summer road trip to Edison

 This is Kiddo and her best friend when she was three. His mom, who is awesome, still calls her each year on her birthday. I try to call them too, but it's awkward because his birthday is four days after hers.

It's also awkward because despite being in the country for about four or five years now, her English is still slim. But it's okay, because all the people in her new neighborhood (she moved the same time we did) speak her same language. (Am I horrible that I'm not sure what language it is?)

We drove back to NJ to visit them this summer. She asks me to visit every summer... sometimes I don't make it. But this summer I did. It was a long day trip. I asked Kiddo to take a picture of us. Just before she clicked it I said "Wait - are our faces in the picture?" She assured me yes. And this is what we got: (faces, check. older women bellies, check.)

 So then I took a selfie. (Incidentally, one of Kiddo's first school project was to draw a "selfie," except she didn't know what it was, so she drew a full bodied portrait. Is is wrong to be glad that my kid doesn't know this term yet?)

What I love about this lady is that she has been my friend since the first day at the library and I showed her where the stroller/wheelchair door was. I love that we can barely communicate, but she wants me to hang out for hours (I have to believe she understands a lot of what I say, even if she can't express much). I love that she can laugh at herself. I love that she's an amazing cook. I love that despite her incredible skills in the kitchen, she's still impressed by my chocolate cookies I make. She loves my little blond children. And she makes this amazing duck sound that they love. NJ was an odd place, but I made some serious friends there.

I brought her some of those cookies, which was basically the only thing my kids ate there because they won't eat her amazing Indian food (although I tried what she made for the kids, and it was more than a little gross...). This meant that Kiddo threw up on the way home. It was an awful mess. Luckily both the little ones were sleeping when it happened so at least I could clean up in peace. And the exit we got off on also brought us to a museum of statues, so we saw these amazing statues as we looked for a place to park (pictures of my favorite).

Will we go again? Maybe next year...