I started my new job this Summer, which means the boys were either in camp or had a sitter for most of the Summer. It has been a nice, if challenging, change to our typical summers, adding more structure for the boys and of course a productivity outlet for me. In years past, our days and weeks have been a combination of "big" field trip days and low key local days playing at home or in a nearby park, or participating in the free tennis program. This year, I got two weeks off, which was essentially my summer with the boys, so we decided to make every day a field trip day. Every. Day. Here goes ...
Day 1: Art in the Park
The boys have been asking me lately to paint and I have been putting them off. Painting in a 500 sf apartment, even with acrylics, is quite an undertaking. Today I decided not only to let them paint, but to break out the oil paints, the real canvases, and head to Riverside Park to let them paint. Admittedly, I have zero experience painting with oils, so I did some quick research, gathered all of the supplies and we headed out. We found a nice grassy, shady spot and spread out our paint sheet. I laid out all of the supplies, gave only the direction that the boys needed to choose a background color and paint the whole canvas first before starting their art. Gabriel chose gold and Judah chose blue. Oils are tricky because they don't come off like acrylics. I had to monitor them closely for paint marks on their skin (and wipe promptly with a dish soap/olive oil solution), and for canvas contamination by various park debris.
Gabriel seemed to know right away what he wanted to paint after he completed his background: The Joker Dragon. This only took him about 45 min total, after which he played around nearby (read: played in a circle around the paint area where I was convinced he would step, stumble or fall into Judah's painting).
Judah was more contemplative in his art, changing many times what he was painting, and also went more abstract than Gabriel. His started out as a wind tunnel, then morphed into a flood, a great flood, I think something about a volcano, and ended on The Big Bowl of Spinach with Hot Sauce. Judah also took over an hour. They couldn't be more different.
While we enjoyed the experience overall, I can't say I'll be doing it again anytime soon. I love that we have oil on canvas paintings from them, but the oil takes a LONG time to dry (over a week for Judah's), and ruined about 30 paint brushes because I was not proficient at cleaning them. Anyway, it was a nice outing to ease us into two weeks of outings.
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| Gabriel is too cool for school |
Day 2: Morningside Heights
Today it was raining all day, so we were a little limited in our outings. In the morning I had to run up to the Columbia lab to help a fellow student run an exercise test, while the boys watched the ipad, so after that I decided we could just stay around Morningside Heights (the neighborhood just North of the upper west side and walking distance from home). We played on the Columbia campus in the rain, did our final summer reading check in at the library, visited the Peace Fountain and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and ended with a playground in Morningside Park. It was a nice way to stay out of the apartment on a rainy day!
Day 3: Chelsea + Meatpacking District
Today we headed to Chelsea. We went to Chelsea Market first, and got a treat from the Doughnuttery, then went up to the High Line at 16th street and walked North to 23rd street where there is a splash pad over near the River. We had lunch and played here for a few hours until a couple of large camps ran us out. I located another splash pad nearby, so we hopped on a bus (which oddly had nobody on it; in nearly 11 years in this city I have never been the only rider on a bus) and headed to the Meatpacking District to Pier 51. This park/playground/splash pad is on a pier out on the Hudson. It was a nicer park and less crowded. We played here for the remainder of the afternoon. On the way home, we stopped by Whole Foods at Columbus Circle and got some cold lemonade after a hot day.
Day 4: High Bridge
We discovered an awesome pool last Summer, in High Bridge Park, uptown at 172nd street and Amsterdam. It's kind of a trek, but there are two huge pools, one that goes from 0-2 feet deep, and one that is about 4 feet deep. It's a great way to spend a hot day, plus it's right by High Bridge, hence the name, which is a long bridge that connects to the Bronx (in fact during the one hour pool cleaning break we walked to the Bronx and back), and this is a location where NYCDOE gives out free lunches! NYC has crazy strict public pool rules (e.g. I had to leave an ink pen outside the gate, because it's a weapon (?)), so I did not get many pictures ...
Day 5: Rain Out = Local Tourists Day
Today we were supposed to go to Montauk beach and lighthouse, but rain and threat of rain kept us local, so we decided to be local tourists where we could duck into a nearby subway at any moment. Aunt Steph was with us today too, which makes it extra fun! We started out at Dave and Busters in Times Square and let the boys play power hour (as many games as you want for one price in one hour).
