NYC June 2010

We spent a fun-filled 10 days in NYC. (If you have to skim, don't miss the links to three videos below.) Here's what it looked like:

Day 1: Friday, June 11

Sean was out the door early for an all-day conference. The kids, BaBa (Grandpa Bob), and I headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for some wandering around, exposure to culture, and a storytime in their library. Thora had the most fun on the roof, where currently there is a bamboo sculpture art installation. Here is Thora, wandering among the base of the structure:


Here's a view of the sculpture, looking up:

You can see a concentration of bamboo sticks sloping down from the upper right corner. This is actually a ramped walkway. If you reserve a spot, you can be taken up onto the sculpture and, as a small tour, climb and walk around.

The pieces of bamboo are tied together with climbing rope.


The whole exhibit was pretty unusual and fascinating. The artists were there, behind a partition, slicing more bamboo into lengths. Apparently, they are always adding to the structure, creating a fluid and ever-changing sculpture.

After our time at the Met, we grabbed a hot dog and sat on the steps of the museum, while listening to a group of acapella singers. Then it was on to a newly renovated Central Park playground. At first, Thora wanted to interact with us. Here she is getting some spotting from BaBa.


But soon, the game became pretending BaBa and Auric were monsters and to try to get close to them without them seeing. Apparently just eye contact from BaBa was enough to make Thora squeal and take off running. Here she is sneaking up on BaBa and then running away.


While on the swings at this playground, I captured Auric emitting one of his current favorite sounds. Click here to check it out.

Then, we walked up 5th Ave, picked up my race packet for the following day, and then made our way home through Central Park.

Thora on the path around the Reservoir, one of my all-time favorite runs. There's Manhattan's skyline in the distance.

We played at another tot lot playground inside Central Park before taking the bus back up to Morningside Heights where we were just in time for movie hour at the library.

That night, BaBa and NuNu babysat and we took the subway down to Bryant Park where we attended Columbia's resident graduation dinner. This year's graduating class was the last class that Sean worked with while himself a resident and he wanted to come applaud the accomplishment of his colleagues. We had a great time catching up with Sean's old friends and co-workers. (We left before things got too out of hand.)

Sean imparting some words of wisdom on his good friend, Dan

Day 2: Saturday, June 12

We woke early but with subway train delays, we got ourselves a bit late to the start of my annual run of the NYC Mini 10K (6.1 miles) around Central Park. I had a bit of a stressful start, listening to the start gun go off while still in line for the bathrooms! But since we wear a timing device on our shoes, and it takes so long for the racers to get across the start line, I was able to get into the pack long before the field was empty. I did reasonably well, doing it in 51:46, an average 8:20 pace. In fact, I was faster than Sean anticipated. Prior to the finish line, expecting to see my cheering section waving and yelling inspiring words, I found them standing around distractedly, chatting. (That's why there are no photos of me running. The camera was still in someone's pocket when I ran by.) Here I am after the finish.


After making our way back to Morningside Heights, we packed and headed to New Jersey to see friends Bob and Sue, and their kids Lizzie, Amanda, and Owen. To say that Thora hit it off with these kids would be an understatement. See below.


We spent an awesome afternoon/evening with them at their pool club, grilling out and swimming.

Bob (sitting on edge in navy blue), Sue (in shades), Sean, Owen (also in navy blue) and Thora up close in purple

After a delicious dinner, we made our way back to their place, managed to get the kids settled down for their sleepover (Thora and Amanda eventually went to sleep), and we had a few hours of hanging out before we collapsed into bed.

Day 3: Sunday, June 13

We woke up, took our time with breakfast, let Auric take a marathon nap, and then eventually said goodbye to our New Jersey friends and set off on I-95 to Westchester County, NY to visit our friends Kelly and Lloyd, and their kids Sidney, Tai, and Drew. Little did we know that we would spend much of the next 24 hours stuck in traffic on the 95. (We left our diaper bag in NJ, and then the next day, on our way back to NJ to retrieve the bag, we realized we'd left pumped breastmilk back in NY. We turned back around to NY, before finally heading back to NJ, and then on to NYC. Not fun!)

We had another great visit with friends. Thora hit it off with the Kelly and Lloyd's kids as well.


Particularly cute was Drew's affection for Auric.


Day 4: Monday, June 14

We spent much of the morning with Kelly and Drew (we all took Sydney and Tai to school after breakfast).

