Karlee's Graduation

> So, I went up to NYC last week to go see Karlee walk at her graduation at NYU(funny that coincidence of school & location) on Thursday. This explains my lack of blogging over the weekend. Yes, they don't have computers in New York. I stick my tongue out at you. Anyway, I had a great time. I got to meet Karlee's grandmother, and her great aunt Rita, who are some great ladies, and spend some time with them and her parents, who all came up for the graduation. On Friday, we all went out and did all the touristy things in New York, which, typically, I never did when I lived there. We stopped by Ground Zero, which disturbed me. Last time I'd been there was before, and I still had the memory of it whole. I guess I'm glad they're building something, but the place just makes me feel uneasy. Anyway. On Liberty Island, we ran into this seagull. I named him Frank. He looked like a Frank. Possibly this was some sort of tribute to my uncle, possibly a call back to my childhood, when my dad used to call all us kids Frodo, or Fred, since four children's names is entirely confusing. Anyway, he was much larger than most of em, and didn't mind me sitting next to him at a table, though he seemed a little camera shy. There was another seagull out there who looked like frank, but only had one foot. After realizing that it was not, in fact, Frank, I named him Francis. Sorry, no pictures. After Liberty Island we stopped by Ellis Island. Apparently, the Easterly Family is from Germany, according to their records. Things I didn't know. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but a girl in the gift shop asked if her friend could get a picture with me. I like to think that I added to someone's New York experience. Then we went on the line ride. By the line ride, I mean we went to the top of the Empire States Building. Line for tickets, followed by line to elevator, followed by line to other elevator, followed by actual roof access. fun. and exhausting. Waiting for the line ride included looking fun things like the window and other people but if you were on the lookout, the old pictures of New York on the wall were pretty amusing. The top was pretty... and did you ever look up from a high point, just to see what was there? Saturday, Karlee's family kicked town, we rested, & I shaved Travis's head. Other stuff I saw: Green in the middle of the village. Why I love escalators. And this little twitchy dog. It twitched all over, but independently, as if each piece was controlled by a seperate puppeteer. The kid tried to offer it some rice krispie treat, so it twitched, sniffed it, twitched, licked it with the tip of its tounge, twitched again, repeat. Eventually the kid got tired, and ate the rice krispie treat. . Thursday, I also got to meet Karlee's much talked about workmate Shino, whose name I actually remember how to write in Japanese. I'm so proud.