Lake Park, Trip #3

My in-laws got a new car, and it's big enough for all of us to fit! We are finally able to go on trips together. In the old car, the boys' booster seats took up the entire back seat, so Adel couldn't fit. My mother in law kept offering to take us places, but it was never possible. Now it is!
Our first voyage (about a week and a half ago) was to Prospect Park.

We found these (parked) pedal boat thingies and the boys were excited to stand on a boat!! in the lake!!

The lake also had these cool yellow dragonflies:

And swans!

And cygnets!

A whole swan family!

We fed bread to the two parents and their quadruplets.

And then we continued on.

Through an echo tunnel...

...which the boys absolutely loved.

We continued on over a bridge.

We discovered a waterfall!

The boys really wanted to stay in the water and wade a little more, but since we were there with other people, we had to listen to their wishes. I hope to go back to Prospect Park one of these weeks and let the boys stay in there for a nice long time.

We continued on and came across the Audubon Center. I've seen it many times, but this was the first time it was open. Inside was a mini museum for kids. They had tanks of water from the lake, small dishes to scoop it into and magnifying glasses to observe what grows there. They had an interactive migration map of the birds that pass Prospect Park and stop there to rest.
They had giant models of a duck, cardinal and squirrel with a hole at the back of the head and lenses in the eyes. Kids are able to stand behind the animals, look into the hole, and see the way this animal sees. Peripheral vision, coloration and all!

But Gedalya's personal favorite was:

A set of wings! And if you think it doesn't get any better, it does.

A realistic life-sized nest!

My little birdie!

Then we headed to a playground that's within Prospect Park. Unfortunately, Gedalya got stung by some insect while playing in the sprinklers. It was some sort of a wasp or bee type- it was black and yellow. But it didn't leave a stinger in, and stung Gedalya two times. Who knows... It caused a lot of drama (mostly with my mother-in-law insisting Gedalya keep ice on the site of the sting, and Gedalya refusing and screaming in terror) but by bedtime, the swelling went down and the incident was forgotten.

The kids are drawing a map of Prospect Park as we speak as I write type. They are copying it from a real map of the park. And begging me to go again tomorrow.

Today's Forecast is

(By Zusha)

(By Gedalya)

At least Gedalya put a cloud into the picture. I don't think we will get such a luxury today. It's a HOTHOTHOT summer. I don't really mind that much. All winter long I look forward to summer. Last summer wasn't a hot one at all. Many days I was able to dress the kids in long sleeves and pants and if it ever got over 85 degrees, it was not too often. I felt kinda jilted when the summer ended. The sprinklers were off many of the days because it just wasn't hot enough. We didn't use the summer to the full potential. But now... I guess we are making up for it!
One of these days I went out from a store and was surprised to see the street all foggy and smokey. It took me a little while to realize the my glasses got fogged up from going from a cold place to a hot place! Just like going indoors in the winter, but the opposite. Wacky!

Trip #2 (Down by the Bay... Where the Watermelons Grow...) ;)

The second of the many trips we took was to the bay.
As is our "tradition," we missed the bus and had to wait an hour for the next one. This is the third summer that we are visiting the bay, and the first trip of each summer we end up missing the hourly bus by several minutes!
Oh, well.

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by this:

I've told the boys about blimps, but they have never seen one until now.
Adel just scrunched her nose at it.
It was a weird object masquerading as one of Adel's beloved airplanes.
Did someone say "airplanes"???

Aaanyway... we visited Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us. I didn't take along a stroller- just carried Adi in the Ergo, so putting her in a shopping cart was a welcome respite for me.

The boys did a lot of walking (to the bus) and standing (waiting for the bus) while carrying a heavy backpack (snacks and drinks) so they took advantage of the stroller section.

The water is always so calming and enjoyable. I love watching it.

There is also a nice little grassy area where we usually stop to eat, and a low tree, just right for climbing.

On all our previous trips, only the boys climbed.

But Adel isn't content to just sit and watch any longer!

Actually, that's not true. She was pretty content to do that. But I put her up there. And after a couple of initial whimpers and looks of, "What in heaven's name are you doing!? Can I not trust my own mother anymore?" she warmed up and rather enjoyed her tree experience.

 Lots more trips to post about!

Prospect Park!

Doctor visit to Manhattan that included lots of fun extra stops!

Brooklyn Children's Museum!

...and two trips that didn't require transportation...

Post Office educational event!

Local indoor summer-only playground!

And lost more non-trip stuff to post about, too.

Yoyo and Goo

Yoyo. Goo. Yogurt. Whatever you choose (Zusha's baby language, Gedalya's baby language or English), this is what the post is about.

Or more precisely, it's about how Zusha needs to hide his food from everyone in the house if he wants to be the one to eat it.

One morning, I was photographing Gedalya as he was jumping on his Tatte's bed. Zusha came into the room and decided to join the fun. He put the yogurt he was eating on my bed and went to jump as well.
Not three minutes later, he returned to claim his yogurt, and what did he find?

Everyone was eating HIS yogurt.
Adel claimed the straw.


And this creature



was licking the yogurt from the jar.


Uh.... hi?




That Adel and her cat. They make a great team.


These photos are pretty ancient. Both the human and the cat were just babies back then.

And already plotting trouble together!

The boys better watch out! Adel and Mel make an awesome team!

Some More About the Butterflies

...and soon enough, a butterfly emerged from the cocoon.

It sat there, pumping up its wings to their full glorious size.

It tested out its new body, and soon enough, the joy of flight was discovered.

Although the real joy of flight was yet ahead.

We brought them to our back yard to let them fly free. The little buggies were fast. They took off with such enthusiasm that I couldn't even get a photo of their departure!
All we got was this:

And this:
Gedalya found a flower that fell off a tree in our back yard and was telling me how the butterflies will drink juice from these flowers.

And that was the end of our butterfly story. As far as we were concerned. Which apparently isn't very far.

Because...

A couple of weeks later we were playing in a park when we chanced upon a butterfly. And another. And another. They were flying all around us, and then...

Wow! The boys were ecstatic, and were convinced that these were our butterflies and that they remembered us, which is why they landed on each of us!

They landed on Adel, too, but I was wearing her in the Ergo so I couldn't get a photo.

These butterflies are a different species than ours, but they really look similar! I had to compare the photos side by side to realize the differences.

Maybe one day soon we will get caterpillars again. We'd have to do it before summer finishes. We'll see!

Gedalya's Pet Laptop

As per the words of Zusha's friend, we have a zoo at home. Over the last 12 months: a cat, two hamsters, five caterpillars/butterflies, a pigeon, another pigeon that I have yet to write about... and those are only the wanted creatures. We also have a few unwanted ones (large spiders, water bugs, mosquitoes) and a few tolerated ones (crickets, small spiders, ants).

And then there was Laptop. Laptop is a beetle that made his way into our house and made himself cozy in the boys' bike basket.
For Gedalya, it was love at first sight.
He promptly named the beetle "Laptop." We made a little habitat for the beetle so we can keep him safe until we were able to release him.

Later that day, when we were in the park, we went to a quiet corner to release Laptop in the bushes.

Poor Gedalya didn't think we were going to let him go for good. Even though I explained to him that we need to let him go- we don't know how to take care of Laptop, don't know what food to feed him... Gedalya still thought we were taking him out for a walk.

So he was a little sad when he realized

that Laptop was gone for good.

But not before he made one little boy very, very happy. This little insect might just be the most talked-about, remembered and photographed bug of all his friends and family members!