and the fun just doesn't stop

We have had visitors and outings galore! Grammy & Papa and Aunt Mer. Our friends Matt & Melanie from California, Christine and Cam, we've seen Maria and even more folks are headed our way soon. The following are some peeks at how we wear them out...

(in case anyone thought of accusing us of not eating enough ice cream this summer, there is plenty of documented evidence)

(L. caught a firefly)

________________

That's about a quarter of it.
I have frequently left the camera behind, so there are actually lots and lots of missed shots of the last few weeks. There have been plenty of other places we've visited, such as Highline Park, which is like this and also like this. And we visited one of the state parks at Fire Island which is "extremely awesome," as BR says, and saw the National Museum of the Native American and Battery Park and Chinatown and Washington Square and the Forbes Magazine Gallery with has 10,000 of these and hundreds of these, and we also flew kites in Prospect Park and saw --aw, heck, there's too much.

I give up, there is just no way I could possibly document it all.

Actually, the truth is that sometimes it's just all too much so we lounge at the pool, or do a lot of this

and this

So there you have it. We are taking full advantage of our summer in the city.

We are still working on finding housing for the Fall and at the moment it looks like we might have no choice but to relocate to the 'burbs (though we're still hoping we won't). As far as I am concerned, there is not much that's good about moving away from Aunt Jerah and P-roc. So we'll try not to complain.

It is small consolation, but least we would be closer to this.

a summer staple

I haven't posted one of these in awhile. Here is a recipe I have used over and over this summer:

grilled chicken salad w/ avocado & cilantro. so easy and so delicious.

playing 'statue of liberty'

I don't know who has a better time when the kids play this--me or them. They are still, they are silent...it's wonderful.

(on this particular day, it kind of looks like one of those statues needed his bladder liberated.)

visit to Great-Grammy's

On Saturday, we went to PA to visit great-Grammy (my mom's mom) and we also saw all of these folks:

and these lovely ladies:

and we did a lot of this (great-uncle Neal is the COOLEST):

and Grammy played her organ for us and we boogied.

at lunch, we had a face-making contest.

jerah definitely won.

say that again

We have been working with BR to try to teach him how to pronounce certain sounds correctly. He especially has trouble with "th." So we practice with the word "three."

"Free."
"No, th-ree."
"Th---free."
"Try again: thah-ree."
"Fah-ree!"

Ok, so we're still working on that one.

In the meantime, he has decided to give me lessons.

BR: "Say 'bowl,' Mommy."
Me: "Bowl."
BR: "Good. Now say, 'Ca-li-for-nia.'"
Me: "California."
BR: "Now say 'house'."
Me: "House."
BR: "Good. Now say 'chicka-booba-loopy.'"
Me: "Chicaboobaloopy."
BR: "Good, now say..."

You get the idea. (although I am not sure he does.)

Then yesterday I noticed that he also has trouble with the word "vegetable." The way he says it, it is either all "V's" or all "B's."

me: "Say 'vegetable'."
him: "Bedj-ta-ble."
me: "No, Vvvedg-tuh-buhl."
him: "Vvvedg-tuh-vuhl."
me:"Nope. Try again: Vvedg-tuh-BUhl."
him: "Vedg-tuh...spoon!"

pain and suffering

a few of you have been curious: how has our year of moving from one temporary living suitation to another been working out so far?

Well, most of the housing options I found in our price range for this summer were about 700 sq ft of space on the 8th level of some unairconditioned building that most likely had a bakery or pizzeria (or some other oven-dependent business) on the ground floor.

But then we found this:

(a view from the hallway)

oh wait. let me take a few more steps backwards:

yes, that's more like it. But not quite giving the full picture just yet...

so let me take a few more...

there you go. much better.

and here is a view of the staircase to the upstairs loft area

with the extra bedroom and bath we do not use except for visitors.

yup, that's right, a veritable guest suite in NYC. Who knew such a thing existed?

And then there is the back patio:

with additional shared patio beyond that:

At this point you might be thinking to yourself, "Wait. But I thought that square footage in New York was notoriously limited!" Well, you are right, it is.

I guess because we stole it all.

excerpts, part II

"Are there police for police?"

