We have always wanted to take advantage of the free kayaking on the Hudson River offered every summer but sadly other activities always pushed it aside. Well nothing like the impending loss of all things NYC to rev up the urgency of activities such as this. We met up with some friends after church and headed over to Riverside Park. I stayed ashore and watched Judah and our friend's daughter Anna while Andy and Gabriel, and our friends took to the water.
Gabriel seemed unsure at first, according to both Andy's account and my visual assessment based on his body language, but soon he warmed up to the idea and even asked Andy where his paddle was. Andy was able to find a stick floating in the water and gave it to Gabriel as his paddle, and he was as happy as could be. I can't believe my little boy is big enough to sit up in front of a sea kayak by himself!
We decided to have a picnic afterwards and let the kids play for a bit along the Hudson River Greenway, one of my favorite places to run. Particularly when I was training for the NY marathon, I ran many of my training runs along the Hudson. I had stashed my running clothes in a bag as a change of clothes in case I decided to go kayaking too, so then I thought 'hey, why don't I go for one last run down the Hudson Greenway?' Never known to say no to a running opportunity, Andy (sans running clothes) ran with me, pushing the boys and our overloaded stroller, all the way down to Chelsea. It was right in the middle of the hot afternoon sun, but I really enjoyed the views one last time along the way...
Well, while we're in Chelsea, why don't we take a stroll through Chelsea Market? We've been there countless times, but it's an all time fave. Why not? And it's hot outside, so let's pop in the Milk Bar and grab some ice cream! Gabriel had his very first ice cream cone (don't be fooled, he's had ice cream plenty, just not in cone form!). He was a champ at navigating his blueberry ice cream cone ... and Judah was giving us these pitiful little eyes while Andy and I had our ginger ice cream cone alongside Gabriel, so we couldn't resist letting him put his mouth in the ice cream. Gabriel did a great job sharing a few licks too ...
And you know, just outside Chelsea Market is the High Line, so why not take a stroll while we're down here? Up we went to the High Line, and although it was too stinking hot to spend too much time up there, we did grab a pork sticky bun from one of the food vendors. Weird, but good.
Last stop on our un-planned trip to Chelsea was at a splash park playground for Gabriel. We didn't even know this place existed until we were crossing the street to go to Chelsea Market and spotted water spouting up from a playground. We spent about an hour at the playground before deciding to finally call it a day.
Whew, not at all what we originally planned for the day, but a fine day spent in this great city.
PICS FORTHCOMING!
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