Seriously?

It's only June!

6/9/2008

Hi: 100°
Mostly sunny. Highs around 100. Heat indices between 102 and 106. West winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Bag Tag

What do I carry in my bag? Karen wanted to know. (Sorry this has taken me so long!) Since I'm a mom, the bag that is usually with me is the big ol' diaper bag. I love it cuz it hangs nicely on my stroller and it's big enough for all the stuff I need on the go with 2 little ones. Here are the goods:

diapers
wipes
diaper rash cream
a diaper pad
my handy-dandy streetwise map of New York City
extra clothes for Ella
a burp cloth
toys for Ella
figurines for Lexi
a little first aid kit
my wallet
a bottle
snacks
my cell phone
keys
sunglasses
my MetroCard (for the subways & buses)
feminine products
sunscreen
hand sanitizer
chapstick
lipstick
tissues
a few pens
my little notebook (for writing my to-do lists)
aspirin
a pacifier
my Sigg water bottle
digital camera & extra batteries

Museum Mile

Last Tuesday, we went down to 5th Avenue to enjoy the evening in the closed-off streets. Museum Mile is a festival when 9 museums have free admission for the evening (but the lines were crazy long!), and there were a bunch of street performers: jugglers, magicians, balloon men, clowns, musicians.

I got to participate in one of the magic tricks (a card trick that was rather amazing) and was actually pretty excited to have a part in it as I was just finishing up a book called The Prestige (there is also a movie of the same name, which I also love) all about 2 feuding magicians. I have to say here, too, that I totally love simple magic shows like those. And I don't want to know the secrets. Because I like being amazed.

The festival also provided lots of sidewalk chalk and everyone (including Lexi, of course) had a great time drawing on 5th Avenue.
A stranger made this one, but we loved it so much, we had to snap a photo.





We did make it into the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design, but only out to their *backyard* where Ella made an escape from the stroller and crawled around on the grass for awhile. Lexi made some grass angels (which are just like snow angels, but in the grass instead. She says that you can see their shapes.) We also saw a glass blowing demonstration from the experts at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Lexi also did a *rubbing* outside of the Guggenheim:

Happy Birthday Little One

I can hardly believe you are one year old! We love you!

At the Park

Ella has learned how to climb up the stairs and go over to the slide, back up and slide down all by herself! We've been working on her back up skills for a few weeks, and I think she finally has it. I'm pretty confident in her abilities, so although I stand very close to her, I'm not constantly spotting her and it makes other parents very nervous. Rest assured, people at the park, I know my babe. She's a very capable climber, and truth is, I'm not afraid to let her fall anyway.

Memorial Day 2008

(Photo from flickr- this is the flag that hangs on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge on special days)

First of all, a very special THANK YOU to the men and women who have fought and are fighting for our freedom, country, families & beliefs. An extra special thanks to Great-Grandpa Elliott, Uncle Bruce and Grandpa Cope!! I know, there are some Portlocks in the Armed Forces as well, and we thank you, too!


Since Matt had the day off, this year we went up to Fort Tryon Park and sat on the Cloisters Lawn to enjoy a picnic and games with friends from our ward. Ella loved crawling around on the grass and trespassing on everyone's blankets and stealing their food. She had her first taste of watermelon and seemed to like it (after dumping all the juice out on the blanket- sorry 'bout that Celeste!) And in this photo she's getting into some Izze soda. I mistakenly gave her a first taste of it the day before and she loved it!


Lexi played with a few of the other little girls in the ward. Here are some sneaky shots of "Duck, Duck, Goose!"



Dad spent some time playing a viking lawn game called Kubb featured on the Amazing Race a few seasons back.


And he had a little quality time with Erik, the bishop with whom Matt *counsels*.

Remember my incident last September? I got a call from the Assistant District Attorney today. He had some *good* news for me. Turns out my assailant pled guilty in April to the assault. Last week she was sentenced to 4 years in prison with 5 years post-release supervision (basically, parole). I wonder if she thinks jumping me & my neighbor was worth it? I'm satisfied with the results.

How 'bout them Yankees?

(This is a shot of the New Yankee Stadium behind the Original Yankee Stadium. We were seated above right field).

