Week 5 of Our Summer and Our 4th Trip!

Week 5: July 27-August 1

Sunday:
Our 4th trip... Kids' Gym again! The kids LOVED it the previous week, so I took them once more.

A string of 3 wagons, which they call a train. They love it when I pull them around in it!

Ball pit!


Gedalya on a see-saw


The boys examining a clown on the slide.



Zusha announced that he needed the bathroom. Before I could inquire where I can find one, he ran to the clown's shoes, opened one of them, and said, "But this is a potty!" :D :D :D

Monday:
Our 5th trip... Decided to pack up and go to Prospect Park. Read about it in an upcoming post! ;)

Tuesday:
My midwife came... separate post :)

Wednesday & Thursday:
At one point it dawned on me... why don't we go to the library? It's a great place to spend time in the hot summer, they have loads of books to keep the kids entertained, and they even have some toys!
So we went on Wednesday. I took a schedule for the upcoming month and was thrilled to see that there are a few fun activities a week for kids Zusha's and Gedalya's ages. :D
There was a butterfly exhibit scheduled for Thursday, so we went! It turned out not exactly the way we expected- these were real dead butterflies pinned behind glass. Thank goodness the kids didn't realize that they weren't alive.
We listened to the man explain a little about butterflies and moths, looked at the ones he showed us, and then went upstairs to the books.

7th Month Checkup!

Marcy (my midwife) came yesterday for the 7th month (29 weeks) visit. We have another visit scheduled a month from now, and then the visits will be more frequent. :D
She also gave me a list of things I need to prepare for the birth (yikes!) I have a hard time believing it will be so soon...

We spoke a little, and she took my blood pressure... we went to listen to the baby's heartbeat. The kids were so excited! As I wrote in the last post, the kids loved hearing it. They have no idea it's a heartbeat or what, but they think the baby is making the noises and they are thrilled!

This time we listened through a fetoscope instead of a doppler. The difference is that a doppler uses ultrasound waves and a fetoscope doesn't. It works like a stethoscope. It doesn't project the sound to the whole room, but Marcy let the kids hear it from the device.

Now I have to get a glucose test done and find a doula...

Third Summer Trip

Sunday, July 20:

Last year we discovered the Kids' Gym. It's a place in the basement of a local shul with LOTS of toys and games for kids. There isn't a dull moment there. All sorts of riding toys, imaginative games, anything a child can dream up!

Zusha and Gedalya in a play house

Bye-bye, I'm closing the window!

Exercising on elliptical machines!


This fun riding toy works as if you're walking. You make stepping motions, and the footrests turn the wheels.


This is one of the most fun attractions in the whole place. There are two moonwalks. One has balls to jump in, and the other has a HUGE, steep slide. It's so steep, that it's more like falling than sliding. It's all soft, inflated material, so it's very safe and fun.



A balancing toy


A favorite amongst the boys- a fire truck with a spot for a driver, and also one for a passenger.


Mini roller coaster. It's awesome!

Second Summer Trip, the Bay Again!

Thursday, July 17:

We went to the bay again, and this time my mother came along with us. It was great! We got off the bus a couple of blocks early and went to the nearby park. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but the kids enjoyed.
Then we went to Toys R Us and Babies R Us and then headed to the water.

Sliiiide! "It's yellow, Zusha's color!"

There was a hill at the park and the boys had a grand time climbing it and zooooming down together.

Up...


Up...


And whoooosh!



If you click on this photo and look at Gedalya's feet, you will see that he's not touching the ground! :D


Near the water... climbing a tree, errr, riding a helicopter. ;)


Little koala


Taking a snack break


Gedalya running his laps. This little boy is a ball of energy, and every day he needs to run a certain amount of "laps" to keep his energy in check. :) Towards the end of the day, if he realizes he didn't fulfill his quota of laps, he starts them up and is almost completely unresponsive to the outside world.
A minute before, he wanted yogurt and was crying for it. While we were getting it out and open, his laps started and he forgot all about the yogurt! LOL

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!