"What does active driveway mean? I don't get it. Can you explain it again. Well, if THAT driveway is active, why don't they have "active driveway" written like the other one?"

"What does a horsefly look like? Is THAT a horsefly? What colors are they? Are there horseflies in NY? Are there horseflies in India? Where else do horseflies live? AHH!! IS THAT A HORSEFLY?? AAAAHHHHH!!!"

"Is there such a thing as tornado police? There isn't? So tornadoes just do whatever they want?"

and, perhaps my favorite so far:

"Mommy, I don't have a favorite thing in the whole world. So what's my favorite thing in the world?"

excerpt from an actual conversation between L. and me, yesterday

"How does that drawbridge over the canal go up? How do the people know if it's going up so they can have time to get out of the way? Is that water down there? Why is water a fluid? What is that brown stuff in there? Why is there a gate over there? What's this I just picked up off the sidewalk? Do those boats ever go anywhere? Will I ever get any cavities? When am I going to learn to swim? How many more swimming lessons will it be before I learn? What is Grammy doing right now? Why do I keep asking you questions? Why do you keep saying 'I don't know'?"

charlie & lola

we've just discovered the cartoon with the same name. It is extremely adorable and very soothing to watch.
well, except that one episode.

in that one, older brother Charlie strictly warns his little sister Lola never EVER to touch the rocket he spent 10 days, 3 hours and 17 minutes working on.

BR isn't crazy about this episode. He asks his sisters to warn him before the "scary parts" (so he can close his eyes). There are two: first, when Lola (predictably) breaks the rocket, and then later when Charlie discovers it and yells "LOLA!!"

He really can't stand those parts.

I think they hit a little too close to home.

found around the house: some game props

(note that the "sneaky cats" have an HQ)

india update

The plans about when and where we'll go in India are continuously changing so it was no real surprise for us to learn upon our arrival in NY that we will probably not be going to Calcutta in September. Instead, we might go to Durgapur in November. Or maybe Chennai after all. Oh, and if things are all sorted out with a hospital in Malaysia, maybe we would like to pop over there, too, in March or so...?

The arrangements in Calcutta and Hyderabad with hospitals there have fallen apart (or something) so we won't be going there at all except perhaps as tourists. Durgapur is a virtual certainty and there is a fast train to Calcutta (it's two hours away or so). So we'll still be off to India sometime in the Fall, probably immediately after J's board exam in November so that we can consolidate our six months abroad instead of having to fly back and forth (phew).

Oh, and by the way (they said), it's not really six months, it's more like five because J. gets 4+1 weeks off a year.

But a lot of this is up to us, apparently. If we want to coordinate it, we can go anywhere. Now, if only J. had some contacts in an Emergency Department somewhere near a Thai beach...

the first week

so what does one do during one's first week in NY at age 3, 4 and 6? Well, before we shut ourselves up inside with snacks and the A/C on high during the recent heatwave, we...


...had a hot dog party (or two) at the community garden, of course. and while we were there we played 'pin the hotdog on the monster' after running through the sprinklers.

rode the subway, rode the bus, took the Staten Island Ferry (and not throw yourself over the side even though you might try really, really hard. ahem, BR.)

look mom, no fighting!

(BR had to stay back for naptime, so that might explain the smiles)

view from the ferry

...went to Coney Island with P-roc, Aunt Jerah* and Godmother Christine. we enjoyed some rides, grabbed an ice cream cone and stuck our toes in the water

christine and the girls

joe, alex and levi. of course.

holding hands

jerah and me

we also:

walked, walked and then walked some more

(we are still getting used to this, but we have been very, very tough so far.)
played at Prospect Park.
went to Chinatown.

saw some old friends and even met some new ones.

explored the neighborhood library.

played at the sprinklers at the park over and over.

signed up for swimming lessons at the local pool and go there often for a dip (it's all free!)

Yes, I guess you could say that NY is quite dull. When can we get out of this place??

*for those of you who don't know her: yes, I have a sister named "Jerah". In one of the biblical genealogies, Jerah was son of Joktan. and yes, she is a gal. (our parents are just weird)