Our Summer, Weeks 3-4

Week 3: July 13-18

Sunday:
We decided to try out a new park! It's a little far from us (Ft. Hamilton and 53rd), so we have never been there before. The walk was pretty long, but it was well worth it! It's a small, simple park, but very well designed for little kids. The sprinklers are unusual- the water sprays in jets, all aimed towards one spot. And when the streams of water collide, it creates a yummy mist that spreads over the entire park.

They also have many picnic tables, nicely situated in the SHADE (something one of our local parks is missing- shade.)


Yum!


All that misty water created a nice, long rainbow near the ground. The kids we so intrigued and loved to try to run into it! :)

Monday:
There were fire trucks on our block, so the boys spent a nice long time looking at them and admiring. :D

Tuesday:
We brought along a fun toy to the park- it's a disk launcher! I wound the disk for the boys and they ran to the middle of the field to release it and watch it soar!

1...2...3... get ready!

Where did it go?


Funny Bunny Brothers :)

Thursday:
We went on our 2nd trip- the bay again! Only this time, my mother came along, and we added one extra activity, which you will read about (and see!) in an upcoming post. :)

Friday:
Another calm park day. Zusha drew train tracks and stations, and drove his train all around, making appropriate stops, and everything. LOL.

Week 4: July 20-25

Sunday:
Last year we discovered "Kids' Gym," an indoor playground in the basement of a shul that is full of fun equipment for kids. Bikes, riding toys, balancing toys, houses and tool sheds that kids can play inside, a moon-walk, a ball pit, slides, tunnels... It's a kids' dream! Unfortunately, we only discovered it on the last day it was open last year. But this year, we started going from almost the beginning! (Pictures in an upcoming post. We'll count this as a trip, even though there is no traveling involved. But it's a very "trip-like" activity! LOL)

Monday:
A caterpillar dropped out of a tree and right onto us one day in the park. We decided to play a little with our friend before sending him back home. :)

Crawling on Zusha's chest...


...and up his collar!


Gedalya was thrilled, and didn't try to squish it like he tried with the snail we found a couple of months ago. LOL


Okay, little guy! Time for you to go home!


Gedalya waves bye-bye.

Wednesday:
We bought a fun water toy that we never really got to use. You pour water into the top, and there are two fans/gears that rotate. The ideal place to use it is the Ave F park because the water falls in streams there, unlike a wide-spread fountain. But every time we went and took the toy along, the sprinklers were off. And whenever we forgot to take it, they were on! So finally we co-ordinated, and the sprinklers were on on the day we brought it along.

Thursday:
This day "naturally" turned into "Nature Day." We didn't plan it, but that's how it happened! At first, we were eating sandwiches and threw some bread to the birds. One of our guests was a little sparrow family. :) A mother with a few babies. The kids were in total awe, watching the mother sparrow picking up crumbs and feeding them to her babies. They loved how the babies flapped their wings and chirped to get their mother's attention.

In cheider, Zusha learned about how wheat is grown. He was very into it, and I continued the lesson beyond wheat, to include all plants. I explained to him that a seed from any plant, when put into the ground, will grow another plant like the one it came from. But sometimes Zusha can't find a seed, so a leaf will suffice. ;)
Once when we were at the park, Zusha pulled a leaf off a tree and "planted" it. So this time when he was playing on the grass, he noticed a tree in the general vicinity of where he planted the leaf! :D He was so excited that this is HIS tree that HE planted!
So he decided to continue the cycle, and planted some leaves from this "new" tree. :)

Showing me where he is planting the leaf.

Friday:
It has been raining the entire week, and much to my surprise, and the boys' delight, a large flood formed on the grassy area of the park! At first they were a little wary, until Gedalya tested it out... and then they both bravely marched right in with their water shoes!