Not sure if Randall will understand about moving to another city in two weeks, but it’s me who’s already feeling sentimental about leaving New York, where we’ve had so many nice memories. These few days I’m like trying to make sure that Randall gets to check out every single place he might be interested in, playgrounds, museums, or even amusement parks, before we leave.

Randall’s second visit to the High Line Park. Had even more fun: a good run on the water, an ice-cream, back to the water, and another ice-cream.

We sat down singing on the bench side by side. We walked up the stairs and went down the slide hand in hand. Thank you for being such a great company! It’s been a wonderful week. See you soon, my friend!

Can’t believe this is Randall’s last school day in Brown Room. Can’t believe how much he has grown since the beginning of the school year. Back then he was such a little baby who would be too shy to wave or smile to people, who didn’t dare to go down the slide, who couldn’t even say a word. And now we see a boy who no longer clings to his mummy or daddy, who climbs up ladders and slides like big kids, and who can, to some extent, deal with his own feelings and work out problems on his own. It’s been a great year for him and for his parents! It just feels a little sad that we are moving and kids at this age do not get the idea of not being able to see someone again that they’ve loved and trusted through this whole year.

The annual Spring Fair at Hippo playground was postponed to June 5th due to bad weather, luckily! Otherwise Randall would have missed it because of being sick. And even more luckily, the weather wasn’t so good on the new date either. Otherwise there could have been huge lines! It was already pretty dark outside at 10am, the scheduled opening time. We still decided to give it a try and to see how Randall would like the bouncy castles. There had been a very simple one, more like a mattress than a “castle”, at his gym class, and Randall had been afraid of it until just one day earlier. To our sheer surprise, Randall got so excited once we got into the park and couldn’t wait to try everything out. There were two bouncy castles that involved some rock-climbing like activities. When Randall was lining up for one of them, I told daddy that he might not be able to do it and we might have to bring him out. Again, our boy surprised us! After a few failed attempts at the beginning, he climbed all the way up to the top and rewarded himself by taking that huge slide down to the ground. He did it one more time thereafter, and that second time he was even able to stand in line by himself without being anxious or impatient. Later he also tried the other one with a much higher and even steeper slope, on which he only managed to get himself halfway to the top, but that was surely good enough.

Hop, hop, hop!

Up to the top!

Wait, wait, wait!

Swinnnnng!

Bar, bar, black sheep, and rabbits!

Catch the ducklings!

Once overwhelmed and intimidated by these amusement rides, Randall now absolutely enjoys them. And the only problem has become “he can’t wait”! Standing outside the fence, Randall is making plans about which boat he will get on once he gets his turn, but then would get so frustrated when somebody else embarks on the boat he has claimed.