W+J Family Blog » Out and About

So long, summer…..

Amy — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:32:19 +0000

We’ve had a fabulous first summer in Brooklyn! There are lots and lots (and lots!) of things to do with kids in the city, many of them free. And we took full advantage! Lots of trips to the free city pool, the beach, museums, zoos, aquariums, boardwalks, free concerts, parades, plus playgrounds, parks, and bike rides galore. I feel so lucky and incredibly grateful that, for the first summer since Natalie was born, I was able to be home with her and Miranda. It’s certainly been a summer to remember. Tomorrow, Natalie goes to school for her first day of kindergarten. A whole new chapter in her life and ours.

If I were up to date with this blog, any one of these events would have gotten its own post. But since I’m behind, I’ll let the (millions of) pictures do the talking….it’s a slideshow, because it would have taken me forevvvvvvvvver to post this many pictures individually. Enjoy!

Conversations with Natalie: June 14, 2011

Amy — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:03:28 +0000

I wanted to share two conversations I had with Natalie today, one that made me feel incredibly guilty and one that made me realize that everything was going to be ok.

The first one happened on the long subway ride home from Madison Square Park. We’d seen a concert with Josie and Tam, then had lunch with Chris and Kary.

Dancing to the Dirty Sock Fun Time Band at Madison Square Park

Shake shack!!!

Sitting on the bench on the subway, Natalie took off her shoe. I noticed there was some stuff in it.

“Natalie, what’s that in your shoe?”

She handed her shoe to me and I when I looked up close, I realized that there were about 20 tiny rocks in it. We’d just walked a few blocks and down a bunch of stairs into the subway.

“Rocks! That must have hurt so much to walk on! Why didn’t you tell me that you had rocks in your shoes?!?”

“Well, I didn’t want to complain. You always tell me not to complain.”

I gave my poor child a hug and we had a long talk about the difference between complaining/whining about things that we can’t control (like the temperature outside or having to walk uphill) and speaking up about something that’s easily fixed—like stopping to dump rocks out of shoes.

Later, after dinner, Natalie was getting ready to take a shower and was cold.

“Mom, I need to get in the water right away. I’m so cold I have goose bumps! I even have goose bumps on my butt cheeks!” (giggling)

“Oh really?”

“Goose bumps on my butt cheeks!!” (laughter)

“Ok, honey, enough with the butt cheeks.”

“BUTT CHEEKS!!!!!!!!” (more laughter)

“Natalie, did you ever know that you are a rascal?” (trying to hide my amusement)

“Mom, did you ever know that your name is BUTT CHEEKS?!?!?!?!”

The two of us both had tears running down our faces from laughing so hysterically. I stopped feeling guilty.

Mother’s Day 2011

Amy — Sun, 22 May 2011 02:34:47 +0000

I was a little sad this mother’s day because it’s the first year we didn’t go to Sayen Gardens, which had been our mother’s day tradition since Natalie was a baby. I only let myself be sad about missing the azaleas for a little while, then we decided to make a new Brooklyn tradition: a visit to Brooklyn Bridge Park! It was a bit of a trek to get there by subway—mostly because Natalie wanted to ride her bike, which meant that we had to carry the bike, plus Miranda and the stroller up and down the subway stairs. And also because before we got on the subway we walked down to S’nice, our favorite vegetarian cafe on 3rd street. Natalie did a lot of good practicing riding her bike and the girls were totally engaged by the park. And we didn’t even go to the playgrounds! A lovely Mother’s Day indeed.

Throwing RocksBrooklyn Bridge park was so much fun--throwing rocks into water keeps our girls entertained for hours!

Daddy holds Miranda backShe would've walked into the freezing water without hesitation.

"Look where we live!"

Under the Manhattan Bridge

Mama and her girls

Ice cream under the Brooklyn bridge!