Next we found a restaurant where kids eat free, including a huge ice cream dessert! We then hit up M&M word, Hershey world, and the Disney store (reluctantly!). We added a new place today, Guitar Center, which the boys loved (although the sales associates maybe did not). We then headed East to Grand Central Station, the transit museum, then over to Bryant Park, then up to Rockefeller Center and the Lego Store. Being a tourist is not my ideal field trip day, but the boys had a blast. We topped it off with movie night!
Next we found a restaurant where kids eat free, including a huge ice cream dessert! We then hit up M&M word, Hershey world, and the Disney store (reluctantly!). We added a new place today, Guitar Center, which the boys loved (although the sales associates maybe did not). We then headed East to Grand Central Station, the transit museum, then over to Bryant Park, then up to Rockefeller Center and the Lego Store. Being a tourist is not my ideal field trip day, but the boys had a blast. We topped it off with movie night!
Day 6: Eclipse FAIL
I kiiind of didn't realize that this whole eclipse thing was a big deal, in New York at least because we wouldn't see totality, and only thought about how we would view it on Friday. Turns out, there are not a lot of places in New York to access glasses to view it and of course it was too late to procure glasses otherwise. I found one library WAY up in the Bronx that was having a viewing party and giving out free glasses so decided that would be our plan. I should have known better. The party (and distribution of glasses) was supposed to begin at 2:30 so I thought arriving around 1:45 would ensure getting some glasses, at least one pair to share, and access to the guided viewing. Since the viewing wasn't until mid-afternoon, I decided to be clever, if only to myself, and take the boys to Black Tap for a huge ice cream sundae before we headed uptown. That part of the trip was a success.
We left Black Tap in SoHo, made our way through Little Italy and Chinatown to the 6 line, where we got on and rode allllll the way uptown to the second to last stop up in the north Bronx. About an hour's ride. I've never been to this area, it's pretty remote, so I was a little uneasy coming out of the subway, but I knew where to walk so we pressed on. When we arrived at the library, there were crowds of people (not surprising), and printed signs everywhere indicating they were all out of glasses (at first surprising because it was 1:45, then not so surprising as I realized this is New York and nothing ever goes as it is supposed to). So there we were, trapped way up in the Bronx with no way to view the eclipse and not enough time to get anywhere else. I apologized to the boys for not planning adequately, and indicated that I had hoped this was something they would remember when they were grown, and they were very gracious and not at all upset (in fact Judah said "mom, it's okay, when we're grown ups I'll just tell my wife about all the other trips you took us on" heart smile). I led us back to the subway and frantically worked to salvage our viewing. I sent a text to my parents to see if we could try to facetime them and watch the eclipse through the phone, to which they agreed, then I had to use google satellite images to try to find a park near a subway stop. I found one a few stops down, I thought, and so we got off. It was about 2:30pm. I navigated through very unfamiliar territory, and the park I saw on the map wasn't really there, so I scanned the neighborhood for other options and spotted an empty basketball court in chain link fencing (think about every movie you've ever seen with a basketball court behind chain link in a sketchy nabe and that's exactly where we were). It would have to do. I felt a little safer behind the chain link and felt I could pull out my phone to try facetime. The boys and I crowded around my phone, with our backs to the sun (ironically), and tried to see the eclipse. It just wasn't the same, despite our best efforts, and the connection was poor, so we decided to just bag it and get the heck out of the Bronx. We passed a Walgreens, so we ducked in to grab some snacks for the train ride home, then got back on the 6 and headed home, defeated. When we got home, I turned on the NASA coverage of the eclipse and let the boys watch to their hearts content. It definitely wasn't the same, and I still felt really bad, but the boys seemed fine with it. And now it's a good story. Plus, there is another eclipse in 7 years in New England, and we will be prepared for that one!!
