vendors and the amazingly abundant produce stalls; I am sure we stuck out like total dorks. I personally was trying to remember what good pashmina shawls look like ($5?? who cares?) while I held the hands of my miniature fellow travelers. Suddenly, from the rear of the procession Lisa shouts in a suddenly thick Long Island accent. "BOYS! WAIT!" She had noticed a white enamel dish pan gleaming in the bright sunlight of the crowded sidewalk. The large pan was swarming with crazed turtle hatchlings. I had seen a similar set up at a previous vendor and guessed that they were groceries. 
What do I know? I am from Ypsilanti. Maybe turtlemeat is the yummy mix in steamed dumplings?! Regardless of the intention behind the sale-- we all freeze, about face and toddle back to Lisa and the handsome Asian guy who is selling her a handful of live turtles. While the older boys were definitely curious, Philly is about to explode with glee and surprise, Nina and Isabel are charmed to be sure but they are both in faux NY sophisticate mode and can't squeal *too* loudly. Our troop is now the proud possessor of a tiny plastic cage with three live red eared slider turtles. We ate lunch at an amazing place called Green Bo. Happily the restaurant had NO ISSUE allowing our purchase to get passed amongst the kidlets and parked in the middle of the table. Lunch was abfab but that is a different blog entry entirely. Today dear reader we stay focused on the TurtleAdventure. How were we going to get the wee beasties into the The Met? Lisa bought a lovely red Chinese silk tote bag that the cage fit into perfectly. So, with plastic bag lining the tote and the turtles ensconced we headed for the Met. En rout somebody (actually several somebodys had to pee. By the time we reached the Museum bladders were at emergency levels. Lisa has to a.) smuggle the turtles past the security guards and b.) get three boys to the pissoir. She did it!
The guards at the front were either aware that turtles don't explode but bladders do and waved her through, or they just really didn't care that the bag was sloshing. They did however manage in their blindness to dump about a cup of water out of the turtle containment device. Gradually soaking the bottom of the beautiful silk about 90 shades darker than the top of the bag. After the journey through the city all three herpivores successfully made it back to Baldwin. Stay tuned for How our Frank makes it all the way back to Michigan!
