I'm like a bull in a china shop.
~segue~
I met our neighbors!
Tess and her husband, Taylor, live next door with their super cute kids. Over the past few months, Tess and I messaged and emailed and I was completely excited to meet her and Vivian was thrilled there would be kids right next door.
This morning Tess messaged me they were up and about and I was overjoyed about the prospect of meeting them. Quandry: Viv was conked out on the couch. What to do. What to do. Ah! I'll prop open the door and scoot next door!
So I skipped next door, met Tess (who is just as lovely as I'd anticipated) and her sweet baby girl (who melts the heart with her smile) and thought I'd better check on Viv. So I ran down the hallway and prepared to do a 'round-the-corner-skid when "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" THERE'S TAYLOR WHO JUST WALKED IN THE APARTMENT! I yelped and jumped up and down, apparently trying to bounce back in time, then the baby waddled by, saw the chaos, fell on the radiator, bumped her head, got swept into her mother's arms, then the son came in, saw the chaos, and looked like he's seen an alien, and I realized this is not an out of the ordinary introduction to Cristi.
Sigh.
People of Lehighton: I'll try not to embarrass you any more.
Tess and Taylor: I'll get a box of Bandaids just in case.
The good news is that Viv got to meet their kids and she's really happy they live next door and looks forward to playing with them.
They headed off to a park; Vivi and I headed up to Queen's University to meet Chris, an old friend I haven't seen in over a decade. The last place we saw each other was at The Players Club and I still have crystal memories of standing on the balcony with him looking at the moon and twinkling lights of New York City.
Yesterday Vivi wanted to hear the story of Romeo and Juliet (that was yesterday, right? I'm having a hard time keeping the days straight. Maybe I haven't yet adjusted to the time difference.); today she wanted to hear her about what she was like as a baby in my belly. So the whole walk up to Queen's, I told her The Vivian Marchetti Creation Story.
I wonder what people thought as we passed by and heard me saying things like, "while I was pregnant with you, Mrs. Meowzers liked to sleep on my belly."
The best part of the conversation was when we got to Queen's and sat on the low wall by the main gate waiting for Chris. You know what? I'll let you hear it for yourself:
And then we saw him! Chris! CHRIS! It'd been so long! Too long! We hugged it out and I kept my jumping up and down to a minimum (I think).
There's a gorgeous museum right next to Queen's so we headed over there for some art and catching up.
First! Coffee. Two coffees and a hot chocolate with marshmallows and I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! There are Fifteens! Fulbright Friend Lauren had told me about Fifteens and they sounded like everything I love in a dessert.
Mmmmmmmmm...exactly as good as I'd hoped.
A wee shortbread for Viv to dip in her hot chocolate!
We saw a ton of beautiful art and some cool sights I never thought I'd see, like a stuffed Irish Wolfhound.
Huge, right??
(I'll put the other museum pictures at the bottom of the post in case you don't want to scroll through them. Note: there is one of a toilet. I was amazed by how artistic the flush mechanism is.)
Viv started getting a little gretzy (Pennsylvania Dutchies: did I spell that right??), which was understandable because she didn't sleep last night, we walked up to Queen's, we walked around a museum, and grown ups are boring. So we ambled over to The Wellington Hotel for a bite to eat and Chris' introduction to Slime.
I had Fish and Chips! They're grand. I love smashed peas.
Viv had Breaded Chicken Goujons - Chicken breast in golden breadcrumbs served with chips. Chris had fancy Chicken Goujons.
Vivi met two kids and they played and played and played and their mother is lovely and she went to Victoria! She told Vivi that it'll be a fantastic experience and she'll love the girls there -- and that she'll love the uniform. Everyone we've met has been friendly and warm.
We said goodbye to Chris and headed down Malone Road toward home (how quickly we started calling it that!) and guess what! A person asked us for directions! And we were able to give the directions! Whoop!
At the apartment we packed Vivi's school bag, I made her lunch, and off to bed she went. (I just checked on her about an hour later -- she appears to be asleep.)
First day of school for Vivi tomorrow!
Ulster Museum:
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