Under the Brooklyn Bridge

A Day in NJ

Amy — Sun, 22 May 2011 02:00:10 +0000

We took full advantage of a day in NJ a couple of weeks ago: a visit to Howell Living History Farm, Robert’s awesome baseball birthday party, and dinner with Grandma and Kary. I took tons of photos at Howell, then got lazy with the camera the rest of the day. It was so nice to be able to hang out at the farm, see friends, and spend time with family too—especially on such a beautiful day. And as much as I enjoy the city, it was refreshing to be out in the boonies for a day. I was especially excited that we got the farm while the lambs were still little and cute.

HugsNatalie and Miranda are getting more and more affectionate with each other. It's lovely to watch their relationship develop.

Crossing the streamIt wasn't quite warm enough to go in yet.

"moooooo"Up close, mooing cows are incredibly loud.

City girl visits the farmBrooklyn represent!

At her old hang-out

Mama sheep & lambs

"Look at this pretty flower!"

A Trip to the Beach

Amy — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:20:08 +0000

Rockaways

If you know me, you know that the beach isn’t my favorite place to be. I burn easily, it’s hot, and I have a bit of an aversion to sand. But I don’t mind the beach as much when the temperature is mild. And happily occupied children is a big draw. I may hate sand, but Natalie and Miranda loooooove playing in it. So last Friday, when it was sunny, warm but not too hot, Tam and I took Natalie, Josie, and Miranda to the Rockaways for a morning of fun in the sand. The Rockaways are a short drive from Park Slope, but walking on the beach felt like we were not near the city at all. I can see more trips there this summer!

3 girls diggingThe girls were so occupied by digging in the sand that we basically could have ignored them, except for Miranda wanting to smash the big girls' sand castles.

Miranda

Fascinated by the wavesMiranda got quite a shock when her little toes felt the icy water!

"Let's go look for shells!"

Cherry Blossoms 2011

Amy — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:47:55 +0000

I {heart} cherry blossoms!!

I am officially obsessed with cherry blossom season. Perhaps it’s because they are one of the first spots of color after the long winter, but I find cherry blossoms to be quite magical. Since we live in Brooklyn now and we are members of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, we’ve gone to see the trees three times now. If it were just a bit closer (and we had nothing else to do) I’d be taking the kids there every day.

The first time we went, Josie and Meema & Pop Pop were with us. Then we went with grandma and some friends from NJ, who were lovely enough to trek into Brooklyn to visit with us and the cherry blossoms. Yesterday I went for the third time with the girls by myself, determined to get some nice photos. Today it’s raining, so most of the petals probably fell. I’m glad that we got to enjoy them so much while they lasted!!
Early blossoms

Birdies Looking out of their nest

Rocks in water Entertainment for hours!!
Bonsai Wysteria
So cool

Checking out the fish
Hydration and warmth from Meema & PopPop

Andrea, Cindy & Amy
Kids! It’s very difficult to get 5 kids under age 4 to all look at the camera at once!

Natalie and Grandma
The big kids Natalie, Jamison & Nathan
Smooches! Charlie plants one on Miranda
Tickle, tickle!! Soon to be big sister Charlie practices on Miranda

Consulting the map
Cindy & Jamison

Honk, honk! Nathan is an experienced big brother and very tolerant of Miranda pinching his nose!

Charlie

Jamison
Laying under the trees looking up
Petal walk
Beautiful view
Running Being under this canopy of trees was incredible.

Always on the go It’s hard to get Natalie to stay still long enough for a picture.

Big Smile!
Big Smile!
Hugs! It’s hard to tell, but Miranda’s smile is as big as Natalie’s.

Cherry Blossoms 2010
Cherry Blossoms 2009

Fall Fun III: Prospect Park

Amy — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:35:56 +0000

Who needs toys on a warm fall day? Not Natalie and Josie, who entertained themselves for quite a while gathering leaves to make a pretend fire. And not Miranda, who also had a grand time trying to eat the leaves. The light was so nice that evening, it was a pity that most of the photos I got of the older girls were of them running by.
Gathering “firewood”
Josie gathering “firewood”
Clap clap!
“Yep, I’m the cutest!”
“Who, meeeeeee?”
“Yaaaaaaaaaaay”
Too busy to look at the camera

Halloween 2010

Amy — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:25:22 +0000

Halloween this year was special for a few reasons: it was Miranda’s first Halloween, Natalie’s first time trick-or-treating, and our first holiday in Brooklyn! I know, it seems late for Natalie to be trick-or-treating for the first time. But last year was the first year that we would have let her eat the candy anyway, and it rained. She’s always had a lot of fun giving out candy, and this year she had a blast collecting candy like a big girl.