We left Black Tap in SoHo, made our way through Little Italy and Chinatown to the 6 line, where we got on and rode allllll the way uptown to the second to last stop up in the north Bronx. About an hour's ride. I've never been to this area, it's pretty remote, so I was a little uneasy coming out of the subway, but I knew where to walk so we pressed on. When we arrived at the library, there were crowds of people (not surprising), and printed signs everywhere indicating they were all out of glasses (at first surprising because it was 1:45, then not so surprising as I realized this is New York and nothing ever goes as it is supposed to). So there we were, trapped way up in the Bronx with no way to view the eclipse and not enough time to get anywhere else. I apologized to the boys for not planning adequately, and indicated that I had hoped this was something they would remember when they were grown, and they were very gracious and not at all upset (in fact Judah said "mom, it's okay, when we're grown ups I'll just tell my wife about all the other trips you took us on" heart smile). I led us back to the subway and frantically worked to salvage our viewing. I sent a text to my parents to see if we could try to facetime them and watch the eclipse through the phone, to which they agreed, then I had to use google satellite images to try to find a park near a subway stop. I found one a few stops down, I thought, and so we got off. It was about 2:30pm. I navigated through very unfamiliar territory, and the park I saw on the map wasn't really there, so I scanned the neighborhood for other options and spotted an empty basketball court in chain link fencing (think about every movie you've ever seen with a basketball court behind chain link in a sketchy nabe and that's exactly where we were). It would have to do. I felt a little safer behind the chain link and felt I could pull out my phone to try facetime. The boys and I crowded around my phone, with our backs to the sun (ironically), and tried to see the eclipse. It just wasn't the same, despite our best efforts, and the connection was poor, so we decided to just bag it and get the heck out of the Bronx. We passed a Walgreens, so we ducked in to grab some snacks for the train ride home, then got back on the 6 and headed home, defeated. When we got home, I turned on the NASA coverage of the eclipse and let the boys watch to their hearts content. It definitely wasn't the same, and I still felt really bad, but the boys seemed fine with it. And now it's a good story. Plus, there is another eclipse in 7 years in New England, and we will be prepared for that one!!
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| Somewhere way up in the North Bronx... |
Day 7-8: Connecticut Road Trip
We have good friends that to to CT for the summer, and we always go visit them for a couple of days to get out of the city and play at a nearby beach. The boys love a good road trip. Madison, CT is only about 2 hours north of the city, so we drove up Tuesday morning, played all day, spent Tuesday night, went peach/pear/raspberry picking and played all day Wednesday, and came home around dinner time Wednesday eve (in fact we stopped at an Ikea in New Haven for a cheap dinner and replacement paint brushes (reference day 1 above). It was a nice quick getaway, and an extended play date/sleep over for the boys!
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| It was the first day of the picking season so we ended up with 38 cents in raspberries ;) |
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| We found baby birds in the raspberries! |
Day 9: Governor's Island
We're nearing the end of our two-week field trips and I am wearing out, but today was a pretty big outing. Thankfully, we were able to meet up with one of the boys' best friends to go along with us to Governor's Island. It's a pretty long subway ride down to the very Southern end of Manhattan; the ferry terminal is right next to the Staten Island Ferry. We planned to take the 10:30am ferry, which upon arrival (as all three boys ran around the ferry terminal in unbridled excitement) we realized was the 11am ferry. It's a quick 8 minute ride across the mouth of the East River, and thankfully the boat was not very crowded. We embarked on the island and made a game plan. Gov Is is ginormous, and even though the boys are accustomed to doing a lot of walking, and Judah even had his scooter, it is a lot of ground to cover. We headed towards our first destination which was the slides (huge slides that are 2-3 stories long/high). We were slightly detoured by the boys wanting to do a maze and zipline that would have cost $40 (no thank you!), but after we navigated their disappointment (read: fits) we made our way to The Hills. The slides did not disappoint, however they were extremely hot!
We left the slide area and went to Hammock Grove (fun but also very hot and no shade, which is ironic for hammocks, right?). Desperate to refill water bottles and find some shade, we left the hammocks and found some fountains for the boys to play in. They all got soaking wet! Nobody had water clothes on, but it felt so good, and they were dry in an hour or so anyway. We found a grassy spot under some trees, near an art installation that I'm pretty sure was entirely shotgun shells (?!), and ate lunch. Afterwards, we burned some more energy on a ropes-course type play structure, punctuated by ice cream! Being cognizant of the time and ferry schedule, we made our way back towards the terminal and hit up a mini golf course on the way. The boys played at least two rounds! And by play I mean wildly swinging their clubs. At last, it was time to line up. The boys played around on a grassy knoll that was part of a historic fort while the moms waited in line. We boarded the ferry at 4pm (5 hours later!) and headed home. And no ferry ride is complete without a brother-on-brother light saber battle while annoying fellow ferry-riders! We got on the 1 train uptown a little later than I had planned (it gets crazy crowded after 4pm) but since we were so far South we got seats, and had books to read. Unfortunately the train went out of service at 66th st due to mechanical failure, so we had to get off along with 100's of other NYers onto an already crowded train platform and wait for the next train. Sardines! We managed to make it on the next train and home by about 5:30pm. Whew. Now, one more day ...
