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.



 

SuperBowl Boulevard

from Feb 5, 2014
For the first time ever, this year's Super Bowl was held in a cold weather city in a stadium without a dome: it was in NEW YORK at MetLife Stadium!! Of course, we didn't go to the game but in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, there were a lot of events around NYC promoting the game. Most were private but the biggest event of all was Super Bowl Boulevard in Times Square. I had signed us up to get some free passes so on Wed. night (1/29), I met Jay and the kids and off we went.

It was freezing out but it was the first day of the event and I knew it would be our only shot to go.   The kids totally weren't feeling it until they saw some of the activities and then got excited.   The first thing they did was the Snowflake Toss where they threw footballs at hanging snowflakes.

After collecting their prize (a stressball shaped like a football helmet) we moved on the the next event, the obstacle course where the kids raced each other.   It was filled with tackling dummies, jumps, and things to run around.   The boys raced and had a blast but Dylan had a hard time because of all of his layers - his snowpants made it hard for him to lift his legs enough and he kept tripping over the jumps. (prize here was a football pencil/eraser)
Then it was our turn for the toboggan slide!   Even though we had collected tickets earlier for a 7pm spot, the line was so long that it took until almost 7:45 for our turn.   We kept as busy as possible but it got really cold and we all began to get impatient.

Just as our turn to walk to the top came, we saw a little commotion off to the side and we were told that we had to wait a bit more.   I was about to go crazy when Jay realized they were stopping the line because Damon Harrison aka Big Snacks, the NY Jets tackle was coming!  As he walked into the line, he did a double take when he saw all of the Jets gear we were sporting.   We told him that we were huge fans and we would love a picture and he said "sure, no problem....just let me hit the slide first".   We laughed but the kids were totally annoyed that we had to wait for him to come down while "everyone in the entire world is cutting us".    2 minutes later, he came down and we got our picture.
 Then, finally - it was our turn.   Jay waited at the bottom and I went with the boys.  They laughed the entire way up and were very impressed about being able to ride a slide in the middle of the city.

After the slide the kids were done - they were cold, tired, and hungry so we jumped on the subway and headed out to eat.   It was a fun experience but it definitely would have been better if it was warmer or if the Jets were in the Superbowl!

Note: The Seahawks played the Broncos in Super Bowl 48 and destroyed them, 43-8



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!!

If I had a hammer....

I am always looking for fun and different things to do with the boys.  I love making memories with them and this weekend, we had a new "first" experience:  The Home Depot Kids Workshop.   A few months ago on a mom-blog I read, I saw that the author often had pictures of her kids in Home Depot aprons and I wondered what it was about - well, about a month ago after seeing another picture, I googled "home depot kids" and came to find out that once a month, they have a free kids workshop so I signed the boys up.   This past Saturday, we took the bus crosstown to the Home Depot for our first workshop.

Immediately upon walking in, Dylan spotted the "free popcorn" cart and declared it the best day when I told them they could each have a cup (at 8:45 am).  Ryan said the workshop was a great idea as soon as he was given a personalized work apron and he asked me to sign him up for the next workshop before we even sat down.

The March project was a Trojan Horse Bank which is featured in the upcoming move, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.   The project was cute and relatively simple and the only tools requires were a hammer and a screwdriver (plus we got to teach the kids about what a Trojan horse is).  Ryan did a terrific job reading the directions himself and he needed minimal help (I sometimes needed to hold the wood in place while he held a nail and hammered/screwed in a screw etc). 

It was a lot harder for Dylan and I am pretty sure Jay almost lost a finger or three, but for the most part, Dylan stayed focused and wanted to do the work himself.

Once the bank was fully assembled, they decorated it with stickers and then received their certificate of completion and their commemorative pin. (each project has its own unique pin).



 As excited as they were to successfully complete their banks and that they got to take them home, along with their aprons and pins, they were equally excited that they got to have more popcorn on the way out.   They even found another use for the pockets of their workshop apron.

After all of their hard work, the boys were very tired and needed to sit and rest before we left - of course, after they took a better look at their "couch" they also got very thirsty so it was time to head home.

 



It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that the boys were so excited about their workshop aprons, that they REFUSED to zip up their coats on the way home, even though it was 30 degrees out because they wanted everyone to see what they got!

I am so glad we got the chance to go to the workshop and the kids really enjoyed using the tools and making something.  Next month's project.... a bird bath from the movie Rio 2.