The drive from Boston to New York was super smooth, I am mostly talking about traffic.  We kept the kids calm with movies on the laptop, but some whines got through.  Thank God once we were passing by New York City, the views were exciting enough for them to pay attention and enjoy, the buildings, bridges, and especially the statue of liberty.  We arrived at my friend’s house, the three of us have known each other since we were seven years old, along with two other friends, total of five. We all moved from the Soviet Union in 1980 and went to an Orthodox Jewish School in Denver, Co. We are still close today, and as my mom says, our love and connection is deep.

The picture below shows the three of us with our families, and the expressions on my kids faces are the exact same expressions that they have had throughout our trip.  Not wanting to, unsatisfied, bored, I had to pick both of them up, they weigh 40 pounds each, luckily I have a strong core.  As you see I am trying to smile through it all!

What happened you ask? Everybody was swimming and having fun, and in a flash of a moment, my little one got onto a floatie in the pool, and then next moment my husband noticed he flipped, without hesitation I jumped into the pool fully clothed.  Everything is fine, Thank God, all we can do is feel grateful, there are no other emotions, no what ifs, no fear, no anger, just feeling so blessed that everything turned out ok.  I was so impressed that he instinctively kicked and used his hands, kept his head above water.  Hopefully now he will be more cautious, he was careful before to stay above water because he has tubes in his ears, things happen, have to stay alert, react quick, and trust that everything will turn out ok and we are doing our best as parents.

The Joy of Parenthood,

OY!

Fun, Scary, now relaxing with my husband’s family,

All is Good,

Thank God times infinity,

Coach Yulia

              Notice the black dress when I first arrived, and the green dress in the picture above before we left