Brooklyn 2009

We made a trek down to Brooklyn last weekend, which was an awful lot of fun but involved many more hours in the car than expected. Friday afternoon traffic, storms, and an accident (not involving us thankfully) all contributed to a very long ride down and a long ride back. But the girls were absolutely wonderful in the car, which gave me confidence that we can get through the 10 1/2 hour drive to West Virginia in October. We listened to all 6 CD's of Pinky Pye, which was a very cute story that, as Bridges so aptly put it, could have been told in 1 CD. But I think it was great for Lee because the repetition and the slow pace allowed her to understand the story despite the high level of language and vocabulary used.

There were a few other highlights of the drive. First, Lee saw her very first rainbow. She talks about rainbows quite often, and I've been telling her that she will see one some day. Sometime after we finally got beyond Hartford, she cried "Look, Mommy, a rainbow! My very first rainbow!" It was beautiful - big and arcing up into the sky from the horizon. I think it was extra special that it was she and not one of us who first saw it. So that was pretty cool, and I figure one example of how there's always an upside to a rainy day, even when we've had an entire month of them like this past June.

The second highlight was discovering Rein's Deli in Vernon, CT. It was so good Bridges had a Reuben on the way down and the way back. I preferred the Rachael (coleslaw instead of kraut). Yummy.

We got lucky with the weather Saturday, and started the morning off with breakfast at a wonderful place in Park Slope called Dizzy's.

There was even a little ride-on animal there, which seems to be a requirement of any trip to Brooklyn. Here are Lee and Clara this year

and Lee and Aunt Lee back in Oct '07 on a different animal.

Then we took the subway into Manhattan, We thought we could make quite a long day of it, although we ended up pushing it with Clara, as you can see in the photo from the subway ride home.

I should probably explain Bridges' face. We decided to splurge on face painting at the Central Park Zoo.

We had a great time in Central Park, especially climbing on the rocks

and eating popsicles.

We actually started our excursion in Bryant Park, which I just loved. Here is Bryant, overlooking his park.

The kids loved the carousel, Lee riding a bunny (huh?) and Clara a cat (ok).

The hydrangeas were beautiful all over the city. Here is a spectacular oak leaf variety in Bryant Park.

On Sunday we went to Prospect Park, playing for a while at the playground and picnicking near the boathouse. Here is Aunt Lee with her boyfriend Kaap-Joo.