Zoo Class

We have loved spending time at various zoo classes throughout NYC. The Central Park, Bronx, and Prospect Park zoos all hold fabulous classes for children. Most of the classes allow for some time for the children to see the animals up close- and sometimes even touch them. On this particular visit, the girls got to pet a chicken and a python. Central Park zoo has a fabulous Zoo Keeper class which Madeline is excited to get back into in Oct-Dec. Last year she got to help behind the scenes as the zoo before they opened, assisting the zoo keepers in getting breakfast ready for the polar bears, birds, and lemurs.

Here, Eva is milking a city cow. They are much better behaved then their country-folk relatives.

Owen also tried his hand at milking. He was pretty mesmerized by the whole process.
After our zoo class is over, we finish the day off with a little zoo exploration.
Unfortunately, on this visit Owen took his exploring ideas too far and fell into the (gross algae- filled) water at Prospect Park Zoo. Unfortunately, his skinny body can easily fit through any partition set up for visitor safety. He just wanted to touch that turtle swimming under the bridge......

That experience made for a very interesting hour long subway ride home at the peak of rush hour. Oh, the memories we are making.

Boy Scout Camp

Last month Marc had the opportunity to go up to Boys Scout Camp with the young men in our church congregation. Realizing he was only staying one night, I relayed to him how much fun I thought he would have if he brought Owen along.....and how relaxing my Friday night would be with just the girls :).
Their stay was short, but Owen loved every minute of it. He was enamored with all of the wildlife he found. There were small frogs like this everywhere in the campground.

There were also orange salamanders (or maybe they are lizards?) crawling everywhere as well. You can see a video of Owen enjoying a salamander below. I think it is hilarious that he claims that the salamander "pinched" him. I think he was a bit terrified...but excited too- these are definitely animals we don't encounter in NYC.

Marc brought the pack-n-play along and Owen slept like a dream. Of course he was thoroughly worn out and it was past 11 pm when camp turned in for the night, so I am sure that all helped. Marc and Owen slept in a half cabin. You can see it in the video below. I liken it to an animal stable :). If I would have known what he would be sleeping in, I don't know if I would have been so eager to have him tag along.

Owen also enjoyed the many sticks that could be found. This was true boy heaven.

Luxurious Living

Our kiddos have begged for a carriage ride in NYC since the first week we moved here. That, and the double decker tour guide bus. Every time we spot one of these, the girls would start, "oh, wow, I wish I could take a ride in that!"

Each time we stroll along 59th street at the base of Central Park, Madeline and Eva pick out their very own horse and carriage and imagine what the ride would be like. The carriages are all lined up in a row along this street waiting for tourists to pay the hefty sum for a 20-30 minute jaunt through the bottom portion of the park.

As a patron, you have your pick of the litter. Purple velvet suit your fancy? Check! Want a horse with turquoise toe nails er, hoofs? Check! Love the lux feel of pleather? Check! Want a carriage just like the one you saw in the last film shot in Manhattan? Now that carriage, my friend, has eluded us these past 2 years of carriage shopping.


As you can see by this picture, we eventually did cave to the carriage requests. It was Saturday, July 4th this year that dreams came true. Marc and I heard the rumor that NYC fireworks were going to be on the West side of Manhattan in celebration of Henry Hudson. Usually they are on the East side, and easily viewed by us. I thought of how difficult it would be for us to attend: the crowds, the distance, the very late night the kids would all have, and the early morning church the next day. As a result, we made the executive decision that fireworks would not be on our docket for this year's Fourth.

But, how do you break that kind of traumatic news to your children? Well, by telling them that instead of watching fireworks this year, we are finally riding that carriage in Central Park!! I knew we had kept this indulgence at bay for a reason! No tears were shed, and no complaints were expressed over the lack of the usual explosive evening show- just giddy excitement over what kind of magical horse we would choose.

We ended up not really choosing our horse. You see, let it be known that the 4th of July is not the best day to go out seeking a Central Park carriage ride. The usual line of anxious horse handlers along 59th street was non-existent. People were lining up to ride the carriages- something I have never seen. You just had to wait in line and be happy with whatever carriage showed up to whisk you away. Luckily, the three munchkins of ours are easily impressed....so when George the horse showed up with his shiny carriage adorned with weather-worn fake flower arrangements, and chain smoking driver- they were happy. Ecstatic.

Eva even took a moment of internal reflection, and paused to meditate on the amount of overwhelming excitement she was experiencing. Owen couldn't get over the fact that we were on a "horsie ride!" The city looks so much different in a carriage seat.

