Sept 3 – Anna came to me incredibly excited because she realized she had a Little People “Zuri” – the character from Vashti Harrison’s book, Hair Love.
Sept 4 – We found a pediatric dentist that we love and she let Parker pick a show on Disney+ to watch during their cleanings. He picked the next episode in a series he’s been watching and was surprised to see it was set in a Dentist’s office!
Sept 8 – First day of Anna’s preschool! This girl was ready! She’s so outgoing, has such a fun personality and she’s missed people her own size.
Vulnerable thoughts here: She actually loves school so much I worry that she’ll be the one who doesn’t want to homeschool. We’ve always said we make our decision to homeschool “year-by-year and kid-by-kid.” What if she wants to go to school!?!? I’ll miss her so much! I’ll worry that when she’s grown up she’ll wonder if I didn’t homeschool her because _________ (insert whatever insecurity that she has because we all have insecurities that tell us untruths about ourselves). But I also don’t want to force homeschooling on her so that I feel like a good mom later on down the road! Matt says it’s way too early to start worrying about that. Talk about role-reversal.
Sept 11 – I’m sure I don’t need to go into too much detail about my thoughts on September 11th, but I’ll say this: we were so grateful to be able to honor those whose lives were lost and so-very changed on that date at Ground Zero. We saw so many people out and about doing the same thing we were and the vitriol we are seeing online is not a true representation of what is going on in the vast majority of places in America. The train-wreck is getting all the media’s attention but in most instances, real people are being good and kind all over the country. Take some time away from social media to interact with real people. You will be encouraged.
Before we went to the 9-11 Memorial we ate dinner in China Town. We are happy to support these businesses and to eat the delicious food they make. And as a mom who makes dinner at least six nights a week, I’m always up for letting someone else do the cooking and cleaning.
Parker and I are reading through stories set-in and about the East. One of the things they mentioned was mooncakes they eat to celebrate the harvest season. We went to a bakery and asked the lady to help us pick one out. She asked if it was our first one and if we’d prefer savory or sweet. Sweet, please! She suggested the pineapple filled one.
In the book the Europeans who tried them did not like them so our expectations were very low, but because we had help from a Chinese person who lives in America, we felt a little hopeful that she’d know our American taste preferences. She was spot on! It was tasty, in that we each ate a bit and liked it, but we wouldn’t want to each eat a whole one. What a fun way to bring the reading from school into the real, tangible world.
On our walk from China Town to the memorial we found ourselves passing 1PP! Matt and I watch Blue Bloods and this is where Frank Reagan works!
I got this picture on the ferry back home. We took the MTA ferry from Pier 11 to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, where we had parked our Truckster. I still couldn’t believe I was able to get from Ground Zero to my car in 30 minutes. And it’s just a short drive home from there… We live less than 10 miles from the site.
More pictures from the ride home…
Once we were home I snapped this picture of our car with the lights shining into the sky. So special to be here at this time.
Sept 13: Our first time back to church in person! Liberty Brooklyn!
Matt took me on a unique date: a coffee crawl. We tasted delicious espresso beans, espresso, and had a cappuccino at “The Original Cappuccino” shop. Also, across the street from that shop is a place called Pommes Frites. How fun?!?
Only in NYC during a global pandemic. ⤵️
Sept 15 – 2020 has been rough in so very many ways. Smoke from west coast fires has reached all the way here and impacted our skies.
Sept 18 – In a moment of some normalcy our MWR hosted a “movie on the lawn” night. It was lovely! And check out the picture of the moon I caught in the tower of our bridge!
Sept 19 – Queens Zoo!
Sept 28 – One of our favorite fall activities is s’mores by the fire pit, so we initiated this new pit in our new backyard!
Sept 26 – Matt took me on a date to Little Italy where I had Eggplant parmesan, he had a spaghetti filled calzone, and we shared the most amazing mushrooms! I’m thrilled because our favorite restaurant in stuttgart, The {M}eatery, had some killer mushrooms and we’ve found their match! We’d go back just for the mushrooms.
For dessert (after we shopped at a massive Christmas Store nearby) we had cannolis from Ferrara’s upon recommendation from a Chaplain-friend of ours in Stuttgart! They did not disappoint.
Sept 29 – Anna masters Alexa. We still keep a monitor in Anna’s room so that if she needs anything in the night we can hear her. It’s also helpful to use as a two-way… I can call for her without having to yell. Well, it died on us so until we replace it I decided to pull out an Echo dot we haven’t used since Texas.
She had a blast with it asking Alexa to tell her jokes and sing silly songs.
During her nap-time on Tuesday I got a call from an unknown number. When I answered, my proud four-year-old said, “Hi mommy! I called you!” That was absolutely crazy! I had no idea she’d figure that out! She apparently called Matt four times and left him a three-minute message. And later that afternoon a friend texted Matt saying, “Sorry I missed your call earlier… what’s up?” Turns out, Anna made several calls from our Alexa! OOPS!
And then I got an email receipt of a purchase made by Alexa:
FOR A FART NOISE EXTENSION PACK!
Yes, my 4yo figured out Alexa could make fart noises and purchased an extension pack!
Very quickly I put a verbal code on that device so no more purchase have been made but she has put things in the cart! She’s so incredibly smart!!
That’s a summary (way too long, and for that I apologize) of our September.
We are setting into our new lives, meeting new friends, dealing with the grief of moving, feeling frustrated at being so close to family but separated by a pandemic, and processing all that 2020 has thrown at our nation. The Hamricks have made the most of September even though we have dealt with heartache.
thehamricks 
Pingback: December 2020 Wrap-up | thehamricks