A tree house

Some friends of friends were kind enough to invite us out to their home for dinner. I was stunned when I saw this treehouse in their yard – on the edge of the forest behind their house. They had it built for their boys who had since grown up and abandoned it – but I still had to visit it and let my kids climb around. I have a fascination with tree houses – and have since I was about 5 years old. I think I’ve never forgiven my parents for not building one in our backyard while I was small (and begged for it incessantly) but now that I’m old enough to understand what it would take to build one – that intense desire to make something safe but magical for your kids, and then have it be abandoned so quickly … I can almost understand why tree houses don’t get created often enough. This one was high high off the ground – and together the kids and I fantasized about how we would finish off the interior with books and wallpaper alla the ‘Magic Treehouse’ book series. If only we could ..

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The Strong Museum of Play

While we were in Rochester, we made a visit to the Strong Museum of Play. We’ve been here before and we cannot quite conquer all of this massive, amazing museum for kids in one trip. Not only does the entrance house a whole carousel and diner – but then inside there’s an entire Wegman’s supermarket for kids to play in – along with tons of other areas to learn about vintage toys, gravity, books, the post office and mailing letters, a pirate ship and a stage to perform on while video taping your segment and putting music to it. The indoor railroad and train tables are always a hit. This time we finally got back to the Berenstain Bear section of the museum where we found a play restaurant with groups of kids pretending to wait tables, serve food and count out cash and change to customers. I still couldn’t get Zoe out of the princess dress-up area of Reading Adventure-land however:

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Grandparent’s garden

We went to Rochester New York to visit grandma and grandpa – and Ezra is nuts about their garden. He loves picking sugar snap peas and blueberries, and loved sharing his new gardening knowledge and skills with his little sister. Nothing beats having city kids who fully appreciate a romp in the yard and grass in the morning. I’m pretty convinced that my city kids tend to take this in more than their country cousins – who have it at their fingertips all the time. That said I do remember when I was younger – my brothers and I would get frustrated when my parents shooed us outdoors and took us away from our toys.

Do your kids still use the backyard, or is it a struggle to get them out?

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Red Hook Ball Field vendor carts for lunch!

In Red Hook there is a growing popularity with the vendors that line one side of the recreational area at Bay and Clinton Street in Brooklyn. Here in NYC we take our vendor truck/street food and the Vendy Award very seriously, and these guys have the best to offer – every spring-to-summer weekend from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Solber Pupusas are amazing – we got the vegetarian variety made of loroco flower. And Zoe loved the grilled corn coated in butter and grated cheese. I felt like we were dining in another country. Where will you eat this weekend?

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Ballerina school

I know I know … she’s only 2 and half years old. But ever since she could talk, she’s been asking for ‘ballerina school’. So I finally found a class for kids under the age of 3 (at Mimi For Me Yoga right here in our hood), and she was thrilled. The teachers told me she had real talent, that she followed direction so well and could stay on her tip toes for nearly all 20 minutes. One teacher actually suspected she was the next Margot Fonteyn (I know, now I’m gushing beyond sense.) Needless to say I agreed with all of it, and felt such a huge swell of pride!

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First tooth in, first tooth out..

It feels like only yesterday that I was trying to get this old shot of his first teeth and now they are already leaving!

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Our ‘hood these days

It’s been hot… super ‘dog days of summer’ hot here in Queens. With the fire hydrant open and the street blocked off, everyone is avoiding the crowded city pools and enjoying the sun. We are even enjoying raga/tabla Indian music on the street late in the afternoon, and the kids are dancing up a storm or just lazily taking in some culture.

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Windy Hill Farm’s blueberries

While in Cornwall CT we like to get a road trip in … to Great Barrington Mass. This time around the weather was not so freezing cold like our last trip, and we were able to do some blueberry picking at Windy Hill Farm. Our cousins Jake and Tali surprised us – and joined us as they were driving home from a vacation in Massachusetts. We convinced them to come back to CT with us, and had double the amount of blueberries for dessert and breakfast!

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Back to the lake

Now that summer is in full swing we were back to the lake. Our friends’ Cornwall house is perfect for scavenger hunts and barbecues – and even a brief spell of rain didn’t deter us. We made a blanket fort at the lake house and Ezra and friends enjoyed an over-flowing drain pipe until the sun was back out again.

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Fun at Photoville

Another mom blog had mentioned this as a good kid destination as well as a fun photo show so – being such big fans of photography, we had to check it out. Photo shows in giant shipping containers – how cool is that?! It really felt like an ‘only in NYC’ moment to be visiting this lot full of containers out on a pier in Brooklyn – with cars driving overhead and the Manhattan skyline in view. Much of the photography did go over the kids’ heads, but there were some fun things there like a small exhibit made up of brightly colored plastic cameras, and some life size cut-outs where Ezra shot a cute photo of me behind a curvy lady.

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