Today was a interesting day, with one thing that would push me out of my comfort zone. The first thing we did was go to my second cousin Sophie's montessori school, where it was Grandparent's Day. Today, it was about Sophie; it was her day. I was made the "honorary grandparent" for the day. This was where I got to see Sophie once again on the trip, watching her with Panna through the narrow windows of the nursery where babies were sleeping in their cribs. They were playing a game of sorts in a circle. She certainly has grown up a bit since last year! We waited until they went outside to play to see Sophie. We were happy to see each other once again!

Flowers at the wall of the school building in the playground.

We ate outside in the playground where it was warm and sunny. There is a teacher there whose name is "Mr. Matt." I'll have to say he was interesting with the kids, kind of like Robin Williams, only more so. He is very respectful of the kids. A kid in front of us was getting some strawberry/sweet ice cream or cereal all over himself. I cautioned Panna to keep our things out of reach of his sweet, sticky hands.

After lunch, we went inside to play with Sophie and her friends. Sophie showed us her art work and school work. She painted for me a tree and signed her name to it. It will go up on the fridge when I get home. to the left of the painting is the drawing on pink material she did for me during last year's trip.

I told a couple of stories, which drew the kids in for the puzzles and games we played with, which were wholly unfamiliar to me (as I hadn't stepped back into a school in session since high school!).

I was just very surprised at how well this day went, not at all like what I thought it would be. I have a hard time understanding kids below a certain age because of my deafness (if they don't articulate well enough, I don't understand them well). These kids seemed to articulate well for their age. We were the last ones to leave the school, a few hours after the previous grandparent left. Always the last to leave a party...

Panna and I met with a mutual friend to go to the First Responders Park in Columbus. This is a memorial to the first responders (police and firefighter staff) who died in the collapse of the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, as well as the victims who were in the towers and planes on that day. Here, you see that there are 11 nozzles on the side facing me. The perpendicular side has 9 nozzles, for "9/11."

In the foreground is a sculpture representing all the lives that were lost that day. In the background, in front of the eight-posted artwork (which was made and installed for the park), you see a 12-ton steel girder laying on its side. It was amazing to see the forces required to bend something like this as if it were a pretzel.

While we were eating there on one of the few picnic tables, these men of the various local emergency response branches were on hand to rehearse the ceremony that would take place on September 11th.

They marched into place, and a few men unfurled this special flag to be flown at half-staff for all those who died on this day ten years ago. This flag is unique, in which it is a white background with the traditional white-stars-on-blue corner and seven stripes of names of the first responders in red and bordered on top and bottom of each "stripe" with simple red lines.

I couldn't believe the timing. They could have done so an hour later, earlier, even another day, and we would have totally missed it! It was perfect timing to get an idea of how it would go at the actual ceremony. It was an emotional experience to watch this, and I went up to a few of them to thank them for the service they provide for the city. They were right there scant feet from the table we were sitting at.

A little more detail on this park is on the plaque.

Next, we went to Grigg's Nature Preserve, which contains a beautiful walkway, a boardwalk that descends down into the small canyon of sorts. Just lush with plants and green, I mean GREEN!

After descending on the boardwalk, I was told you could hear the tree frogs which made a sound like a waterfall. At the end of the boardwalk is a wide viewing area in front of a beautiful waterfall that can span nearly the entire width of its face when it rains.

You can climb through the opening in the fence to go under the overhanging cliff to the right of the waterfall. It's peaceful to hear the waterfall wherever you are in the canyon, and it gets louder under the overhang. We hung out for a while there to take in and appreciate the special place that apparently very few people know about because it isn't publicized in the area.

Here is more on the walk back to the car.