Trick-or-treating in Brooklyn is a lot different than in the suburbs. In a lot of ways, it’s easier, because people sit out on their stoops to hand out candy. There is no walking up to the door, no ringing of doorbells, and no waiting for people to come to the door. In some ways, walking down the street and collecting candy from people already sitting outside feels like cheating. But the nice thing about trick-or-treating city-style is that walking down the block feels like being at one huge Halloween party! And Natalie still got to proudly say “trick-or-treat!” and “thank you!” to many, many neighbors this Halloween. By the end of two blocks, she was very excited and proud of her full bag of loot.

Miranda rode in the mei tai so everyone could see her wings. It turned out to be a very good decision because the sidewalks were so crowded that maneuvering a stroller would have been very difficult. After a little nap, she seemed to enjoy watching all the activity and colorful costumes. She’ll get to fully participate in Halloween soon enough—I’m betting that we won’t be able to keep her from eating candy for as long as we held Natalie off.

Here are the pictures of our Halloween festivities, from carving pumpkins with Aunt Kary and Uncle David, to trick-or-treating with Natalie’s good buddy Josie.
Miranda wants to help, too! Look in the lower left-hand corner!
Natalie helping scoop out the pumpkin
Scary faces!
Meta Pumpkin
Post-carving bedtime story
Halloween in Brooklyn!
“Let’s go!” Off and ready for trick-or-treating
Mei tai bug
Trick-or-treator
Waiting their turn in the crowd
Trick-or-treating!
Lady Liberty and Flower Fairy So proud of all their loot!

Fall Fun II: Dragonfly Farms

Amy — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:36:56 +0000

Natalie, Miranda, and I met some friends a couple of weeks ago at Dragonfly Farms in Hamilton for a haunted hayride. The farm also had a hay maze set up, which occupied the older kids for an insanely long time. The height of the maze was perfect because the kids could run and climb, and the parents could stand and chat without worrying about the kids getting lost in the maze. It was great to spend such a beautiful morning with friends.
The gang I love this photo because of how happy and smiley Natalie and Jamison look and how worried Payton and Miranda look. Maybe it’s the llama looming behind them.
Hay Maze Natalie, Payton, and Jamison spend nearly two hours climbing around all this hay–it was aMAZEing!
Sun kissed
Happy I fully expected Natalie to be scared of the haunted hayride, but she was excited to point out every witch, ghost, and goblin.
Cindy and Miranda On the haunted hayride
Miranda in the hay maze
Collectors Payton and Natalie spent lots of time collecting pumpkins.

Fall Fun I: Silverman’s Orchard

Amy — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:16:18 +0000

I am way behind on blogging photos from the summer, but I decided to post the still currently relevant photos/adventures. Maybe in the winter, I’ll do some summer flashback posts.

Here are photos from our trip to Silverman’s Orchard with Jodi, Jay, and Jodi’s cousin Amanda. We enjoyed a hayride, picked apples and pumpkins, but the most exciting thing was that Jay proposed to Jodi! We couldn’t be happier for both of them—they make a great couple!
Pumpkins (one with cider doughnut!)
Pumpkins!
Giggling Natalie loves Jodi’s cousin Amanda and declared that she is her "new best friend."
Yay, apples! Miranda gets a ride on mom’s back and enjoys gnawing on an apple.
Family fun Silverman’s apple orchard is on the side of a big, steep hill!
Miranda and Daddy
Newly betrothed
Wagon ride Miranda LOVED it!