Cole and Ilia Massie

Hi, Everyone!!

We’re working on getting stuff posted here, but in the meantime you can see photos from our ASPCA NY trip here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/MassieFamily97/ASPCANYTrip102808

Enjoy!

xoxo

Cole and Ilia

We are back!!  New York was Super Extremely Awesome. 

The flight there was mostly good; they did give us a little bit of a hard time about toileting Ilia.  Instead of letting him go down on the tarmac with the ground crew like always, they made my dad go all the way back out through security and out to the front of the airport…then all the way back again!!  They had to hold the plane’s departure to do it!  But since we have to arrive at the airport two hours early and the plane was 45 minutes late taking off and it’s a five hour flight, we had to insist.  Poor Illy would have burst!

We got in to Newark around 9:30 p.m., rented a car and drove to The Time Hotel in mid-town.  Since we’re from L.A., we didn’t realize there wouldn’t be any parking at the hotel, so we had to park across the street for $45!  Yipe!  And they charged you that every time you left the lot!  Wow!  Anyway, we finally got checked in around midnight and had to find a place to eat.  We thought lots of stuff would be open, but everything was closed!  And it was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!!  We finally found a little diner and had a good burger.

The next morning, the ASPCA sent a special pet van to pick us up.  We were just blocks from the Rockefeller Center but the traffic was so bad it took us 40 minutes to get there!  But it’s a really cool building.  They escorted us inside to a special express elevator and WHOOSH!  It whisked us right up to the 65th floor. 

Then I had to talk to a bunch of photographers and reporters in the reception area.  It was really hard because they kept telling me to open my eyes and smile but I was right by these HUGE windows and it was so bright all I could do was squint.

Then, I got a huge surprise…Kathy Dennis from the New Brusnwick Ronald McDonald House was there!  She and Corinne came just to be there for us!  I was so happy to see them!

After that, they took us inside.  SWANKY!  And there was this WICKED huge view of the city.  The tables were all fancy and decorated with fall colors.  The program was amazing!  There was California firefighter Adam Deem who saved a baby bear cub with four badly burned paws.  There was Mimi Ausland from Portland, Oregon who started freekibble.com to feed homeless animals in shelters.  She won the Tommy P. Monahan Kid of the Year Award and Tommy’s parents were there to present it to her.  Please read more about what a cool kid Tommy is here.  It made my mom cry a lot!  Then there was Stache, a black lab much bigger than Ilia who went to Iraq.  He was hit by a small explosive device that blew him ten feet, knocked him unconscious and temporarily ruined the hearing in one ear.  But he’s in great shape now!!  And he’s still working; visiting the soldiers in hospitals here at home.

When the luncheon was over, we went to the ASPCA’s shelter and hospital.  It was AMAZING!  Instead of cages, the dogs and cats were in large, clean glass enclosures.  And they were all so calm!  Still, it was hard to see so many animals waiting for their forever home.   But they really get great care here.

Later that night, we had dinner with our friends, Caitlin and Massimo.  We went to The Hearth Restaurant and I had The Best Steak Ever!  And, of course, I’ve challenged Mass to a video game rematch when they come to L.A. in January.  He thinks he’s gonna sweep me.  NOT!

The next day we went to see my orthotist, Dr. Paul Jordan in East Northport.  He and his brace technician, Mike, are about the two nicest guys ever.  They reserved the whole day just for me and and spent three and a half hours working with me.  The fixed my old braces (Whew!  Much better!) and casted me for new ones.   And Dr. Jordan was very pleased at my progress since the surgery!  He’s going to report everything to Dr. Nuzzo (he’s the doctor who did my surgery, but we couldn’t work a visit to him into our tight schedule.)

After that, we had dinner at the Ship’s Inn on a really pretty main street in Northport.  All the leaves were turning and the trick-or-treaters were out in full force.  But I wanted to wait until dark, so we got in the car and headed for New Brunswick.   But we had to go through Manhattan on a Halloween Friday night, and it took us two-and-a-half hours to get there!

Once we got to the Ronald McDonald House, I got in to my costume PRONTO.  Unfortunately, the only thing around there is a hospital and a lot of frat houses (it’s right near Rutgers University.)  Bad news!  But we ended up going out along the main street and got lots of treats from shops, so it all turned out ok!

Saturday we drove to Demarest, NJ to see my physical therapist, Nancy Neiditz.  It was great to see her again!  She was very happy with my progress and my session went really well.  Then we had a yummy lunch together.  Her house is really cool.

Then we drove back to the House and met our friend Claresa for dinner.  It was so nice to see her because I hadn’t since she was my producer on My Life As a Child…two years ago!  She was very excited to see me walking so much better!

Sunday morning we packed up and drove to Newark International.  They gave us the same silly business with Ilia, but we got off ok.  And Eddie was there to pick us up when we landed.  We went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, then came home and passed out!

So that was our trip.  My mom’s sorting through photos now and we’ll get ‘em posted ASAP!

By the way, yesterday freekibble.com had Ilia and me as the question to click on…and a bunch of people from that site came here and signed my guest book!  How cool is that??  Thanks for the great messages, everybody! 

Loads of love,
Cole and Ilia