Look at this character! Isn't it cute how he pretends he can be serious.

The rest of this day is a blur of seemingly endless traffic on I-95. However, at some point in the late afternoon, we arrived back in NYC. That night, we got Auric to bed and the finagled another night of babysitting from BaBa and NuNu so that we could hit the Manhattan Bridge Club for a duplicate tournament. This crowd was definitely more our speed, a bit more casual than the intense, high-level players we play against back in Boston. It was fun to play in a relaxed setting and to get our confidence back a bit.

Day 5: Tuesday, June 15

Sean had to drive back to Boston for a shift of work. But Thora, Auric, BaBa, and I spent some time in the Natural History Museum. There is a Kids Discovery Center on the first floor, and Thora had the most fun here. (We also saw animal skeletons, dinosaurs, and the big room with the massive whale hanging from the ceiling. But none were as engaging as this dresser.)

This dresser, full of drawers containing Natural History treasures (e.g., a 6-inch long shark's tooth, or amethyst) was fascinating for her.

Then after a stop at the new Upper West Side Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes (we macked on them), we went to the awesome playground at the south end of Central Park.

Thora running through the castle-themed water pathways

Day 6: Wednesday, June 16

We spent the day at the Bronx Zoo. And while we saw cool animals like the lions, complete with wrestling cubs, protective mother and snoozing father, and the lemurs in the Madagascar exhibit, I'm sure the highlight in Thora's mind was getting her first tattoo!

To Thora, this is serious business.

Auric has found someone to flirt with while Thora's getting tattooed.

Showing off her new ink.

Before leaving, we were able to squeeze in a ride on a camel, surprisingly the same camel, Nikki, that we rode last year!


Then back to Morningside Heights for a relaxed evening and take out from one of our favorite Greek restaurants.

Check out these characters!

Day 7: Thursday, June 17

After runs in Central Park for both of us, Sean and I got back on the road and headed for the suburbs again, this time for a cookout with Sean's old colleague Russ, his wife Sarah, and their two girls, Macy and Sloane. It was great to catch up with these old friends.

Auric and Sloane play pre-bbq

Thora and Macy clean off the ketchup post-bbq

Day 8: Friday, June 18

This was a full day! Thora and I started off at the Children's Museum of the Art in SoHo with Kelly and her son Drew. The kids painted, played in a sand table, drew on a massive chalk board, and had great fun at the sing-along at the end of the session. They were by far the most entertaining kids at the sing-along!

Here, Thora and Drew start out drumming along.

Now, check them out with the drums on their heads.

They spent almost the rest of the sing-along with drums on their heads. Occasionally, the musician drummed their heads.
This was hilarious for Kelly and I. I'm not sure how funny all the other parents found this.

We spent much of the rest of the afternoon in the West Village. Here are Thora and Drew at the fountain in Washington Square Park.



Then, we worked our way to the Upper West Side where we met some friends for dinner and drinks at the Hudson Beach Cafe down in Riverside Park.

Awww. Auric nuzzles Dans

Me with our old friend, Joey. We've known him since Sean's med school days in Tucson.

Day 9: June 19

During the afternoon, Sean was off in NJ watching the final round of the Churchill Cup between the Canadian National rugby team and the English second team. The rest of us hung out in and around the Upper West Side: a long run in Central Park for me, naps for us all, park time in Riverside Park in the late afternoon, and then a delicious pre-race meal from Spoonbread, one of our favorite restaurants in all of New York. It's possible that I can't imagine a better day in NYC.

Look at this city girl! Thora walking Qali in Riverside Park.

Auric and NuNu

And the evening ended on this sweet note, Thora reading her version of Harold and the Purple Crayon. God, this was a great day!

Day 10: Sunday, June 20

Sean ran the Father's Day 5-Mile race in Central Park, followed by Thora's coming in second overall in the 3 year-old girl's heat. We had brunch with BaBa and NuNu and then hit the road back to Cambridge.

Sean finishing strong in his Father's Day 5 mile race around Central Park

Happy Father's Day!

Thora Pre-Race

And to see the actual race, click here and fast forward to 2:45 in the clip. Thora is on the far right. She ultimately comes in second. She looks incredibly happy when running. We couldn't be more proud of her! We were all beaming!

Gardening: Peas Appear

Yesterday, I noticed the first peas on the plant! Exciting. They were a total surprise, since I look over the garden as I pass it, perhaps 6-8 times a day. How did I miss them before they got this big? Could they have sprouted in a single day? At the moment, they are totally flat. I tried looking through them, but couldn't see the peas inside yet. Looking forward to the first harvest!


