syracuse, so after a brief rest stop at their place and lunch at the foodcellar, I took my luggage and hopped the subway (can you call it hop?  Maybe if I had used HopStop?) down to Mia's place in Greenwich Village to meet up with her after she got out of work.  Mia is in NYC for the summer doing an internship in public relations.  (See previous post)  I stayed with Mia for the week that I was in NYC.

On Saturday morning we did a little shopping downtown and then up to midtown.  We stopped into Uni Qlo  where we were handed scratch off contest cards as we entered.  Mia had won a 'second prize' of AIRism innerwear.  I won a third prize of a hand fan.  Mia had wanted to get one of those hand held motorized fans for Ruby, so we thought we had hit the jackpot!  On our way out, after making some purchases, we headed over to the counter to claim our prizes.  First, Mia got her receipt for the one she had chosen from the tons of shirts and she was told, "no returns".  No problem.  Next, I looked forward to getting the hand fan.  See photo for my prize.  Hee! Haw!  Funny, the clerk didn't say anything about no returns.

So, in mid afternoon we headed over to the Js and Rs place after they had arrived back home.  I couldn't wait to see Ruby and Red!  It's been almost three months!  And in G-Pa / grandbaby terms, that's a looooooonnnnngggg time!

On Monday morning Ruby and I headed over to the 'rainbow' playground for some play time.  Bubbles in hand, we caught the attention of many of the day care kids there that morning.  The day care adults brought plenty of water things to help cool the kids down, water balloons, bigger bags filled with water for "sprinklers" and a wagon load of their drinking water bottles.  Ruby kept going over to hang out with all those kids.  When it was time for them to sit on the spread out parachute for birthday party celebrations, Ruby joined right in and kept re-positioning herself to be right at the center!  Party crasher!  So funny!  The head teacher said she was welcome to stay.  But soon, another activity a short distance away caught Ruby's eye, a bubble machine, and we were off!

Finally, Ruby's big day arrived.  Since Mia didn't get out of work until 6:00 PM, we decided to head over to LIC so that Mia could see the Birthday Girl before she headed off to work.  What fun!  Ruby was enthralled with the new "Second Year" video from her Daddy Dad and we immediately were welcomed to join her in watching it non-stop!  And what a beautiful video, beginning at her first Birthday party up to the day before her second.  She loved the polka dot shirt with the red 'R' that Mia got her, and ran right to the mirror to check it out!

Joe was still in the throes of assembling the kitchen, so we played around him.  Off to the playground again, and then back for Ruby's favorite meal later in the day:  risotto with bacon and peas, followed by a 'bubble' cake by Mama and ice cream!

I looked forward to spending my birthday with Ruby and Red.  When I arrived at their place I was greeted with lots of smiles from the Rs!  And also a beautiful drawing by Ruby and dark chocolate chunk coconut muffins by Chef Joy!  She knows the way to my heart!

More bubbles and playground and hanging out made for a perfect day!

I loved spending my birthday with Ruby and Red!  It was the best present ever!  I have so much fun when I am with them.  At one point, as I was holding Red and playing with Ruby, I thought to myself, "it doesn't get any better!"

Later in the evening I met up with Mia and we made plans to go out for my birthday dinner.  With the heat of the past week (in the mid 90s) we were not very hungry for a big meal, so we opted for something light at Ellary's Greens in the West Village.  During the dinner we received a call from Gina.  Her news was not good.  Adele (my oldest daughter) was in transit from a hospital in Cellebration to the Neuro Critical Care Unit at Florida Hospital in Orlando.  Things did not look good at that moment and both Mia and I were crying at the table, and on the walk home.  I cut my visit short and headed back down to Florida the following night.  Fortunately all turned out well after spending a week in the critical care unit.  All brought on by dangerously low sodium levels.  An education for all of us. Now some career roles and life changes and on to a good future!