NY Road Trip

We went to hear cousin Savannah sing her senior opera recital (some serious "Kill the Wabbit" stuff going on there--and seriously, she is AMAZING. I cried!) and made a road trip of it.

On the way up we paused at cousin Stacey's and Brad and met their adorable new puppy, Vinny. At first their dresses had the effect on Vinny that matador's capes have on bulls--but once the dresses were tucked into their tights, all was well. (What a look!) The girls even fantasized about BEING Vinny, as evidenced by Amelia's occupancy of his crate.

We said our goodbyes and continued northward, ending near Purchase at Alan's drummer friend, Rogerio's house. Rogerio and Noemia are Brazilian, both artists (her medium is...trash!! I wish I'd taken pictures of her art made from used tin foil. She gave me a vase made from a plastic juice bottle remolded--so cool), and are committed Christians. We enjoyed a wealth of conversation while in their home, where their college-senior daughter, Anne, impressed us immeasurably. She got out her collection of Brazilian jewelry for the girls and they put on a show.

And speaking of shows, Savannah's recital was SO enjoyable for me. Her voice is smooth and controlled and big, and she has great stage presence (the girls probably thought she was some sort of princess in her WOW dress.) We had dinner beforehand with Uncle Steve and Aunt Joan, and got to visit with Josh, Laura, Uncle Chuck, Audrey, Aunt Sharon, and another of my dad's cousins and her husband. It was great.

On the drive home we stopped in Jersey City to visit one of Alan's college friends and his wife, who just so happened to have a cappuccino machine, a wall of world maps, sparkly nail polish and a really nice dog, so all of us were once again perfectly entertained. It was another good road trip. :)