Here, Thora admires the plants as well. These are the ones that we tossed into a pot of soil on a whim--actually on the suggestion of our friend (and master container gardener, Sara). Now look at them. They're the champs of the garden!

Gardening: Flower Garden From Seed--Update

That little patch of our backyard where Thora and I weeded, loosened the soil and planted some seeds is showing promise! Along the wooden posts, you can see the beginnings of morning glories. Hopefully these will use the posts as support and hide the deck's unattractive underbelly. And further out, those rounded leaves are the nasturtium plants.



And today, we started another little from-seed flower garden, this time in containers. Weeks ago, we'd started sunflowers from seed inside with this Sesame Street kit.


And here they are in their new home in full sun next to the vegetable container garden:



Seeing the promise of the nasturtiums coming up out of the ground, I picked up another couple packets of seeds, hoping to grow some in pots to place around the container garden, or to place on our steps going up to our front door. Here they are next to the sunflower seedlings, the beginning of that project:



Here is what the vegetable garden is looking like, this first week of June.


We've had a ton of rain, but also a ton of sunshine. Things seem to thriving. The brandywine tomato plant is very tall. The cucumbers (in the near left corner) are lush. The herbs are hardy. And we may be close to our first yellow cherry tomato harvest.

Particularly thriving are the peas. They are just stretching right up the fence behind them.


I love the creamy pale yellow flowers.

Highlights: The Second Half of May

The second half of May was fun... after we adjusted to local time, that is. Here are the highlights.

Auric has his two lower teeth and has been itching to feed himself finger foods lately. So we started with the puffs that dissolve with practically no chewing. They keep him occupied (while I sneak food in his mouth), until he starts to get frustrated with them. Since they are quick-dissolving, they gum up and stick to the food on his fingers, making it hard for him, as a beginner, to get the puffs into his mouth. Sometimes he looks like this:



The first Saturday after our return from our trip, we had a family picnic in a renovated park a few blocks away from our place, right on the Charles River. We were visited by a few families of geese with their young, fuzzy goslings.





We brought along our new boomerang and attempted to throw that around. As beginners, we had trouble getting it to return every time. But there were a handful of times that it came back to us. However, during those seconds as it switched its trajectory and started whirling in my direction, I have to admit that I wasn't sure I wanted it to come back and was glad when it landed at my feet. I mean, that thing can seem like a ninja throwing star, but ten times bigger. Granted it doesn't have poison blades on it, but still.

An update for those of you following the saga of Baby Trash Can: she's still with us. Here she is, posing with Thora and Auric.


Thora continues to mother this inanimate object in the most touching and hilarious ways. At times I wonder how long BTC is for this world of make-believe, like when she talks about whether BTC needs to use the potty before going on an outing, and I perk up, hoping to get a picture of BTC on Thora's potty. But on multiple occasions, Thora has kept certain pictures (like a BTC potty picture) from being taken, which makes me wonder if she is beginning to pick up on the eccentricity of BTC's existence. But I don't know. BTC was still a key player in dress-up the other night.

Baby Trash Can dressed up in purple tutu and pink feather boa.

Here she is with the other dolls that night, including Gerdy (the Cabbage Patch doll--the awesome gift from my sister to Thora), Baby Sister, Thora's original baby, (who was originally named Baby, and evolved to Baby Sister once Auric was born and Thora became Big Sister) and Baby Basketball (in the blue, floppy hat).

Thora's Babies in Dress-up

We were lucky to get a long-weekend visit from my dad, who is beginning another summer in NYC. We had lots of fun and he was loads of help (even if he doesn't think he was). Here Baba tries to push Thora over the swing set.



And as the weather heats up, we've had some great outings at the neighborhood parks with our friends. And Auric even has friends, too! The respective parents often park the babies in their strollers facing one another, or we hold them inches apart and let the socializing happen.

Auric and his friend Ellie

More great park photos to come in a June post. But this was a great time: Thora and her friend Noah "streaking" through a whiffle-ball game. (They're in underwear.)

Here, the Authorities (Lauren, Noah's mom) put an end to the fun.

Other photo gems:

Auric smiling in Sean's lap

Thora with friends, Ally and Zach

Thora in a beautiful headband, a souvenier from friend Zach from his trip in Israel.