A fun museum

Saturday we checked out the newly opened Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. Last weekend was the grand opening and they were still having a special where families arriving before 11 get in for free. No problem there! Not that I wouldn’t mind paying but the time works well for us and we were there waiting to get in at 10 am when the doors open. Such a very cool place! There’s a section called Totally Tots (for the under 5 crowd) and there was a slide, an art area, water area, sand, ‘theatre’, book nook, dolls and a noise making area. So cool!! It got quite crowded in there by 11 with mostly parents hovering over their kids. It got to be a little much for Sienna so we went to check out the other areas. They had a mini Brooklyn neighborhood with a bus and a bunch of stores (grocery, chinese store, caribbean store and L&B Spumoni gardens where you can make your own ‘pizza’). There was a bunch of different nature areas and we also checked out the cafe (not much of an eatery.) Membership is really cheap too but the times don’t work out for us. They close Mondays and Tuesdays, open from 1-6 the rest of the week and only Saturday and Sunday are they open 10-6. I’m hoping since it’s because they just re-opened that they just have short hours. Hopefully they will add more hours as they work out the kinks because this is a perfect place to take Sienna during the winter on a weekday!

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Playing with the blue sand with daddy.
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Playing with the sand next to other kids
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Of course the slide is one of the first things she goes to!
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Imitating the python?
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Pointing out the parakeet
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She’s always on the move!

Have Playground, Will Travel

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We’re fortunate enough to have a car and the opportunity to go to vast amounts of playgrounds in Brooklyn.  I believe we take full advantage of that! Within the last month, we’ve gone to at least 9 different playgrounds! They all have relatively different layouts, different play structures and different people with pros and some cons for all of them. During the summer, we went over to Bay Ridge a lot and went to 3 different ones over there with Owls Head being our favorite. You can close off the area and there’s always a good amount of kids there (not too little and not too many). The sprinklers are in a separate section and the bathrooms are new and clean. The one at 83rd and Colonial is right behind my alma mater, Fort Hamilton High School. The last time we went there (to meet Layla and Rawya), the marching band was practicing. It sent chills up and down my spine hearing the band play. (I played the flute in the HS band.) I found myself looking for the teacher to see if it’s the same one even though it was over 15 years ago (it wasn’t). I think the sprinklers in this playground are Sienna’s favorite because she usually goes right into them.

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Rawya and Sienna
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Swings and raspberries at 79th street.

Here’s a cute video of Sienna and Yves at Owl’s Head (comment or e-mail me for password)


“I don’t want to” from Lisa on Vimeo.

Now that summer is officially over and the cold weather is coming, I wanted to go to the local playgrounds more often. My least favorite one is the East 14th Street one because there are always old men there smoking cigarettes (and it’s small). YUCK. We only go there if we have errands to do around there. The Bedford one isn’t bad but there are also old people hanging out there as well. So far no smokers among them at least! And recently, we’ve been going to the East 36th street one to meet up with local mom Jana and her 2 little girls Emma (2.5) and Leah (11 months). I like that one even tho the first time I went, there was a lot of garbage around and the bathrooms aren’t very close.

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stay clear of the smokers!
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she can go up and down this slide all day!
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East 36th

We also go to the Bay Parkway one when we have to go to Caesar’s Bay for errands. I didn’t like it at first because it’s pretty big and there were lots of older kids there running around. The second time we went (Saturday), it was better.
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This wooden walkway became a slide for Sienna!

Davíd! Yay!

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Davíd at Mercury Lounge August 2004

It’s funny how things happen! An old friend, René, started a new venture out in Los Angeles called Gourmet on Wheels. He kindly put me on the top of his links page and I reciprocated by putting him in my blog links and my website links. While doing so I decided to update the links, get rid of some and make sure the ones there are working. So when I clicked on Davíd‘s link, I was surprised and delighted to find that he’s doing a Monday night stint in September at the Living Room! (I was also perturbed that I only found out this way!) I finally made it over there last night after a free seminar at Noble Desktop. I’m so glad I went! Now I only wish I went the first 2 Mondays as well! It felt so good to see one of my favorite singers in an intimate setting like the Living Room. Felt just like old times! He played lots of old songs like Core, Isis And Osiris, Why Spy?, Soul Custody and a few others. He started at 8:20 because the band before him started late. Unfortunately, he only could play until 9 so I was bummed. Next Monday is his last show there and he promises it will be crazy. I’ll be there for sure!!

No More Chasing Waterfalls

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We finally headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park so I can check out the waterfalls art exhibit. There has been some controversy surrounding it. It seems the salt water splashing up from the ocean is killing all the greenery and turning it brown. I still wanted to check it out before they shut it down. What can I say, I have a thing for waterfalls. Well, it wasn’t on! I was a little bummed as I just wanted to see it even though Yves thinks it’s a farce. Oh well. We headed over to the playground! We don’t come down this way too often as it is a little bit of a trek but I do love this area. The Brooklyn Bridge is my favorite bridge so any shot with it in the background, I love! Like this one!

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And to be fair, here’s a shot with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. I think Sienna liked the sounds of the train as she kept looking up and pointing to it whenever the trains came by and saying some semblance of the word ‘train’.

