A quirky day...

So last week the kids started doing this -

And then I realised they were lacking fresh air, and a trip to the our new cupcake shop, by Grand central won't do. They need some green, even if surrounded by asphalt and tall buildings.

So first we made some schnitzels

Once we had our picnic packed, off we went to Madison Square park, another playground on the list of 15 best in NY, (according to timeout magazine).

Research said we have to check out- the playground, the shake shack, the reflection pool and the interactive, large-scale, mixed-media installation by acclaimed California-based artist Charles Long.

Here is what we got done:

A lot of touching, feeling, and listening to the weird sculptures

Nomi met some friends preparing a bed from fallen leaves for the chipmunks, so she helped

The reflection pool did what it promised to do, (and no Nomi, you can't go in to collect the pennies)

The play ground, next time must remember to bring costumes & towels, all these playground seem to have a water feature.

And then Tomer wanted a picture by the "guards" at the entrance to the park. You can tell the story according the the sequence of the pictures.
 

The shake shack had an "a" line and a "b" line. The "a" line went nearly all around the park and was for burgers fries & shakes, the "b" line was for ice cream cones, and we were the only ones in it. 3 ice creams later, one t-shirt of Poppy's serious ice cream casualty, and now we know that the burgers and shakes might be better then the ice creams at the shake shack.

Since we arrived in NYC we are constantly spotting weird things, and we are working really hard on - "don't point", "don't talk about other people too loudly" and also "you don't know, they might understand Hebrew". This day weird things were all around.

We saw a baby in a pram with a portable fan, a dog in a special dog pram, dog dishes on the menu at the shake shack, a little boy running round the park dressed like this -

A man with a back pack cage with a parrot inside -

And if you look closely at his dog, lying at his feet, you will see that -

The dog is wearing shoes...

More to come.

xxx

לקבוצת האוהבים - מתומר

לכל החברים בקבוצת האוהבים שלום,

אני מקוה שכיף לכם בחופש ושלא חם לכם מדי בישראל.

אנחנו נסענו לצרפת לבקר את סבתא וסבא שלי, שם פגשנו גם את דודה שלי מלונדון עם בני הדודים שלי, מהצד של אבא.

קודם שמתי תמונות מטירה שהלכנו לבקר בה. אבל זאת לא היתה טירה של מלך ומלכה או נסיך ונסיכה אלא של אצילים.

 זה אני בטירה

נחשו איזו חיה אני?

ואיזו חיה אני?

אני ואבא במבוך מחפשים את הדרך החוצה

אני ובני דודים שלי אצל סבתא

אלה תמונות שלי ממקום שבו עושים הרבה מאד תעלולים ועכשיו תיראו מה אני עושה שמה

כאן אנחנו בפיקניק אוכלים חיוכי מלונים

וכאן אני עם כל המשפחה, יום לפני שנסענו לניו יורק

Learning our way around

Over the last few days energy was spent on working out where we are, what there is to do, and where to shop for food. We now know where to shop for food, and not much else :-)
We are located in midtown and there is A LOT of city around us. Downside- no where outdoorsy close to sit and have an ice cream, upside- "Blooms" "Sarge's" plenty of salt beef sandwiches, and yummy chicken soup.
 Thursday we travelled by Subway to the Upper West side, me, with three kids and a pram proved to be easier then anticipated. Also a resourceful moment involving a little boy and an empty bottle of water saved us from looking for the WC while waiting for the train.

On the Subway

For desert we atr a very delicious "flower" fruit arangement sent from BJ to welcome us.

Eating the fruit arrangement

Poppy's new words "I want"

Fruit arrangement from BJ

Saturday we enjoyed walking down the middle of Park Avenue, just catching the last Saturday of three when the Avenue is completely pedestrianised, part of the summer streets.

Statues we met along the way

We had a picnic by the Berlin wall, and then continued on the subway to Central Park.

After Central Park we checked out Riverside park, where we met New friend Uri for a picnic, and he introduced us to the Hippo playground, we really enjoyed it!

Sunday
After spending much too much time on the subway yesterday (note to self, don't take the express unless you are looking to get to 125th street, or if you're just board), today was crowned by the kids no subway day, so we took the bus.
Stop no. 1 was to Union square where we found one of New York's best playgrounds (out of fifteen listed by timeout), and a branch of Barnes & Noble

Stop 2 was on the Lower East side, where Sarah was having her birthday party. There we met Cousin Ariel, Cousin Jaron, Cousin Simon and Cousin Brad. 3 first cousins, and 1 second cousin whom I had never even met before. Pretty good for a stranger in town.
Birthday took place in a time share backyard, which is exactly what it sounds like. We all had a really great time.

Pudding was at the Creperie round the corner before heading home

Two more bits before I leave, one is a video explaining Poppy's bed, and the other is of Nomi eating a salt beef sandwich.

Of course we (Jona) are apartment hunting at the same time, and go to sleep every day with a special prayer that tomorrow will be the day we find our apartment.

xxx