August 26, 2011

snippets from the week

Having daddy free to play has made for an exciting week around here. I mean, the earth shook with excitement it was so fun. Ok, so that was an earthquake. I've gotten lots of texts and emails about Tuesdays earthquake and while I guess lots of New Yorkers felt it, we missed it entirely. In fact it was a good hour before we figured out why, upon emerging from the subway a little after two in the afternoon, neither of our cell phones worked and the entire East Village was out in the streets looking nervous. On the upside, Briton now understands exactly what a Drag Queen is.
I did not buy this shopping bag, but I think I'm going to have to go back for it. It cracks me up. Although, I'm a little confused why the White House is parachuting down in the background. Are we planning for a flying presidential residence and I just hadn't heard? I fully admit that I have been ignoring the news for about the last two months, but I would have thought something like that would have come through the grapevine, right?

Briton took his first homeschooling class (I know that is a bit of an oxymoron, it's more like a camp than a class I guess) down in the East Village (hence our earthquake/drag queen experience) and after we wandered down to Little Italy for dinner where we had an, um, interesting view while we ate.
The Bronx Zoo was a pain to get to but fun while we were there. Curiously, the kids favorite things were the Lego animals that were dotted around the zoo for the summer. But whatever. I liked the butterflies and the baby sea lion learning to do tricks.
While I took Briton to his second day of "class" Will took Evie to the Natural History Museum where he found a spray park that I didn't know about. That place is so freaking huge (and cool). I feel a little like we practically live there we visit so often but have yet to go without finding something new. Which, I guess, is why we keep going.

We were supposed to go fishing at the Meer, but then we were too late to pick up rods, so then we decided to go rowing on the lake, but the boathouse workers were on strike. So what's a family to do? Ahhh, thank goodness they had little sailboats on the pond right down the path, disappointment averted.
That day in particular was pretty fun. We also climbed to the top of Belevdere Castle where I was too busy standing (panicking) in the very center so that I could in no way see how far up we were to really take photos, had a tres chic luncheon of hot dogs and chips from a cart in the park and spent an hour in the Egyptian playground next to the Met. I think Will understands why we are always so wiped after our adventure days now.

This weekend we were supposed to go camping on the coast of Maine but that, thanks to Hurricane Irene, is out. The eye of the storm is supposed to come right over Manhattan and they are predicting 100 mph winds which will not be pretty. We are up on a hill and so out of the way of floods but since they are going to shut down all transit and the city will probably loose power, Will and I are planning a little Evaucation (Evacuation+vacation) and are packing up today to head in and up in a general Vermontwards direction. The plan is to camp until the rain hits on Sunday and then find a hotel. Should be fun! Is it terrible that when we decided to get the heck out of Dodge, I put "Knitting Needles and Yarn" at the top of my packing list.

Stay safe all you East Coasters! I saw on the local news this morning that designer rain boots are flying off the shelves today. Not water, not food or flashlights. Designer rain boots. Yep, this is New York.