Drums on the Hudson

On Friday we spent the afternoon & evening down in Battery Park City. We went to the Skyscraper Museum (which would have been more interesting if we didn't have restless kids in tow- thank goodness we had a free pass to get in!), rode the Staten Island Ferry, ate ice cream cones at McDonalds ($1.50 down there!), and then we headed over to Robert Wagner Park to have a pizza picnic with our friends (The Fugals) and participate in an African Drum Circle. There was a man who taught us how to play the drums (correctly) and taught us some basic rhythms and then we had a good time jammin' with the sun setting over the Hudson River & a beautiful view of Lady Liberty herself. It had been scorching hot in the afternoon, but as the evening wore on the weather was quite pleasant right there next to the water. Thanks, Cori, for organizing a wonderful evening!

Ella on the Ferry:
Ella amid the drums:

Ella & Alexis experimenting with some percussion sounds:

Alexis (looking thrilled) and Mom:

Our fearless leader:

Ella & Dad with the Statue of Liberty behind:

Alexis
Dad & Lexi "playing" a giant mandolin:

Gorillas in the Mist

July 4th found us enjoying another day at the Bronx Zoo. This time, we had a wonderful experience in the Gorilla exhibit watching all the gorillas play together, entertain us (some of them walked right up to the windows & touched the glass & posed for photos), and eat. They are amazing creatures and transfixing to watch.

in the words of my grandmother:

HATS OFF! IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Our country may not be perfect, but it's ours, and I love it!

First Steps

On Sunday, while my mother was here, Ella decided to really test her walking skills. She's been taking a few steps here and there over the past couple of weeks, but no more than about 2 or 3 at a time before she wobbles and collapses. But on Sunday, she really had some good series of steps- 10 to 12 or maybe even more. She seemed to be back to crawling for much of Monday (maybe it was the calming presence of Grandma that urged her on?) But now, 3 days later, it seems that she is spending more time on her feet than her knees. Every day she gets a little stronger, a little better.... and a little faster! I am happy, though, that she is finally developing this skill- the ground at the park has been very hot for her little hands to crawl on and she has been easily frustrated that she can't move as much as she could during the *cooler* weather. We bought some Teva sandals years ago when we were expecting Alexis, but she never fit into them during the summer time. I was hoping so much that Ella's little feet could wear the cute little sandals, and yesterday they took their maiden voyage through the sprinklers at the Hippo Playground. Photos from that excursion are on my friend's camera, so I'll get them up here in a few days.

Guest Post: Aunt Allie

(Note from Kendra: This post describes the day Lexi spent with Aunt Allie & *Uncle* Zac a few weeks ago- Saturday, June 14)...


Hey Everyone! Kendra has asked me to contribute a "guest entry" to her blog - which I am more than happy to do, since Alexis, Zac (my boyfriend), and I had one of the best days in Central Park.

We had been wanting to take Lexi on a field trip for quite some time now, but with everyone's busy schedule it has always been hard to coordinate. Miraculously, we all had this past Saturday available, and so a decision was made to take her to lunch, the Central Park Zoo, and then some ice cream after. Another miracle, when my mom e-mailed me telling me she had free passes to the Zoo the very day we were planning on going! Que dicha!! (that means "what happiness" in Spanish).

The day went fabulously! After my welcome was completely quashed by Zac's presence (Lexi came running down the hall and i got on my knees to give her a hug, only for her to run right past me screaming "ZAC!!!" and jumping into his arms), we set off for the Subway and some lunch at a diner near the Park. We ordered Lexi a grilled cheese, but she was very distressed because she wanted chicken nuggets.... they did not have any. So she refused to take even a bite of her sandwich, and we were very grateful to the kind server who did not charge us for her uneaten meal. On our way out the door we met another little girl named Lexi, and the family was very nice - they were entering upon us leaving, and heard me calling after Lexi.


After lunch, we went to the Park, and Lexi and Zac ran around like crazy hooligans. Lexi kept taking off running, screaming behind her, "Can't catch me, I'm the PORKA-DOT-DOT!"...
"what's a Porka-dot-dot?!"
"well, it's got 100 legs, 100 leaves, and 100 eyes on the leaves. It's kind of like a Centipede."


She played in the playground and in the sand with some other kids for an hour or so, and we continued on through the Park running around chasing the Porka-dot-dot, and looking for the zoo...

Success! We found it! We saw the penguins, monkeys, sea lions, all sorts of birds in the Rain forest section, and even some polar bears! We even ran into Lexi's new friend Lexi (from the diner) - and our Lexi promptly asked said Lexi if they could hold hands. It was so cute!


We left the Zoo around 4 pm, got some ice cream, and then the thunderstorm rolled in - and boy oh boy did it rain! It rained cats and dogs, spaghetti and meatballs, and I swear i even saw a Porka-dot-dot fall from the sky during a loud crack of thunder. We took shelter in a very nice hair salon (I attribute their kindness to Lexi's pure cuteness).... Once the rain subsided, we took the Subway back home to Kendie & Matt's, and called it a day.