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We decided to go to Bubby’s for lunch. The good thing about having lunch at around 11ish, there isn’t a wait! By the time we came out, there was a little bit of a wait for a table. I give it a A+ for the super kid friendly atmosphere (they even gave Sienna water in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw! This was given with our water for the table!) and the fact that the men’s room also had a diaper changing station! And they get another A+ for great food! I got a turkey blt and Yves got a grilled ham and cheese. My turkey blt was awesome! Yves’ was good but a little bit on the salty side (from the mustard and the pickles, not from the ham!) But the fries were fabulous! Needs no ketchup fabulous! And for Sienna we got a side of french toast and apple cider. She ate more than I thought she would!bubbys2blog.jpg

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I also want to document something that happened last Friday, the 12th.  Something I call the ‘poop incident.’  Normally Yves does the bathing duties during the week but he was working late that night (as well as Wednesday and on Saturday!) So I’m bathing Sienna, everything is going as it usually does when I smell a foul odor. Sienna farts. No biggie, not the first time. I joked with her that I didn’t see any bubbles! Then next thing I know, I hear a plop. Then another plop and Sienna is standing there looking back toward her butt. She’s taking a poop in the bath!! I was so dumbfounded I just did not know what to do! This has never happened before nor have I even read about something like this in all the motherhood stuff that I read! I was frozen in shock. I didn’t know whether to laugh or freak out (I did both!) I went with my first instinct and got some toilet tissue and scooped it up. Yes, I know, not a very smart move as the tissue fell apart once it hit the water. Oh well. I just proceeded to pick it all up with the tissue anyway and threw it in the toilet. Thankfully it wasn’t a mushy poop! I drained all the water out and basically re-bathed her. What a memory!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YVEE!!

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Today is Yves’ birthday! Happy Birthday sweetheart! We’ve already started celebrating! On Sunday my parents took us out for dim sum in the neighborhood and we came back and had carrot cake. That is one of Yves’ favorite cakes. It was good but way too much cream cheese icing. They layered the cake with cream cheese icing in the middle, we never had it that way before. I guess they made it special for birthday cakes.
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On Monday, Yves took off work (since he had to work on Saturday) so I took him out to lunch to the Mill Basin Kosher Deli. The reviews were good and they said it’s Brooklyn’s best kept secret. It was good, I wouldn’t say it was great. Yves got pastrami on rye and I got stuffed cabbage and pierogies. We also shared a side of french fries as they looked interesting when the waitress brought them out for another table. I wanted to try their pierogies to see if there was a more local place I can get my fix. They don’t have anything on Raymund’s!
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Yves’ classic look of ‘what the hell is that? And why did you order it at a Kosher Deli?’
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Not exactly what we would call overstuffed. Guess we’re just pigs!
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I liked the fried onions with it but I could have used sour cream!
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These must have been some big potatoes!
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Participants!

Here they are! The list of participants for the Autumn Gocco Swap. I know I said the limit was 25 participants but 4 slid through before I could close up the sign ups and I just couldn’t turn anyone away. Thankfully, the other participants agreed to print up additional postcards so all is good!

Liz Plummer

We Love Saturday

Dr. Russ

Fantastic Pickle

Suzi Too

Jenn Erwin

Sew Trashy

Squirreled Away

MacJewell

Woolanthropy

Violet Penelope

Alegnaavlis

Joele Lucherini

This Handmade Life

Flying Scissors

Blue 22

Being Jules

Fisk and Fern

Stephanie at Stockton & Co.

Graffiti Dog

Paper Elixir

Imagine Me

Little Letters

3 Red Buttons

The Adventures of Shee Shee

Little Messes

Julochka

Needle and Dime

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Finished Hooking!

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I finally finished the star-ghan I was crocheting for Sienna! Took me 2 months! I could have kept going with it and Yves wanted me to make it bigger but I think it’s a good size.It fits the crib well for now!

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I also made this coffee cup:
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Can you guess what it’s hiding?
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har har har! The pattern is here.

I also joined a swap on swap-bot. I haven’t swapped in a long time but since it was an amigurumi swap, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem to fulfill. It was hard to settle on something to make for my partner, since she likes everything, so when I came across this jellyfish pattern, it reminded me of the jellyfish shot from the NY Aquarium a couple of weeks ago. I hope she likes it! I made another one to send to Zack since Tammy thought it was super cute too.

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Bye Astroland!

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Last Sunday, the 7th, we went to Coney Island. Not because it was Astroland’s official last day forever but because that was where the electronics recycling was being held. We had an old pc and a couple of printers to get rid of. We decided to take a walk along the boardwalk anyway since it was so nice out and I remembered today being the demise of Astroland. (Now there are talks about the city keeping it open, I’m not sure!) There was a few news crews there but we were gone before the crowd came and Astroland opened for the day.

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I tried to get a group shot of us with the Cyclone in the back but she was getting cranky by that time. She’s still adjusting to the midday nap. This is the best one I got.

Zack comes to Brooklyn!

On Wednesday Zack came over! Oh yeah and Tammy too! 😉 It was a beautiful fall like day in the 70’s so we hung out in the back area for a little bit. Then we went upstairs for some lunch. Tammy and Zack brought over some Hungarian apple strudel and turnovers. YUM! It was cute to see Sienna interacting with Zack. She would touch him real quick or poke him and once almost stepped on his head! Oops! It was nice and relaxing as sometimes when we meet at a restaurant, it feels a bit rushed. I hope they come over more often!

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My babies

I realize that I don’t post much about the animals and since Sienna was born, less attention has been paid to them. Well,, Neo doesn’t care. He wants to be left alone but now that Skippy has been living with him for about 3 years, he’s not so scared of Neo and sometimes even tries to be playful with him. Much to Neo’s chagrin. Anyway, here are some recent pictures of them. I try to get a nice group shot of Sienna with them but it doesn’t seem to work so well. I’ll keep trying!

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Neo on my craft table (Yves was probably vacuuming) sitting next to one of Sienna’s favorite animals, Gorilla.

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Sienna and Neo
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The closest thing to a group shot!
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Sienna helping me bath Skippy

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