Kicking off Summer Dane Zanes House Party Style

On June 10th, Jackie and Alexa came to join the boys and me for a day at the sprinklers followed by a free Dan Zanes' concert in the Oval.   

Ryan doesn't remember but when he was younger, Dan Zanes had a segment on the Disney Channel and Ryan loved dancing around to his music.  This concert was the kick-off concert for the neighborhood summer concert series and was the perfect way to start off our summer!

We got to the oval before the concert started and set up our blanket and picnic in a prime viewing spot.   Conveniently, the spot we picked was also located right near the face painting table so the kids got their faces painted while we waited.

Dylan was not really interested in the concert, sitting on the blanket or doing anything other than "trying to escape" - it was almost 100 degrees out and I really had no interest in chasing him so I offered to go get drinks at the store with Dylan (who thankfully fell asleep in the stroller on the way).   When I came back, Ryan and Lex were front and center dancing along to the music and not having a care in the world. 

 It made me happy to watch Ryan and Alexa dance around and have fun together - neither one is at all shy, they both make friends wherever they go, and they have fun no matter where they are.   When Dylan finally work up, he got right in with them too!

The kids were so cute dancing around, sharing their snacks and singing along when they could.   They all got along great and by the end of the day, I think we were all beat.  When all finally had enough , we packed all of our blankets and stuff and were saying our goodbyes when it started raining!   I am so glad that the rain held off until we were heading out because we really had a great day.  Jackie and Alexa: Come hang out again soon - we had so much fun with you guys!!! 

52 Week Project - Week 25 - Sunset

“Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too.”
The Outsiders

Twice a year, you can get a better view of the sunset on Manhattan's East Side than you can on the West Side.  There is a phenomenon in New York City called Manhattanhenge.  I had never heard of it before this year even though I have lived here for 12 years and I was looking forward it for months.   It happens twice a year and it is when the sun perfectly aligns during sunset with the East-West streets. The first occurrence this year was on May 29th an May30th -  I couldn't wait to go out and see and Ryan said he would join me.   

The night of the full sun view, it was cloudy and we could not see anything.   I was surprised how many people were on the street also wanting to see the sunset and after waiting and waiting, Ryan finally said "I can't believe we came here and they cancelled it".   

Disappointed, we headed home with the hope that the next night would be better even though the second night is only a partial sun view.   We headed out about 15 minutes before sunset and the streets were already packed with people, many that we had seen the night before.   

Unfortunately, there was a cloud directly blocking the sun although the sky was beautiful.  More importantly, we did have a fun time and it was nice to get a little alone time with Ryan. 

July 12th is our last chance to view Manhattenhenge this year and I am hoping we have better luck next time.

52 week project - Week 23 - Sports

I already wrote about tee-ball but since the theme is Sports and baseball is the only sport in season we care about in our family, I am going to have to write about it again. 

Last week was the last week of tee ball and while I am happy it is over and our Saturdays have freed up again, Ryan did enjoy the season and some great experiences came out of it.   At the end of the last game, all of the kids got a trophy and Ryan was really excited about.   

 

He was also thrilled that he no longer needs to get up early and walk to tee ball anymore lol.

Participating in tee ball provided some great times over the past few months.  Tee ball gave us the opportunity to meet more families in the neighborhood and Ryan got to make some great friends.   Because our league is specific to the small area of the city where we live, the community is actively involved with the league and we participated in the neighborhood little league parade, grand marshalled
 by Dwight Gooden.

Ryan was pretty excited because he was one of the few kids in tee ball that made a banner to carry in the parade and the Rangers were definitely the best represented of the teams.  (also, he realized on the way to the parade that there were 10 baseballs on the banner - coincidentally **wink wink** Ryan is #10 which he thought was the coolest thing!)

The highlight of the tee ball season though was being invited to go to Citi Field last week for a Mets vs. Reds game and Ryan got to walk in a parade around the warning track.   I know that Ryan will one day understand what a great opportunity that was, especially at such a young age, but Jay and I were definitely more excited about it than Ryan was.

It was the first time any of us have been to Citi Field and there were a few hundred kids from little leagues around the area (Manhattan, Long Island and Northern Jersey) so it was pretty exciting.  The kids and "coaches" assembled in the tunnel and got to walk from left field to right field. 

Ryan and his "coach"

Jay and Dylan were in the stands and although Jay told me exactly where he would be, I could not find him.  

(hilarious that I am not looking in the right direction AT ALL)

 I have no idea how but Ryan was able to find them and had to point them out to me.  lol 

Although I will never convert to being a Mets fan, I do think the stadium is fantastic.   In the 5th inning, we took the kids to check out what the Fan Fest area was and found that there were three interactive areas: a small batting cage, a mini field where kids got a chance to hit off a tee and field, and also a dunk tank.   The kids were dying to go on the mini-field but the line was so long, we convinced them to try out the batting cage instead and they did great and had a blast.

After that, Ryan begged to try the dunk tank and in a great treat for all of us, Jay was able to dunk the guy on his turn!!!  Ryan was so proud of Jay and I admit, I thought it was super exciting too.  The crowd went wild and Ryan immediately declared it was the best part of his day!

**Bonus** - not related to sports but at the end of the game, as part of the Mets summer concert series, REO Speedwagon performed.  Kind of funny because not too many people stayed for the concert and those that did moved to the infield.  The kids ran around for a bit and they definitely had plenty of room.

I was definitely the only one that cared about it and Ryan was so bored by the concert that he preferred to occupy himself by playing chess.

I had a good time though and once I heard the two songs I knew, I put everyone out of their misery and said we could go home

Sports are a big part of our lives - I love sports, Jay does and so does the rest of my family.  The boys are starting to get more and more in to sports and I know that we will have a lot more sporting events in our future.

Kids Write the Darndest Things....Updated with pictures

from June 14th - Updated to include pictures 
Last night, Ryan asked Jay if he could play the ipad and Jay told him that before he could play, he had to write some sentences in his notebook.  Jay told Ryan, "You can write about whatever you want"

Sentence #1

Oh boy.  I have not blogged about it yet but we went a few weeks ago to Atlantic City and clearly, Ryan had as much fun as I did.   We spent the whole day on the beach and the kids LOVED it.

The water was freezing but that did not stop the kids from running in full speed.   They would run in to the water up to their waists and then run back to the shore just as fast.   The two of them did the same thing over and over again for about two hours straight and laughed the entire time.

 When their lips finally turned blue and they couldn't take the water any longer, they played in the sand and took turns digging, building castles and burying each other.

 It was so much fun, Dylan wore himself out.

We all had a really fantastic day but I didn't realize that the trip would make Ryan's new favorite place AC. I can just see it now, when Ryan starts the 1st Grade and the teacher asking the class "What did you like best about your summer vacation?"....