Happy Halloween

Snow!

City Hall Park

Maybe it's the ongoing construction; maybe it's the Occupy Wall Streeters. But lately I feel like I have to take a little bit more time convinving myself how great our neighborhood is. We have great kids' playgrounds but we also have great unconventional play spots I've already mentioned, like Teardrop Park and the Elevated Acre. Another spot I love to bring Lyla is City Hall Park. We can burn through an afternoon throwing coins in the fountain, people watching and checking out whatever art is on display.



One of these days she is going to fall right in.


Throwing coins in the fountain. We went through at least two bucks.





I slowed my shutter speed to capture her enthusiasm for throwing away money. She must take after me.




This is her favorite sculpture. She tells me "I want to go see the colors."


Testing her limits directly above a sign that says "Do Not Touch"




She hasn't asked about this guy yet. He is in the park every weekend; I think as part of some scavenger hunt show.  Only in New York.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I'm just saying, in a few years, brace yourself for these two. And really hold your hat for the littlest one, who was probably doing something naughty while I was taking this picture.

Elevated Acre

I previously posted about one of my favorite secret parks in our neighborhood, Teardrop Park. Another one is the Elevated Acre. It is a wide open space for Lyla to run and play, without having to worry about her disappearing out of my field of view. It also has a terrific view of the East River and Brooklyn Bridge.


Taking some time to enjoy the view...


And, she's off...


We went to the Elevated Acre a few weeks ago on an unseasonably -- and unreasonably -- hot October afternoon to run around, smell the flowers, blow bubbles and play baseball.











Poor thing -- look at her overheated little face.


We escaped the heat at the New Amsterdam Market for lunch. The market, at the Fulton Fish Market down the block from our apartment, has a great selection of local products and delicious food.











Mark loved his bloody mary BLT.


We finished our day at the Taste of the Seaport.  How great is our neighborhood to have all of these options a stone's throw from home?

Lately, our weekends seem to involve face painting in some form or another. This was no exception. We've gotten pretty picky about our face painters and decided that this was sub-par, but Lyla didn't mind.  The face painter finished without putting any glitter on Lyla's face (see previous post on recent glitter obsession).  Lyla was not pleased and said "wait, I need sprinkles."


And just because she is so cute...

LB Fall Fest 2011

I don't hide my love of fall festivals, and our first one of the season was in Long Beach. It has become a tradition since Nicolas was born and despite growing crowds and costs, it never disappoints. The biggest challenge this year was getting Lyla to wear a costume. My approach, though not that humane, was to force her to wear it and let her just cry it out. I dressed her on the train to Long Beach and the other passengers probably thought I was Mommy Dearest. But when we got to Long Beach and Lyla saw her cousins, she forgot about how itchy her cheerleading costume was.







In an unusually brave moment, Lyla wanted to feed and pet and hold the bunny rabbits.







Love this one where she is holding Chrissy's arm.






The men's choir dedicated a song to "the beautiful little blonde girl in the red dress."


Popcorn for lunch.


We waited on a really long line for the merry go round and when we finally got our turn, Lyla cried the whole time because she didn't have a "beautiful horse." I later learned that she was upset because Christopher and Nicolas rode horses that had glitter on them and Lyla's horse was sadly glitter-free.


"This is not a beautiful horse."


Can you see all the beautiful glitter? Side note: Lyla loves art projects with glitter lately. We have tiny pieces of glitter stuck to us all the time. It is impossible to clean up glitter 100%.

Sweet Tooth

Happy Birthday Papa!