Instagram in the City - May

May

 

The boys have loved making their monthly Home Depot projects and this month, their friends, Ben and Alice, joined us to make flower pot holders. 

Then we celebrated a wonderful Mother's Day in the city - you can read about that here

I had a date night with the boys - I love hanging out with them!!!!

The boys attend their first Lego Club meeting at the Lego Store and had an amazing time!!! This was their reward for good behavior this month and they have asked if this could be their reward every month.  This month's them was Star Wars.

We spent a great weekend in Atlantic City for Memorial Day which you can read about here

And we made our third attempt in two years to view Manhattenhenge - it started pouring on our way there so we stopped for some ice cream first.   Luckily, the rain cleared and we were able to get a pretty nice view but I think we will try again in July to get an even better view.



 

Halloween

(from November 1, 2014 - still very behind)

Last year because of Hurricane Sandy, we did not have a normal Halloween so we were happy to have good weather this year and get back to our normal NYC Halloween routine. 

Dylan had a costume party at school that day and it was really fun to see him dressed up with his friends. All of the parents made something for the party (I made jack-o-lantern cupcakes per Dylan's request) and the kids even got to go trick-or-treating in some of the other classrooms.

Dylan really loves his teacher, Ms. Aster and we really love her too. At the party, she asked us what our plans were for the evening and we mentioned we go to the local stores and then trick-or treat in our building. Ms. Aster told us that her building had tons of apartments that gave out candy and we should go there. Later that night when we told Dylan, he really wanted to go see her. Well, I totally forgot her apartment number but that was no problem: Dylan asked each person that opened a door to an apartment "Do you know Ms. Aster?  She is my teacher".  Funniest thing: he would not take candy from anyone until he found her apartment which is a shame because 1) every apartment did have candy and 2) we didn't find her apartment until we were 5 floors in. (The next day, Ms. Aster told me "A neighbor in the elevator this morning told me that a little boy was looking for me, and I thought it must have been Dylan.  I asked Dylan how he found my apartment, and he said, 'I asked your friend.'  So cute AND so smart!")  

Dylan insisted on wearing the astronaut helmet for the picture even though it obviously was not part of his costume. 

Later that night, we met our friends the Wyatt's to go trick-or-treating.   Dylan decided to be Iron Man and Ryan decided to be Harry Potter.  

Harry Potter (Ryan), Darth Vader (Jack), Flash (Elliott), Princess Lillie, and Iron Man (Dylan).

As I have mentioned before, trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is a unique experience.   We probably went to over 30 stores and the kids got tons of candy and other unique things.  One of the first stops was Walgreen's, a local drugstore/market and they each got a handful of candy.

Pretty funny because it looks like security is checking Dylan's bag but he was really just putting in the candy.  Having said that, it is highly possible that Dylan snuck a few extra candies here and there.

Like 2 years ago, there was one restaurant that gave out falafel croquettes (again, only in NYC).   

Of course, no kid wants that and I think 4 out of the 5 kids either threw theirs out/didn't take one/ gave it away but Ryan tried his and said it was ok - I couldn't believe he tried it!

Other non-candy treats included: Donuts, fortune cookies, a puzzle and a cookie (and i think i am forgetting something)

We also went to our fair share of bizarre places to trick-or-treat:  the dry cleaners, the liquor store, the supermarket, LensCrafters, CVS/Walgreens/Duane Reade (which said they didn't have any candy! Seriously? you SELL candy), and the threading place to name a few.

Our last store to visit was a cute restaurant up our street and because it was the end of the night, they let the kids take whatever candy they wanted.  For some reason, Dylan had another idea and told the hostess that he would much prefer a gourd to a candy - hahaha.  She laughed and said go for it and said he could have a candy too which he declined.  LOL  He also refused to put the gourd down and even wanted to sleep with it.

We had a great time with the Wyatt's and were so glad we were able to go together.  We were so sad when they told us at the end of the night they had decided to move out of New York and would be leaving the following month.   It made Jay and I even happier that all of the kids had a great final memory together.  (final at least until our paths cross again!  we miss you Wyatts!!!)

We made one last stop at our old building to visit our good friend DeeDee (adele) before heading back to our own building to count our candy.

What a fun Halloween!!

Boo at the Zoo 2013

After we had such a great time last year at Boo at the (Bronx) Zoo, we decided to go back again this year with the Wyatt Family.  Unfortunately, the dads had to work so Susan and I braved it alone; we did learn our lesson from last year though and drove so that we wouldn't have to deal with the subway/bus on the way home.
We got to the zoo a little after opening, fixed up our costumes and headed inside - it was a beautiful fall day and we were all excited to look at our maps and figure out what to do first.

Once inside, we headed straight to the Haunted Hayride since we had to wait the longest for that last year - unfortunately, we quickly realized that there was no haunted hayride this year but instead a Dinosaur Safari.   It was ok though because the safari was pretty fun and the kids seemed to love it, especially Dylan and Lillie.   Dylan was dressed as a Storm Trooper and of course, needed a weapon so he had brought his gun to the zoo. 

It came in handy on the safari because Lillie and Dylan decided Dylan would protect us from the dinosaurs. 

 Lillie kept telling Dylan "Shoot him - he is coming" when we approached a dinosaur except for the baby dinosaurs and then she would yell "Don't shoot, that is just a baby".
 

 
Thanks to Dylan and Lillie, we made it safely through the safari and reached our first treat station and the Dino Dig.  

During lunch, the kids made crafts (pumpkin and witch masks) and then we went to the hay maze, where Susan, Parker and I took a break while the rest of the kids ran around (after a "minor" meltdown over taking a picture during which my kids basically beat each other up). 


 could it be any more obvious that my boys did not want to take these pictures? 

There was no Haunted mansion this year but the kids were actually happy to look at the regular zoo exhibits.

 
 
We did take the monorail (both Susan and I agreed it was the best monorail ride ever - all of the animals were very visible) and when we came out, a show, Beasts of the Magical World, was about to begin so we sat down.  To say the kids were in to the show would be a total understatement - THEY LOVED IT!

Sadly, our day ended on a sour note - the kids had been looking forward to going to the Children's Zoo ALL DAY and when we finally got there, it was closed!  I am sure that they are making some great renovations for next season but I felt bad that the kids were disappointed.   At that point, we called it a day and headed back to the city.   Overall, we had a really fun day and it was a great way to kick off the Halloween season.  Thanks Wyatt Family for sharing a great day with us and we hope we can do it again next year!