Day 10: Montauk
We redeemed our Montauk day today, and Andy was able to take the day off so all four of us got to go. It's about a 3 hour drive (took us 3.5 actually because of traffic) way out to the farthest tip of Long Island, but it's worth it. We arrived around 11:30 or so to the only free parking/beach access and snagged one of the last spots. Conveniently, there is an IGA adjacent to the parking lot, so we ran in for snacks and lunch items, then hit the beach. I have only been to Montauk once, on a work retreat many years ago, and the boys have never been. It did not disappoint. I had always heard that surfing was popular in Montauk, and now we see why, the waves are crazy! The beach was not crowded, we found a spot right by the surf. The waves were big and they crashed hard. This is not the kind of beach you can sit at your beach spot nearby and watch your kids play in the surf, because you literally have to either keep them from getting knocked over, or you have to drag them out of the surf when they do get swept over! Judah had to be rescued from the waves a couple of times, but he always came up with a smile on his face and ran in for more. The boys enjoyed chasing the waves into the sea, then turning and running from them as they crashed. It definitely kept Andy and I on our toes.
We knew we wanted to visit the Montauk Lighthouse, so we wrapped up our beach time around 4:30 to head to the point. Unfortunately, there was a private event there so the lighthouse had closed early. This was mildly annoying, but the views from the point were peerless and we enjoyed a nature walk around the grounds before succumbing to our growling stomachs. As we drove back towards "town", I was looking up restaurants for a low key dinner. Hmmm, everything looked pricey and fancy. What's up with that Montauk, you used to be a low key surfing and fishing town. It's probably all of those annoying people from Manhattan trying to turn it hipster. Oh, wait.... Anyway, we finally found (after dodging a lot of traffic, Montauk is NOT pedestrian friendly, you kind of have to just walk out in traffic with your hands up and hope the cars stop) an older establishment that wasn't pretentious, John's Drive-in: burgers and fries and ice cream. Perfect. We ate outside at sunset, grabbed ice cream for our walk back to the car, and loaded up to head home. It was a really fun day, one we are sure to repeat now that it made it on our list, and it was just the thing to round out our two weeks of trips!
We redeemed our Montauk day today, and Andy was able to take the day off so all four of us got to go. It's about a 3 hour drive (took us 3.5 actually because of traffic) way out to the farthest tip of Long Island, but it's worth it. We arrived around 11:30 or so to the only free parking/beach access and snagged one of the last spots. Conveniently, there is an IGA adjacent to the parking lot, so we ran in for snacks and lunch items, then hit the beach. I have only been to Montauk once, on a work retreat many years ago, and the boys have never been. It did not disappoint. I had always heard that surfing was popular in Montauk, and now we see why, the waves are crazy! The beach was not crowded, we found a spot right by the surf. The waves were big and they crashed hard. This is not the kind of beach you can sit at your beach spot nearby and watch your kids play in the surf, because you literally have to either keep them from getting knocked over, or you have to drag them out of the surf when they do get swept over! Judah had to be rescued from the waves a couple of times, but he always came up with a smile on his face and ran in for more. The boys enjoyed chasing the waves into the sea, then turning and running from them as they crashed. It definitely kept Andy and I on our toes.
We knew we wanted to visit the Montauk Lighthouse, so we wrapped up our beach time around 4:30 to head to the point. Unfortunately, there was a private event there so the lighthouse had closed early. This was mildly annoying, but the views from the point were peerless and we enjoyed a nature walk around the grounds before succumbing to our growling stomachs. As we drove back towards "town", I was looking up restaurants for a low key dinner. Hmmm, everything looked pricey and fancy. What's up with that Montauk, you used to be a low key surfing and fishing town. It's probably all of those annoying people from Manhattan trying to turn it hipster. Oh, wait.... Anyway, we finally found (after dodging a lot of traffic, Montauk is NOT pedestrian friendly, you kind of have to just walk out in traffic with your hands up and hope the cars stop) an older establishment that wasn't pretentious, John's Drive-in: burgers and fries and ice cream. Perfect. We ate outside at sunset, grabbed ice cream for our walk back to the car, and loaded up to head home. It was a really fun day, one we are sure to repeat now that it made it on our list, and it was just the thing to round out our two weeks of trips!
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