Tonight we went to our first Yankee game of the season. It's the final year they'll be playing in the original stadium, so we just had to get some tickets. This was also Ella's first Yankee game (she made it to a Mets game last summer). It rained all day, so we were hesitant to even go, but since we are only a 10 minute walk from the stadium we decided to head over after the rain had basically cleared. We got there just after the top of the first inning. Mike Mussina had been pulled out of the game, and the Orioles had already scored 7 runs (before the Yankees even had a chance to bat). The rest of the game played out similarly- Orioles scoring, Yankees not scoring. The most exciting part was when the Yankees pitcher almost hit an Orioles batter instigating a HUGE fight on the field with everyone from both teams running out to home plate- including the guys way out in the bull pen.


We headed home just after A-Rod's home run. At least he had a home run. This was his first game back after some time off for an injury. Glad to see he was working for his $23 million tonight.




By the time the sun went down, the temperature had dropped to 42 degrees and it was a bit breezy way up in the Tier section where we were seated ($5 tickets!). We chose not to attend any games before now because we thought it would be too chilly... but we figured that by the end of May it would be plenty warm to enjoy some good ol' baseball. Not this time!

It's Our Park!

Saturday was It's My Park day in New York City. People were helping out in parks all over the city. We went to our favorite place: the Morris Jumel Mansion and helped plant some flowers, and clean out some flower beds. We totally love this historic house (where George Washington was headquartered for several weeks during the Revolutionary War) and are sad that their budget does not allow for better groundskeeping. Our Relief Society helped out there one time a couple of years ago, but I still feel this sort of responsibility to continue volunteering there. We have become friendly with the director of the museum and have spent some time just hanging out on the grounds. If you're into historic houses, this is a great place to spend a little time.

It also made me yearn for a little plot of land of my own where I can plant lots of veggies! Matt's mom calls us each year before she plants her garden and asks what sorts of things we'd like for her to plant. Then when we visit in August I get to cook up a storm with all the fresh produce that Alexis has harvested from the garden in the backyard.

Story Time

Friday was Aunt L's last day here. Grandma, L & A all came down to spend the afternoon with us. Here Auntie L is reading a story to the girls.


Grandma and Ella had some quality time (doesn't happen all too often as Lexi demands a lot of Grandma's attention).



We toyed with the idea of going downtown to try and catch a show, but ultimately decided to stay home, order pizza and play a rousing game of Time's Up! We're so glad we did because we laughed so hard and made lots of funny memories.

Top Girls

My sister Laura was here visiting this week. On Tuesday, we went to see a new show called Top Girls starring Martha Plimpton and Marissa Tomei. It was..... interesting. We couldn't really figure out what it was about. We had great seats, but the sound was terrible, and the actors were speaking in very thick accents (Scottish Brogue, German, British etc), so not only could we not hear what they were saying, we couldn't understand it either! After the first Act, several people around us took out their Playbills and tried to find some info on the play. The man behind us looked up some info on his blackberry and then read it to all the surrounding patrons. Another audience member close by told us that we needed to go back to the lobby and get some headsets, which allowed us to hear what the actors were saying much more clearly (they are connected to the mic on the stage). Thanks to all of those people, Acts 2 and 3 were a bit of a better experience. It turned out to be a much more somber play than we expected. We went into it thinking it would be a light & fun play. It is more of a social commentary on women in the workforce and what they have had to sacrifice to get there, as well as some political commentary, but we all know I'm not much into politics. Here's what the NY Times had to say.

At least we didn't walk out. Several people around us did.

Mother's Day

We sort of had a 2-day celebration of Mother's Day. On Saturday, we treated my mother to some Dinosaur BBQ (we opted for take out since it was an hour wait!). Lexi and I made these cute flower pot desserts that I found here.


Then on Sunday, after church we headed up to my mother's where she cooked a delicious dinner! Ella discovered the dishwasher for the first time and kept herself very busy figuring out how to climb up on top. She loves Grandma's house because it has some novelty experiences like stairs, grass, and TV.



HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Isn't he sexy?