We all had such a great time, and can't wait to take Lexi out on another field trip! Next stop, Shea stadium!

The Jimmies

We found a new kids band. And I love it! So does Alexis, thank goodness, because that gives me a good excuse to listen to their music.

The Jimmies were giving a free concert today downtown near Union Square, so we went. They were filming for a DVD they'll be releasing and Alexis got to be right up front. Maybe she'll be in the movie! It was a great rock concert, kiddie style. She got a free t-shirt and rocked out to make her Aunt Allie & Aunt Laura proud!


Here's a video clip of my favorite song, Spanimals:



After the concert we wandered through the Union Square Farmer's Market, then over to Blue 9 for some yummy hamburgers (if you don't already know, Matt & I are always looking for some good burgers!) This was a place we found a couple of years ago, but have just never been back to for one reason or another. Then we did a little shopping at Trader Joe's and loaded it all onto our stroller & shoulders and headed back uptown on the A train. Which promptly stopped due to an *electrical outage*. So we sat at the 42nd street station for awhile hoping and praying that it would be up and running soon, but finally decided (for the sake of our milk) to transfer to the 1 train which took us home without any further delays. I do love the subway system here, but it can be so temperamental and a bit uncooperative at times.

Prospect Park Zoo

(Ella & Alexis checking out the sea lions)

We headed over the Zoo in Brooklyn today with our friend Sheridan. We've never been there before, and in an effort to use our zoo membership to it's fullest, we decided to check it out. It was awesome. I mean, it's really, really small. Smaller than the Central Park Zoo (for those of you familiar with that), but it was virtually empty, so we had up close time with all the animals. We didn't feel rushed at all, and got to spend some serious time with the baboons. The baboon exhibit was in a big room where a glass wall ran from the ceiling to the floor separating us from the baboons. There was a big daddy baboon sitting really close to the window- at one point he went right up and rested his feet on the window. I let Ella out of the stroller to crawl around and she headed straight for the window to get a good up close look. Being only 1, she pulled herself up on the window and then banged her little fist in excitement. Too much excitement, I'm afraid, for Big Daddy. He got quite flustered, jumped up and banged back on the window so hard that it even startled me! I whisked her up into my arms and ran from the window quickly. The zoo keeper there wasn't upset with us, thank goodness. Seems it happens whenever someone taps/knocks/bangs on the window. The baboons feel threatened and act out. Ella wouldn't go near the window after that.

Alexis learned to milk a cow:

And spent some time playing baby chick & spider's meal:

And we saw a black swan. Amazing.

After the zoo, we met up with the VanDeGraffs & rode the carousel & just played in a big green field in Prospect Park. Delightful! Then it was back onto the train to take the hour ride (for only 16 miles!) back to Manhattan.

The Zoo (Again)

Last year my mother got us a membership to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which allows us entrance to the 4 zoos & 1 aquarium here in the city. We enjoyed it so much that we renewed the membership this year (thanks, Mr. Bush). I take the camera with me, but only for times when we see something unusual or somewhat new to us, because it seems that we have an overabundance of zoo photos. This time, the lions were actually close to the viewing area. They are rarely close enough to really see. And we even heard the male lion roar a couple of times (although not while we were actually watching him- we had moved on to a close-by exhibit). I went a little picture crazy because I was just entranced. For as many times as we've been to the Bronx Zoo, we have never seen the lions so well before!

Lions at the Bronx Zoo

Lexi was in rare form, too, choosing to pose for several shots and shouting "Mom! Take another of me here!" Maybe she is coming out of her camera-shy phase?

Happy Father's Day!

We're so glad you're ours!

Our Lifestyle

My friend Jenni (who has a private blog) *tagged* me to post some photos of our home. And, actually, I've been wanting to document our lifestyle here in the city, since we (hopefully) won't be here in another year or so. So, here goes. Remember, we're renters. So there are only minimal things we can do to improve the situation....

The Fridge: It's small. It can get pretty packed pretty quickly. Especially after a trip to Costco with my mother. Lots of Lexi's art work here. And a little set-the-table diagram for Lexi to refer to when setting the table. Also a couple of calendars on the side. One for Lexi and one for me for when I'm really into the meal planning thing. And our radio & cd's on top, although you can't really see them too well in this shot.



The Sink: It's small. There are about 6 inches of counter on each side of it and that's it. Thankfully we found a great drying rack for dishes that hangs from the wall above the sink. All dishes done by yours truly. I do love my little soap bottle there under the utensil drying bin. So much prettier than those big plastic ones that you actually buy the dish soap in. And my mom bought us that fabulous faucet (the one hidden under all those dishcloths). The one that actually belongs there is really short, and has 2 separate controls for the hot and cold water. This has one. I had no idea what I was missing until she bought this one for us. Our super was kind enough to install it and wouldn't take the $$ I offered him. It pays to tip your super at Christmas, folks.

