NYC With Friends

Drove into the city for this trip. Going in on a weekend means no commuters and lots more street parking. We met up with Mina & Maya, Bridget, Adam, Libby, & Logan, and Jennifer, Brayden & Barron at the Vesuvio Playground. Our only plan was to avoid Midtown and to explore what the Tribeca and SoHo area had to offer. We ended up taking it at an easy pace and discovering some great (free) things to do in the city.

It seems as though all the good parks have spraygrounds. The boys were happy to have their swimsuits on and to cool off in the water. The weather was remarkable-- no humidity, nice sunshine, cool air.

Lunch/brunch was at Bubby's. We actually fit 11 people into one long table-- ha! The kids were really well behaved. I had a lamb burger, Jim ate an asparagus and goat cheese omelet, and T had pancakes. Ollie ate the heck out of some biscuits. I forgot a bib for him (doh!) and my CELLPHONE (bigger doh!)
I think we were inside when this happened. So unfortunate. But we did see NYPD helicopters in the sky and boats in the Hudson all afternoon.

After lunch we decided to walk south alongside the Hudson River to see if we could get a good glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. We somehow wandered over to Rockefeller Park-- which was fortunate, as it was definitely the highlight of the day. Everyone was out there taking advantage of the wonderful weather. The Parks & Rec people man a building that houses every board game and outdoor toy you could think of-- and you can 'rent' one for the price of a valid ID. Above, Jim and T play Hungry Hungry Hippos. Below, Trenton makes the shot into the kids' basketball hoop and rides on a scooter.

A bit further down in the park was an enclosed playground and sprayground. Ollie napped while Trenton ran around. Above, he plugs the hippo's nostrils. Ha!

Our gang: Mina, Bridget, Jim and the boys, Adam (where are Libby and Logan?), Igor, Maya, and Kevin, who joined up with us after I was FINALLY able to track down his phone number.

For dinner, we went to a pizza place in SoHo with Jennifer, Andy, Brayden and Barron. Trenton pretends to hold the menu above. With all his thumb-upping you think he would have posed like that... but no.
Then we briefly hit the Scholastic Store. No qualms with thumb-upping there.


Jennifer kindly let us bathe the kids before packing them up and heading home. Ollie absolutely loved teething on the faucet. Barron is doing some teething of his own now, too.


Our attempt at a group shot. ;)