Summer in the City

The last few days of summer have been just like the summers I remember from my own childhood.  The activities have been a little different than the summers of my youth but the feelings have been the same. My own childhood summers were filled with swimming, tennis, jumping on the trampoline and playing games with neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac (which we called a circle) until way past dark.

The last few days have been hot and humid here (and we haven't bought ACs yet so it's been a little rough.  Luckily things cooled off today) and our days have been mostly filled with water play interspersed with a few of our favorite activities.  Every night I've gone to bed tired and hot and sticky from layers and layers of sunscreen.  I don't actually know how long ago we all bathed because we spend so much time playing with water that it all kind of runs together.  Twice this week my kids have gone from jammies to swim clothes to jammies again (with a little naked baby time somewhere in the middle).

This week my college roommate (aka best roommate ever) posted this to her facebook page.

"And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days" --Lowell

What is so rare as a day in June?  Last night, walking home from a neighbor's house I saw my first firefly of the season.  Magic.

In December when I'm bogged down with postpartum depression and hating the short cold days will you all just remind me that June exhists?  That it's out there?  And that's it's coming?

These first couple of pictures are from this amazing botanical garden called Wave Hill.  Mark Twain lived there for 3 years (in a tree house he constructed on the grounds) and this week they did a Mark Twain scavenger hunt.

At the end of the scavenger hunt the kids got to make mustaches and try on a top hat.

The Bronx Zoo has reached crazy levels of crowded.  Often the whole parking lot is taken up with school buses.  Luckily my kids are obsessed with penguins which are located at the far end of the zoo where no one else likes to go.  

NYC in the Summer

There aren't too many times that i think, "New York, you nailed it." 

But public fountains for kids to run around in? Brilliant. They are in most neighborhoods (especially lower income ones) and are one of the ways that the city helps people stay cool.  Dawn to dusk sprinklers all summer?--nailed it.  We didn't know our neighborhood park had turned theirs on yet (school isn't out for another week or two here) but when we got to the park this morning we were in for a pleasant surprise.

If it's a particularly hot stretch of the summer the city keeps them on until 10 or later.

From the Mouths of Babes

Claire: "Sometimes I'm sad because I'm not the boss of everything."

Me too babe.  Me too.

P.S. We don't have a mircrowave here (we're not againsts them the house just didn't have one and it's way down on the list of things to buy--somewhere below AC units and a weed wacker). Turns out that microwave really is the best (maybe only) way to reheat cold pizza).

Postage size bliss

Folks, when I said my yard was the size of a postage stamp I wasn't kidding. Here's a good view of the front. Yes.  That fence is the property line. 

The back isn't huge (though it is a little bigger than the front). But I've learned two things. 1.  Having a kind of crumby back yard can be totally disguised by having neighbors who have incredible back yards.  2. Any size back yard can still provide hours and hours of joy. 

We have filled the water table everyday and painted the whole place with chalk more than once.  Tonight we played basketball as a family before bed. The only thing that could have made it better was if the lightening had been out. 

There is always tomorrow.  In that last pic Claire asked me to be really careful so that I could catch her flying in the air. I got pretty close