Anna!

Anna and I have led parallel lives. She went to Kenyon (so did Clay), then she moved to Saint James (where I worked from 2003-2007), then she moved to Nashville to get her master's at Vanderbilt (while I was in Chattanooga), and now she lives and works in Brooklyn as an awesome Associate Director of Admissions. She also spends the summers in Maine. In a nutshell, Anna and I were meant to be friends! I love Anna. Her enthusiasm for life, her selfness care of others, and her ability to have fun doing anything make her a joy to be around. She had never met Will, but upon his birth she sent Will her own favorite children's books (I mean, we LOVE Anna!) and she has been faithfully following and commenting on the blog for years, so we picked right back up without missing a beat.

Today we explored yet another new destination: Bryant Park. This park is located immediately behind the NYPublicLibrary, so it is designed to be full of endless comfortable places to sit down and enjoy a good book. Somehow, a block-wide park felt cozy--amazing. It also has a sweet carousel that Anna and I took Will on...and thank God Anna was around when a grandfather started walking away with my stroller! I chased after him, Anna watched Will try to eat gravel, and we laughed and enjoyed marveling over how wonderful it is to be close to each other once again.

Will wasn't so sure of the carousel...

...but he loves snack time...

...and he especially loves tasti d'lite and hugs from Anna!

Thank you, dear Anna, for coming to play with us today!

And now for a few random cell phone pics I just discovered I never transferred to my computer:

Prepping for the Columbia football game.

LOVE this Columbia hoodie Mimi bought us!

Trying to get away from Daddy's tender tugs at the Children's Museum of Manhattan on Friday evening.

Toys R Us on Mommy's 31st Birthday!

Library Storytime. Will CANNOT sit still during this interactive session. Check out his reaction to the final event in the story time sessions: BUBBLES!

WILL LOVES LOVES LOVES bubbles!!

("Mom, stop taking pictures of me!")

Terrible picture, but his face is so priceless here. He SQUEALS with excitement over bubbles.

He also loves his little house in the basement playroom of our building.