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The sweet faces of summer. Aren't they delicious?!

Simon: 7 months

Simon is often called Silly Simon or Sweet Simon by those who adore him, and now I need to add Smiley Simon.  The kid will not stop smiling!  (I know, it is so difficult.)  He's almost mastered sitting up, but still will tip over on occasion. If he bumps his head he will begin to cry, then see me and smile.  Or Oliver might sit on him.  Simon will grunt look at me and smile as I rush to the rescue.  In the morning, as he begins to wake up, he starts to fuss, then finds a familiar face in the busy room and smiles.  It's perfectly wonderful having such as sweet, smiling baby.

He still rolls like crazy and has been caught pulling his knees up under him into a crawling position.  But lucky, for me, its only happened a couple times for a split second...so far.  He can also move from laying down on his back to sitting himself up pretty well.  It's impressive.

He's not fond of food, but willing to try it.  He gets super excited until the food item is actually in his mouth.  He then looks at me and tells me (with his eyes) that I must be crazy to put such things in his mouth.  And then he gags a bit.

We've reached beyond the 6 month bump and I feel like I am beginning to be normal again.  I get a few more hours of sleep sometimes.  And we are in our new normal groove.  I love it.  Life with Simon has always been perfect.  But this perfect is completely awesome.

In the last couple of weeks two different women (both were strangers--one just had her 3rd, the other about to have her 1st) have asked me advice, and told me I seem relaxed and wise.  I was surprised, but it felt good.

Someone recently told me my children have faces of cherubs.  I agree.

P.S. Simon currently has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom) and another bottom tooth is about to pop out.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by my favorite blog: SouleMama

Summer Fun: Free Soccer & Basketball

This morning we took advantage of one of the many fun, free things to do for kids in the city: soccer and basketball classes in Riverside Park for kids 5 and under.  Isabella had a great time, it wore her out (amazing!), and she made a new friend.  (They were holding hands and running all over the place together, it was adorable.)  Oliver acted like a two year old.

The little girl is Isabella's new friend, who just moved here from Brighton, UK.

GOAL!

waiting to shoot the hoop

SCORE!

Weekends in Connecticut

We spent the last couple of weekends at the Carini Homestead in Connecticut.  This is my favorite time of year to go visit.  I love to soak in the lovely rolling, green hills of the Northeast.  I fell in love with these hills just from photos I looked at as a teenager.  I use to day dream of visiting century old farmhouses, covered bridges, and rock walls.  And now I can do that every weekend; how lucky am I?!

Here's some of what we did the last two weekends:

cherry picking at Belltown Hill Orchards

raspberry picking at Carini's Berry Farm

the berries were amazing and abundant

eating ice cream at Robb's Farm Ice Cream

running and playing in green fields

getting ready to pick blueberries at Belltown

the blueberries were massive and so delicious!

beautiful blueberry orchards

playing a bit of croquet at Harkness--it was lovely

I love my baby and his awesome daddy.

Right Now

Enjoying the "pop ups" band at Madison Square Park.

Summer 2011 Fun Calendar!

I just made my Summer Fun google calendar available for public viewing. It is not perfect and is a work in progress.  (Which makes me a bit hesitant to share it with all of you.  I have to fight some perfectionism tendencies at times.)  But I hope you use it

Just as a quick explanation: since there are so many fun, free things to do in the city this summer I had to narrow down and only put on the calendar things that I can possibly do with my kids.  These are events that are fairly accessible for us (i.e. on the west side of Manhattan), but there are a few exceptions. I tried to put a link to the event in the description section of the calendar, so you can check that for additional details (i.e. the location changes for some events, so find out where it is on that day). Summerstage has tons of fun stuff for kids but each event was at a different place/time with a different artist.  I don't have the time or patience to enter each one in, so I put one or two of their events that I thought we might enjoy. You should check out their site.

If you know of other events that you should be added, just let me know. I'm sure I've missed some.

A few, more general, fun summer things that I hope we will also do this summer:

Governor's Island (on a Friday)
Hall of Science
Brooklyn Children's Museum
Ride the Staten Island Ferry
Go swimming in Lasker Pool (hopefully a few times)
Hamilton Fish Park Pool
Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge
Picnic dinner and watch sunset on the Hudson (pier 85 is a favorite spot)
Go camping in one of NYC's parks
Visit the National Museum of the American Indian (always free)
Bronx Zoo a few times
Free bowling (every weekday before 5pm at 300 New York)

I tend to bite off more than I can chew. As much as I'd love to do everything I am constantly learning how to find a balance.

Have fun with it! Let me know if you like it and use it for your summer adventures.

Summer Fun List!