Matt recently had another war with a cold sore on his upper lip, so he let his beard grow out a bit. This is the longest he's ever let it grow (3 weeks) and this is the first time ever I have actually liked it. I can never seem to get past the initial stubble face that burns me every time he kisses me. But I really loved the way he looked this time around. Even some of his students commented on it, although at first they couldn't figure out what was different about him. He had to shave it off, though, since he's in a bishopric.

This Little Imp

One day while Lexi was at school, I was working at the computer while Ella was entertaining herself on the floor. She spent some time playing with our children's kitchen set and then moved over to the desk to go through all the drawers. And what, do you think, did she find there? A candy stick (who knows how old it was) and somehow she was able to get the wrapper off and stick it in her mouth! I'm a bad mommy because I didn't even notice anything was happening until she stood up at my knee and tried to hand it to me! So much for waiting until her first birthday to introduce sugar.

P is for Potato Stamps

When I went to the Martha Stewart show, one of the segments was about making stamps out of potatoes and decorating a tote bag. Everyone got a tote bag to take home and decorate, so Lexi and Grandma had a tote bag decorating event.

P is for Pretzels

I found an awesome recipe for Mall Pretzels, so we decided to try them out this week. They were so yummy! Best when right out of the oven- crusty on the outside and soft & chewy on the inside- just like those ones you can buy at the mall (and since there are no malls around here, we have to indulge ourselves somehow).

A Change of Pace

How well do you know me? Do you know that I have hated running for, like, EVER?? Do you know that I have considered it cruel and unusual, self-inflicted punishment? Well, can you now guess where I'm going with this? Can you guess what I am now spending several days a week doing? Yup. I'm running. Well, trying. There is quite a bit of fast walking involved, but you get the drift. I am happy to say that when I first started I couldn't run further than 4 blocks. Now, I can run just over a mile without stopping! That is a huge accomplishment for me. And it's farther than Matt can run, which is amazing to me because he's always been in better shape than I have. I have yet to experience the elusive Runner's High, but I'm hoping.
So, here's the thing. I have to have my iPod shuffle with me (early Mother's Day gift!). And I have to have music with a good rhythm to keep me going and to keep my mind off the self-inflicted punishment. I like songs like The Middle (disclaimer: this video is a little racy...), Boom Town by Greg Brown, Here It Goes, for their beat that I can run to. Do you have more suggestions for me?
Oh, and another question for my NY runner friends- I know you're out there! I need a goal. I need a 5K (no sooner than July) that I can sign up for. Can you direct me to one? And do you want to do it with me?

Sheep to Shawl Festival

The final event in our Spring Break week was our visit to Philipsburg Manor to attend the Sheep to Shawl Festival. We watched sheep dogs herd the sheep, men shear the sheep the way they would have in the 18th century, and we got to help clean and spin the wool. We watched them dye the wool and even some knitting (all with double-pointed needles- single pointed needles were not even around yet). We also saw them spin flax, which is much stronger than wool, so was typically used for thread. For a crafter like me, it was all really fascinating. They had a great story teller also, who had Lexi mesmerized with his rendition of RUMPLESTILTSKIN (appropriate for this festical since a spinning wheel plays a prominent part). The Manor house renovations were complete, so we were able to tour that as well.

XANADU

Have you seen this movie starring Olivia Newton-John? Me either. In fact, I didn't even know it existed. (Of course, I was only 3 when it came out). It's the film that brought us such soft rock hits as Suddenly and Magic. And from what I've heard, it was a total bomb. Cult classic, but a pretty lame flick. So why, oh why would they produce a Broadway musical based on the movie? To tease the movie & bring all sorts of fun and laughter to the stage. I went tonight with my friends Sheridan & Lindsay. We got the tickets from another friend whose roommate works for the producer. We sat in the second row for some good old Broadway-musical-singing-roller-skating-Greek-muses entertainment. Since I'm not really a big theater critic, here's what the New York Times had to say.

I met Sheridan for dinner first, at VYNL, which made it all a very nice girls' night out. This has been an enjoyable spring break!

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Today we headed out to Brooklyn (no traffic, again! What luck!) and enjoyed a beautiful day in the Botanic Gardens. We found out that there is free admission on Tuesdays, so if we ever go again, ahem, WHEN we go again, it will be on a Tuesday for sure.