Posted in Alley life, Beautiful Things, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life on September 17, 2018| 2 Comments »
Photos shot by E and Z’s dad – as they are every year. These 2 are growing so fast! They are heading into the 7th and 3rd grade, and of course Z is sporting her new cowgirl boots (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa during their trip to Yellowstone this summer!) Enjoy the start to September everyone ..
Posted in Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged dancing, Kid's Chat Show, local talent, music fest for kids, NYC, Queens college, Queens Kid's Music Festival, rap, rock, summer fun on July 26, 2018| 1 Comment »
We’ve been combing the city for gigs where the band can play, and where Zoe enjoys herself at the same time. Enter the Queens Kid’s Music Festival! So much kid talent packed into one event, and Ezra met some great talk show hosts that may very well use his musical talent on their show some day… more to come!
Posted in Alley life, Beautiful Things, Crafting, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged boredom leads to creation, chalk, children, drawing, fun for kids, graffiti, kids, summer fun, summer vacation, summertime on July 10, 2018| 1 Comment »
What does Zoe do when Ezra is away at camp by day and she’s bored? Get creative of course!
and of course when Ezra got home, he also had to contribute:
Posted in Beautiful Things, Fun in NYC, Kid style, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged Battle of the Bands, E3, kids and music, kids who rock, Kids' band, parenting, Queens college, Queens Library, street performing on July 6, 2018| 2 Comments »
Well this was their biggest performance to date… in a theater that holds 2000 and about 500 people arrived. They were the youngest band there (most others approaching college age or older) and they were really solid! I was so proud. Better yet, Ezra was lit up like a Christmas tree for the rest of the day after being on such a big stay with a crowd: he loved it! I don’t know where these kids get their fearlessness from. Not me!
(see his street performing below, and other E3 practices and performances by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCha8hq9mndSIvQiKoaZRnUg)
and check out E doing some street performing in Washington Square Park! He’s got fans:
Posted in Parenting, Queens Life, tagged children, end of school year, graduation, kids, lemonade stand, parenting, summer, summer fun, Vacation on July 2, 2018| 2 Comments »
It’s finally here… and yet, it’s arrived too quickly. The winter really did speed by this year (hello? what happened to spring?) and now the kids are officially out of school and frolicking.
Ezra’s Lemonade stand is open again for business and Zoe got to graduate from her k-2nd grade school. It’s off to another school next year for her .. but mostly with the same kids in her class. We are lucky that another school nearby has opened up a dual-language (Spanish English) class for her to segue to. I couldn’t be more pleased that it’s practically across the street from our house! And Zoe couldn’t be happier about staying with her classmates.
Posted in Alley life, Fun in NYC, Queens Life, tagged around Queens, bike tours, harry belafonte, jazz history, Louis Armstrong, make queens safer, Malcolm x, wes paul on June 26, 2018| 1 Comment »
I’ve been following Cybele Grandjean on Instagram , and she posted this amazing local bike tour in our hood that follows some jazz greats! It’s fun to see how much musical history Queens has, and if you want to see our Louis Armstrong post: see it here!
We have heard rumors that Dizzy use to jam in our basement (previous owner of our house promises to dig out some old mail directed to Gillespie at our address), and our neighbors still have old phone numbers of Benny Goodman’s band scratched on to their garage wall. It’s the reason why we jokingly refer to our back yards as ‘Jazz Alley’.
Hope this has inspired you to get out and explore!
Posted in Beautiful Things, Fun in NYC, Parenting, Queens Life, tagged American History, Brooklyn, children, dutch colonial, historical houses, history, house tours, kids, parenting, Queens, ridgewood, stuyvesant, Vander Ende–Onderdonk House on June 19, 2018| 2 Comments »
It’s been an ideal time of year to see historic houses, and we stumbled on this one just as we were driving to one of Ezra’s band gigs. Who knew this little historic gem would be nestled amidst the factories of an industrial neighborhood between Queens and Brooklyn (Ridgewood) ?
Vander Ende–Onderdonk House is a historic house at 1820 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens. It is the oldest Dutch Colonial stone house in New York City. The original house on the site was built in 1661 by Hendrick Barents Smidt, from land that was granted to him by Peter Stuyvesant. Another part of the structure, expanding from the original house, was built in 1709 by Paulus Vander Ende.
Clearly it’s got us thinking about adding a ‘dutch door’ to our house!