The girls insisted I take a picture of the "pigeon party" they spotted on a street light near the Plaza Hotel.

Oh, the things you'll see.

Woohoo! Dreams come true!


Owen is telling Daddy all about how much fun he is having....and how excited he is to have a pack of gum in his hand. I still am not sure how he got that.

Afterward, to top off our touristy 4th, we stopped by the Brooklyn Diner- home of the $17 hotdog. Wow. Wasn't expecting that. Owen didn't eat much (shocker:)....he was too fascinated by his "hat" creations.

Crabbing in the East River

We made some new friends. If you would like to become acquainted with them too, you just have to head to the pier on RI, and toss a chicken leg over the edge- with a string tied like so.
They live in the rocks at the waters edge. There are hundreds of them.

You toss your "line" over and wait for them to bite.
Sometimes you get crabs........

Sometimes you get eels. Yes that black snake looking thing is, indeed, Mr. Eel.

Instant friends.
If you have enough determination......

....you can catch 28, just like we did. What do you do with a bucket full of itsy bitsy crabs? First, you make jokes to your children about having crab cakes for dinner. Then you assure them you were just kidding, (well, at least until we find some bigger ones :) and then you toss them all back...one at a time.

Farewell friends.....well, at least until the next chicken leg reunites us.

Highline Park

There is a new park in Chelsea. It is called the "Highline" and it is built on a mile and a half of old elevated freight train rails. Yep, it is a park above Manhattan. You get to walk along its wildflower filled paths and then glance down and see the busy streets of NYC bustling below.



It is not a "playground park." It is definitely grown up. Lots of interesting pieces adorn the walkways.

Madeline didn't mind the lack of slides and swings one bit. She has informed me that she is too old for "baby parks" and only likes nature parks now. Oh my.

The Highline is dangerously close to Chelsea Market, one of our favorite foodie destinations. Just before we visited we had some Hale and Hearty Soup at the Market. Owen insisted that the bag was his hat, and was determined to wear it for the better part of the afternoon. He knows how to make a fashion statement.

The girls enjoyed checking out all of the unique fixtures. Have you ever encountered a drinking fountain like this?

This was my favorite part of the Highline. It is a glass viewing area with stadium seating. You can pop some popcorn, sit, and watch Manhattan move beneath you.

Owen wanted to touch the street light. He has actually wanted to do this for more than a year, and he thought his chance had come. Darn glass.

People watching in Manhattan. Much better than television.

Paper bag boy on top of the world.

The girls favorite part: the tunnel that was about 15 degrees cooler than the rest of the park which housed a yummy Gelato cart. Of course we couldn't help ourselves.

A shot of the street view taken by our resident photographer, Eva. She seriously always gets the best shots.

After eating our gelato, we rested in these wooden lounge chairs which line the walkway. Ahhhhh.....

Owen claimed his very own lounge chair, and even struck a pose.

Owen was quite fond of the benches throughout the park. They made lovely ramps for his internal train engine.

Brooklyn Bridge

We started off our Brooklyn Bridge adventure by fueling up at Grimaldi's. We had yet to visit this pizzeria, and we couldn't think of a better way to fuel up for our long walk across the bridge than Frank Sinatra's old stomping grounds. The pizza is good enough that you often have to wait more than an hour to be seated. We showed up at 4:45, thinking we had beat the dinner rush. Not the case, an hour later we were seated.....and then we waited at our table for another 30 minutes for the pizza to come. Eva's expression says it all.....

Luckily, we had Madeline along to help us all put on a happy face.

Owen was asleep for the entirety of our line wait. Phew. When the pizza did come, we were glad we had waited. Delicious. Get the pizza with fresh minced garlic added. Marc wasn't too excited about my menu request, but he is now a believer.

We decided that we were not sufficiently full to make it across the entire bridge, so afterward we headed over to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, which is housed in this cute house-looking thing. There were no complaints about the ice cream.


We could see the statue of Liberty from our vantage point on the pier, so we decided to pay our respects by providing her with our best torch holding poses.

We started our trek across the bridge, with full stomachs and happy hearts. Owen was now fully awake and screaming with excitement.

"I'm on the Brooklyn Bridge, Mommy!!"


Someone was unbelievably excited about this adventure.

Mommy-Daughter time.

The view under the suspension cables and Gothic arches is amazing.

We made it!

Definitely a repeatable NYC experience.