Noah Gabriel Cherner was just born! Yeah! I am heading over to the hospital.

I hear he looks just like Joshua. Maybe one day he'll read this to know you, so "Hello, Noah." Welcome to the world and to the family.

Aunt Abby is at the hospital having a baby boy. I will keep you posted. Pictures shortly of your newest and last cousin. This is really exciting.

What made this trip different from all other trips.

We had two seders, three museums or "moo-seums" as Joe calls them, two zoos and lots and lots of fun with your Hannah, Aunt Jen and Uncle Dan. I miss the way you used to say "my Hannah," instead of "Cousin Hannah."

One other thing, or two other things that made it different from other trips, like the long trips we took so often with you and Jack to Minnesota and New Jersey, were Starbucks drive-throughs and XM. Mom was so happy when she saw the Starbucks drive-through. I was happy that I could listen to XM the whole way.





Joe was a real trooper He sat and was really well behaved - for 800 miles each way. Jack chilled out in back reading, playing his GameBoy and watching DVDs.



It was a little strange being in Aunt Jen's house. It is really beautiful, but it also has a lot of stuff from when we were growing up. I kept seeing things, like furniture and plates and cups that I hadn't seen in years and years. I like seeing things like that. Seeing people who I haven't seen in forever is cool too.

At the first seder Joe made a friend, even though he doesn't like girls. This is Elena. She was a real cutie.



Jack and Hannah asked the Four Questions. They were really good.



If you are in St. Louis, you have to go to the Gateway Arch. I once flew with Uncle Dan in his plane right next to the Arch. You can't do that anymore.

Jack called the Arch "the limping Washington Monument. Jack doesn't know how funny that really is.

You can go up in the arch. Of course I was thinking back to the time that you, me and Papa Teddy went up in the Washington Monument.







Here are the boys when we were waiting in line to get in. We do a lot of waiting in line. Parks, ballgames, you name it.



This picture of Joe reminds me of the one of you from the beach.





Here is everyone at the top. Mom didn't feel like going up.



We went to a baseball game on Monday night and saw a lot of rain. The game was cancelled so we sat around for a little while and then left. That was a bummer.





To lift everyone's spirits we went to get ice cream at this famous place called Ted Drewes. You know they say the ice cream cone was invented 100 years ago at the St. Louis World's Fair.

On Monday before all the rain we went to the St. Louis Zoo. Because Joe is such an animal freak we made plans to stop at the Columbus, Ohio zoo on the ride home. They had a great manatee exhibit and they let you touch snakes and feed these colorful birds named, Lorikeets.



They land on you and at one point Mom had them all over her back, shoulders and head. We all laughed. Thankfully none of the birds pooped on us.



Isn't Mom's smile great. That is one of my favorite things along with Jack's laugh and Joe's hugs. It is great when all those things are happening a lot. They are right now.

We made it to St. Louis for Passover. Aunt Jen's house is really nice. You would have liked it.

I was in a funky mood when we left yesterday morning. I felt like we were leaving you behind. I am not sure exactly why I felt that way - maybe it was because I found all of these great pictures of you the night before we left or maybe because we were going to drive a great distance like we used to do when we drove to Minnesota. Whatever it was it made me sad. I didn't feel like explaining it to Mom who kept asking me what was wrong. Normally I can talk to her about this stuff but I just didn't feel like talking. I don't understand myself sometimes.

I found those pictures of you because I was looking for a picture to put on the lid of a box that I bought to be my Henry Memory Box.

Joe counts funny. This is how he counts to ten. One, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12!

Papa Teddy has a friend named Gerri who he spends a lot of time with. She is really nice. It has to be very lonely for Papa Teddy since Grandma died and I am glad that he has found someone special to share things with him.

They both came to Mom's birthday and luckily Gerri brought a camera. You will remember that I told you how I forgot to put the batteries in the camera I brought to the party that night. I am really, really glad that Gerri took some pictures and shared them with us.



This shows Papa Teddy with a table filled with cakes and candies. Check out the huge Pixie Stix. Mom loved all of this.

A lot of people got up to say nice things about Mom. Here are Papa Sy and Nana. You can see you on the screen behind them. That is where the slideshow played all night.



Uncle Andrew and Aunt Abby said some funny things about Mom that I bet a lot of her friends didn't know about her. Aunt Abby is very pregnant and looks great. I am psyched she is about to have a baby and was very psyched she didn't have it at the party.



Jeffrey wrote stuff about Mom - the next 40 years. He is such a good writer and incredibly funny. Everyone laughed their heads off. Helaine was really funny, too.



This is a picture of Papa Teddy with Gerri. I thought you'd want to see her. I am glad that she came.

This is me and Mommy at the Purim Ball. Caryn Pass just gave me this and a lot of pictures of Jack from school that I will put on here.

God, I am missing you a lot lately. It is a different kind of missing though. It keeps changing the longer you've been gone. Hard to explain.

Joe keeps asking about you every day.

"Who are Henry's parents?"

"Where is Henry?"

"Why can't he come over."

I want to get out to the cememtery but there doesn't seem to be any time. We are heading to Aunt Jen's for Passover. We never went to St. Louis when you were alive. We went when Hannah was born and then nothing for 10 years. It was always too hard to go somewhere that wasn't a hospital or doctor's visit.

We went to opening day for the Nationals. They are the new baseball team in Washington.



We waited an hour to get in. We missed the President throw out the first pitch. I was bummed about that.



Jack and Joe were great. They didn't get crazy waiting on line even though the wait was so long. In fact, they surprised me and Mom by having a really good time at the game and not wanting to leave.



I thought that maybe we'd make it an inning or two and then Joe would mmmeellltttt ddddoooowwwwnnn. But he didn't. He loved it. He cheered for the Nationals and clapped when music was played.



I guess part of it was thinking back to all the times we went to Orioles games at Camden Yards with you and Jack. We went once when I worked at VarsityBooks and we had a good time but it got too late for you guys and we went home. We did go once with you and Jack and Joe and we had amazing seats. Joe was the culprit then. He was a baby and he was not happy sitting in one place for too long. He fidgeted and cried a lot if I remember correctly. We got you and Jack great ballcaps on the way out.



The Nationals scored their first run at 8:14 pm. I was too excited to get the camera out for a photo in time. The scoreboard said 8:15 pm by the time I took the picture.

I really wish you had been there. You would have loved it. I really want to come out to the cemetery. I need to see you. I wish you could have worn a Nationals hat.