Spring in the City

Whew .. a week of work is done and I have a few days to decompress before going back to work again. My blog has been a little neglected due to a hectic schedule, but my friend sent this beautiful instagram of the Orly Gender show being knitted together this week. I cannot wait to check it out this weekend. And while I was working I was back in this neighborhood again where I found tulips growing by the carousel. It was a bit stressful being so near to Times Square while the news broke that the Boston bombers had it as a second target. But at lunchtime I liked to imagine I could be in Paris when I’m in Bryant Park – especially when it’s misty and rainy, and flowers are in bloom.

Bring on the flowers and warmer weather!

instagram by Ina Seow

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Magnolias and blooming things

So many magnolias and blooming things, prickly things sticking to us and the smell of warm earth. We uncovered so many little shoots and sprouts by simply raking a top layer of old leaves off of everything while in Cornwall. The world is waking up again.

Rockstar Diaries has a lovely post about the magnolia trees in Central Park (which blossomed a bit faster than the ones in CT).

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Spring and Momofuku Milk Bar

It’s beginning to feel a bit like spring here, finally. We tooled around with our scooters and had one of those glorious days watching the trees grow fuzzy – like they do when buds on branches start to bloom. The kids love seeing flowers on the trees outside of the Museum of Natural History, and got to frolic in a sandbox in Central Park. We made a short trek to Momofuku Milk Bar for ‘blueberry and cream cookies’ – and check out their ‘candy bar pie’ topped off with a pretzel! At dusk, the sea of yellow taxis against a dusky sky made me reminisce about summers when I use to live in Manhattan (and my nights would start where they now end – around 9 pm!)

(birthday cake and candy bar pie photos from milkbarstore.com)

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Shabbat Box

Last week we had a rabbi to our house from a synagogue in Forest Hills. We invited other families from around our neighborhood and not only did we have a fun Shabbat hangout, but we got to learn how other families do Shabbat. The rabbi brought along a sheet of songs, and we shared with everyone that we love the book The Shabbat Box by Lesley Simpson. The kids then got to decorate boxes to store their ‘shabbat things’ (or anything else) inside. Ezra and Zoe love this .. and are looking forward to using them tonight. Ezra even took the rabbi’s information on celebrating this ‘day of rest’ to heart, and stayed in his pajamas until 2 last Saturday! Maybe we will do it again.

hamming it up for the camera with their favorite cobra candle holders

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Princess party

Another princess party; why do these fascinate me? Aside from the fact that I had my son first (and got thoroughly involved in his interests like ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and cars) … and now all this ‘girl stuff’ feels NEW to me, perhaps? As if I’m adjusting to a whole new set of criteria to be aware of?

Or maybe I’m amazed at how Zoe and her girlfriends have an innate ability to coordinate princess outfits already?

I guess I’ve never really been a very ‘girlie’ girl growing up (or maybe my mom would disagree?) If I was, it didn’t really ever carry over to my parties and I don’t know that I ever enjoyed dressing like a princess. But Zoe seems to tolerate itchy fabrics and tripping on miles of tule better than I do.

I couldn’t help but but feel like an anthropologist watching the party-goers live in a princess-world for hours. But all my analysis aside, this party was just too cute NOT to share. With a ‘pin the kiss on the frog’ game, castle, crown-making and all (and those Zulily Fairy cupcakes and bags, amazing!)

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Sagamore Hill and some more Theodore

My husband has an interest in Theodore Roosevelt (check out our previous Theodore encounter here) and was hankering for a trip to the Theodore Roosevelt house at Sagamore Hill. Unfortunately the house is under construction but there’s still Sagamore Hill itself. Sagamore Hill is a pleasant site to hike around – and it has an information center at Old Orchard Home where we could see some movies and old artifacts on the subject of Theodore’s life and presidency. The kids were pretty excited to get Junior Park Ranger badges – which were earned by completing a little test of finding various things around the center. Now that we are chalk full of Teddy knowledge can’t wait to get back to tour his home when the renovation is finished.

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Spring Beautiful Things

photos from ohhappyday.com

Since we’ve had a couple warm days this week I must admit, I wasn’t perusing blogs like I usually do. But these little gems did catch my eye and I had to share. Have a great weekend!

— Zoe is so into watching flowers bloom this season, I’d love to make her this hat.

— A dad does hair with a vacuum. I could’ve used this for Zoe’s dance recital!

— Performance art meets soliciting on the subway. This is hilarious!

— Pretty little girl’s room.

— A very cool consignment shop in Virginia.

— Have your heard of quilling? Amazing!

— Cutest pinterest page ever of kid’s stuff.

— Time to build this in our garden – our kids would love it.

— Can’t wait to take Ezra to this fuel efficient car show. (Thanks Jill!)

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Long Island Children’s Museum

Wow. This museum has the coolest little “animal diner” where you put plates of various kinds of ‘food’ in front of your animal customer – and the condiments on the bar will light up with a yes or no depending on what your animal likes to eat! Clearly this is another fun museum for climbers and sand diggers, and the music rooms are fascinating. But my kids can spend hours playing with the old rotary telephones with the ‘strange curly wires’ holding the earpiece to the base. Who knew such an overlooked device from MY past would be seen as an antique by my own kids so quickly!

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New Jersey Botanical Garden

What a strange time of year it’s been. We went to the New Jersey Botanical Garden and had a nice little picnic on the grass, and shortly thereafter it started to snow like crazy! The nice folks at the Skylands Manor let us enter (where normally you need an appointment to go in) — they knew that Zoe thought it was a ‘princess castle’ and let us check it out. Oddly enough today it’s 80 degrees in New York… what a strange April!

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Cousins in from Kansas City

Our cousins came around and we wanted to show them the Staten Island Children’s Museum – but the day just got away from us. The weather was beautiful and the kids preferred to play in a giant sand box area in Brooklyn instead. By the time we got to Staten Island Ferry we were side tracked again by an outdoor acrobatic performance, and then the ferry trip itself became our destination. When we got to Staten Island we checked out the 9-11 Postcards sculpture/memorial to 9-11 victims (on St. George Esplanade) before getting back on the ferry and heading home to dinner. We even got a glimpse of Lady Liberty on the ferry ride back, and showed our ‘waving game’ to Stella while on the train!
(It’s worth noting that in one day we managed to be in 4 out of 5 boroughs of NYC, and used all modes of transportation except a taxi! What an accomplishment for little travelers.. )

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