Hey Local Peeps!  I know so many of you are reading this...even if you don't admit it!  I'm putting together a google calendar and attempting to plan out our summer fun in New York City.  We would love to have any and all of you join us on our adventures this summer.  If you want me to share the calendar with you let me know (comment, email, text, etc).  It's not finished yet...

Many friends and acquaintances have expressed interest in doing more "adventures" in the city, so I thought this might help and inspire you.  Hopefully not overwhelm you, since there's a whole lot out there.

Disclaimer: You do not have to commit to coming with us to any of the events if you want to just view the calendar.  Also, I am biting off more than I can chew, so I know I won't do everything on the calendar.

It's inspired by Mommy Poppins 100 Free things to do this Summer.

Right Now

No photo. One of the ushers insisted I delete them. And made sure I
did. (I have one hiding still...)

We are enjoying a PERFECT night at the Delacorte Theater. Our first
time at Shakespeare in the Park watching All is Well That Ends Well.
The acting, set, weather and fireflies flickering behind the stage are
perfect. Seriously!

This night has made it to my top 10 all time favorite New York City
experiences ever!

P.S. We won the tickets via the online lottery!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by my favorite blog: SouleMama

Swedish Cottage

Yesterday we took a "down day".  I made no plans and we just were going to chill, go walk around the park, and chill.  I felt tired.

It was misty and damp out, we ended up by the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater right before a show was going to start.  There was a woman aggressively pushing a preschooler in a stroller leaving the cottage when we approached.  She insisted we take their tickets and not pay her.  I didn't fight her.  We walked right in, sat down, and enjoyed the show.  The show, The Secret History of the Swedish Cottage, was beautifully done.  The sets were gorgeous!  The story was probably difficult for the kids to follow since there was no dialogue.  But Isabella was entertained the entire time and Oliver lasted all but the last 10 minutes (longer than I expected).

I just asked Isabella what she thought of the production, she said, "It was great!  Except the thunderstorm.  It made my belly hurt.  It made me feel sick inside."  I had completely forgotten there was a storm in the show.

getting ready for the show

these photos don't do justice to the amazing sets

Simon: 6 months

Okay, so it should say: Simon: 6 months, 1 week, and 3 days.  This boy changes so fast that a week (and 3 days) can make a big difference.  Like , since last week he's now moving and getting places.  No he's not scooting or crawling yet, but he rolls and somehow can get his little body from one corner of our apartment to the other within minutes.  He's becoming more aware and in control of where to go and how.

Simon is awesome!  He always has a huge happy open mouth.  He loves to be thrown up in the air and tossed about.  He's so close to sitting up on his own and I know he can't wait to master that so he can play with his toys and see everything around him.  He has amazing grabbing skillz.  If I'm holding him and reaching for a plastic bag he's got a grip on it before I do.  Prying his little fingers open from plastic bags and his sister's hair is a tricky task.

He has a sweet, soft nasally laugh.

Oliver has been more interested in Simon lately and tries to play with him, move him, or sit on him.  Oliver loves it when Simon shows interest in him (i.e. when Simon reaches out to grab Oliver's face or something like that) and Oliver makes a game out of it.

Isabella still adores Simon (a little too much sometimes) and greets him first every morning.  She tries hard to make him laugh and is a little confused (sometimes) when her goofy tactics don't work.

When Brian is near Simon gets super excited and kicks, kicks, kicks his little legs until Brian picks him and swings him around.

More Coney Island

The reason we went to Coney Island last weekend was for the Mermaid Parade, but we did some other fun things too.

playing at the beach

battle of the bands (from the parade) in the water

Isabella getting her mermaid on

riding the Wonder Wheel

There was a "bubble battle".  So many bubbles.  The camera just couldn't capture its awesomeness.

my little urban monkey

The Mermaid Parade

On Saturday we checked off another item on our "must do while in New York" list:  Go see The Mermaid Parade in Coney Island.  Friday evening, as we were preparing to go to the parade, Brian read (somewhere) that it was the busiest day at Coney Island.  I instantly remembered my first trip to Coney Island on the 4th of July in 2006 when the masses on the beach were so great that we could not see where the land and the water met.  I thought, "If the Mermaid Parade is busier than that, I do not want to go!"  But, go, we did.  And it was not as crowded (by far) as my first visit.  It was a hot day, but not blistering, and by mid afternoon the clouds covered the intense sun and the breeze felt refreshing.

The Mermaid Parade was as expected: fun, creative, revealing, and at times, a bit odd.

Their expressions cracked me up!

Aquaman and woman were totally hilarious and cute.

Mer-transformer?

Mer-metroman?

I loved the vintage swimsuits and swing dancing.

And, yes, there were some mermaids as well.

Right Now

Spending some solo time with Oliver at the playground. Isabella is
playing with friends at Camp Runaround and Simon is home, napping,
with Brian who is home sick.