The bathroom: It's small. We do have another half bath, but we use it for storage. And it's like the size of a telephone booth, anyway, so it's sort of hard to use as a bathroom. I made that shower curtain about 6 years ago. It was one of my first sewing projects. I'm ready for a new one.


The laundry: It's small. And wait, haven't we seen this photo before? Oh yes! Because it's also my kitchen sink. Now, I know that many New Yorkers don't even have a washing machine in their apartment. I know I am lucky to have that! But it's the kind you hook up to your sink & it also drains into the sink, so all the dishes must be done. It's a small machine, so it takes me a little longer to do all the laundry- I basically have to do a few loads every day (but I don't always do that). And I don't have a dryer. So we hang dry everything. I use those hangers for shirts & dresses etc. I use 2 of those racks there on the left for other things. And I have a little laundry line in the bathroom that I use for socks & kids underwear. Sometimes we will take some stuff to the laundry room in the basement (which I don't have a photo of right now) to dry. But I am always a little nervous about what other people have washed & dried in those machines, so most of the time I just stick to my slow process. It certainly doesn't take me as long as using a washboard would, so I'm trying not to complain too much.

My closet: It's small. We only have 2 closets in this whole apartment. They are both this size. I share this one with Matt. And there's a whole lot of out of season clothing/baby blankets/maternity clothes/other stuff shoved up there on the one shelf. One thing I'd do if we owned this place would be to put little doors above the closet in all that wall space and have another little storage closet on top of the already existing closet. With shelves. There used to be sliding doors, too, but I took them off because it was too difficult to get anything down from the shelf, and also just too much of a hassle constantly sliding them back and forth. As you can see, Matt's nightstand there on the right doubles as a clothing shelf as well, most days.


My favorite room: It's actually not so small. This is our office/playroom. It has an air conditioner! And it gets a lot of sunlight since it faces south and west. We have our computer in there, my sewing table & stuff, Matt's guitars & amp, Lexi's desk, dress-up stuff and other toys. We are also getting a futon to put in there sometime this week, so it will be a real rec room! In NYC! We are lucky, I tell you. Our bedroom has French doors that open into this room, so if we want it to feel bigger, we open those up, too. And did I mention we have an air conditioner in here? (On a side note, I love my living room, too, except that it's pretty small, and it's kind of hot these days since it's right next to the kitchen & only has a small a/c unit).


What the kids are doing right now (when I took the photos): Lexi was playing on the computer. And Ella was eating breakfast. But right now (as I type this) Lexi is at school and Ella is sleeping. Practically my favorite time of the day because I am alone for a brief time. Not too long to get lonely, though.



My favorite shoes: Dansko Lolita Sandals. So comfortable. I can walk all over the city in these.

Dream Vacation: So many places I would love to go. But really, I just want to return to Spain. I love it so much and would love to see it again. We are tentatively saving & planning to go to celebrate our 10th anniversary...

I would really love to take the time to walk/run/hike/bike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

There you have it! Thanks for the tag, Jenni. It was fun to do.

School Pictures

I love these photos. I love this one because it's a typical school photo- cheesy rainbow in the back, slightly awkward pose, trying too hard to smile. But oh-so-adorable! It makes me smile every time I see it.

And I love this one because it's proof of Lexi's experiences in West Harlem, New York City. We won't be living here forever (at least, I hope not), so it's nice to have a photo memento. Can you pick out Lexi? It should be easy... she's the only little white girl!


Just a couple of things I'd like to document here about her time at this preschool. That boy standing right behind her, the one with the striped tie, that's Richard Amir. He has such a serious crush on Alexis. His mom told me about it a few weeks ago and says she is just amazed at how much he likes her! I talked to Alexis a little bit about him one morning not too long ago and she told me that he always wants to sit by her, but she doesn't want to sit by him sometimes. He always wants to talk to her, too. But these things only happen during classtime, I guess, because whenever we see him at drop-off time, as soon as he spots us, he hides behind his mother, or puts his head in his father's shirt. It's really quite funny. Is this what *puppy love* is like?

The other thing I want to jot down is how oblivious Alexis is to race. She is the only white girl in her class, but it doesn't even phase her. She will play with anyone. And if she doesn't like someone, it's because she genuinely does not click with their personality, or doesn't want to play what they want to play. And their skin color is simply that- a way to describe them ("My teacher Mr. Valdez is the one with the brown skin.") and not in any way an indication or influence on them as a person. I love this about her. And I hope she will always feel that way about people. That we are people first, we just look different. This is not an attitude that is felt by everyone in this neighborhood (like the people who put up signs with the headline, WHITE PEOPLE: READ THIS!). But it is an attitude that I hope she will keep through her life.

An Unlikely Pairing

We really like Alison Krauss. She recently collaborated with Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame) on an album, Raising Sand. American Blue Grass meets British Rock. Now they're on tour. And we went to see them last Tuesday at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Here's what the NY Times said about the concert- and I think it's a pretty good summary. Maybe that's why they get paid to write about that sort of stuff.

And we went with Jared & Linda. More awesome people who moved here for a little while, and are now leaving the city for life in suburbia. We'll miss you!