Saturday, we all took the IKEA bus to the store. Stocked up on some things for O. A desk, chairs, desk supplies, and an indoor tent.
Sunday, Olivia's buddy, Vera, came over to play. They had a picnic lunch in the park. Played with the new desk and tent. Had a ride the bike trailer. And ended with "ice cream" treats before Vera went home and it was nap time. Phew! They had a great time.
J's mother is on her way down from NH to spend the week. She arrives tonight.
sort of. We consider the park to be our lawn. We see it every morning when we step out the door.
We don't usually go to big name shows. So I considered the $85/ticket steep, but typical. Apparently some were much more in need of tickets. A pair sold on eBay for $563!
It was a fun show. As is typical he mixed up his old lyrics with new music. We had seats and were reasonably close to the stage. Most people were on the lawn behind us, or camped outside the fence. It was nice to just walk over and walk home. The longest line for us to get some food. But the lawn folks had to wait in a line that reached way back into the park before getting in and hunting for a patch of dirt. We walked in next Geraldo Rivera. That was funny.
Here's a video clip . . . Bob Dylan Does Prospect Park
A little late posting.
Thanks to KB's organization and motivation, we saddled up and took off to Coney Island, via the G train. The G was replacing the usual F for maintenance. We used to live on the G line. So it was slightly nostalgic.
By 9:30 we were on the beach. Lifeguard's hadn't even woken up yet. Olivia loved jumping the waves at the water's edge. A soup bowl was dug. She had a great time running back and forth getting buckets of water to fill it.
On the way to lunch, we hit the kiddie amusement park. Olivia liked riding in the "bigfoot" pickup truck most. Lunch was the family tradition of hot dogs at Nathan's.
Tired, we all came home and crashed from all that salt air and sun.
But the day wasn't over yet. There was a homage to Bill Withers playing at the band shell in the park that evening. We brought some drinks and the blanket. Olivia danced, ran around, and played with fallen twigs. It started to get late. Olivia was already up past her bedtime. Angelique Kidjo hadn't gone on stage yet. We decided to leave. Of course we heard her start once we had already walked too far away. oh well.
It was a long and eventful day. Pics in the August stack. Take a look.
Yesterday O and I went to play in the park. We had fun exploring the ant hills, looked for tree holes, collected pine cones, and then made a faerie house. O decorated it with some of her finer pine cones and left a bit of a seating area as well.
Last weekend we traveled to Pittsburgh to visit family on the Sainsbury side. It would be the first time I was to meet my nieces and the first time that the Pittsburgh Sainsbury clan was to meet Olivia. This trip was Olivia's first time on an airplane, and it was a success. She was a dream on the plane, it may also be a result of the flight being only an hour long.
Pittsburgh was fun--not only was it great to hang out with family and get to know each other--but we had a few adventures as well. Though I'm late with posting, the photos were uploaded and are in the July folder.
If you're ever in Pittsburgh may we suggest the following?
The zoo with their great polar bears (Olivia's favorite) and giraffes (my favorite). We were even able to see the baby elephant, Angeline, who was born a few weeks ago! O really liked watching her.
We visited the Monongahela Incline. The ride up and down was fun, and the views from the top were great. I enjoyed getting a brief history of the city and interesting tidbits from the family.
The Andy Warhol Museum, not a favorite of everyone but a good time was had. I knew a fair amount about Warhol and was glad to learn more and get to view the sculptures of Glenn Kaino (Olivia was thrilled with his pirate ship with 50 plans) and my favorite was his chess set. Also on view and interesting was some work by Mondrian.
On Saturday J and Olivia went on a bicycle (and bicycle trailer) adventure to Red Hook. They picnicked by the water; watched the tug boats, water taxies, jellyfish; had ice cream; and played at the pop-up park. J took some great photos of their adventures, check them out!
and we're trying to beat the heat. We spent the morning in DUMBO playing in the water and by the river. It was still hot, but the breeze and water helped to keep us cooler. We're now home and ready for naps.
We just learned that Brooklyn is having a lot of power outages so we're going to power down all that we can.
Last week O was in MA with my parent having a ball. Adventures to the zoo were had, many trips to local playgrounds, visiting family, playing in the yard, and locally made ice-cream helped fill her days. J and i arrived on Thursday night and we all spent the weekend together. We managed to go to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where O had a grand time playing in the replica ships throughout. I enjoyed learning more about the area I came from. I hadn't been to that museum since middle school and all I remembered was the replica ships. Dad had to drive us there as I'm not comfortable driving, especially to somewhere new. If I had two good eyes I'd relish the adventure, but not so much now.
We're settling back into our routines now and tonight we're having a coworker of J's over for dinner. Last night I made my basil-crusted tomato and mozzarella tart and peppermint brownies. After work I'll put the salad together and put a focaccia bread that's in the freezer in the oven. Hopefully that will be enough and filling for our dinner.
People started leaving the city last Thursday. They'll be gone all week.
Olivia was picked up by Poppy on Saturday to spend glorious days with Grammy helping in the garden. KB and J are let loose on the world!
(I just wrote a long post and then Typepad ate it. Grrr.)
Olivia is loving camp this far. Her good buddy, Vera, is in her class and she's also making friends with the new kids. On Tuesday we went to a potluck at the school to meet her teachers and new classmates for the fall. She's being placed with the four year olds, and despite the fact that the other students (excluding Vera, who is also going to be in her class) have been together since the past year, she fit right in and made friends left and right. While also charming many of the other parents in attendance. That girl can work a room!
Next week Olivia will be at the lovely river-side Camp Mello where she's already told me she'll be gardening, fishing, running around the big yard, and enjoying many popsicles with Grammy and Poppy.
