Jubilant July

The luau leftovers aside, the day after the Summer Social we had to return Nacho to work at the airport, so I decided to make it an outing and we hit Bareburger for lunch before running some errands including Costco. The girls always love a little day out and about and sometimes when they are being good, it feels like this is real life. This is how it should be. So we brunched and then went off to shop and I mostly wanted to stock up on snacks and fruit, though finding mermaid tale blankets was an early birthday gift from Grandma. That's the kind of stuff her money should buy, amirite? By Monday we were out in the city on a playdate with two sister friends the same age from AOC. I love it when the feeling is mutual and we wanted to use up our Cool Culture pass a little more before it expires in November. So we met at MoMA and then grabbed some lunch on the go before hitting Central Park Zoo and the Billy Johnson playground. The girls were paired well and mostly behaved though they were clearly amped to be out and about with these friends. Summer was getting us all in the mood.

Do NOT sit on these benches. They are art. Apparently.

Nacho returned from his first (of two) trips to São Paulo this week and brought us some wonderful cachaça and havaianas for the girls

I had the pleasure of booking a few little fun evenings out for myself and with Nacho working so much it was a perfect release valve for taking on the brunt of summer by myself. The first was a trip to Summer Stage in Central Park to see PJ Harvey live. I couldn't believe my luck to see her in concert again having done it twice before when I was a slightly more rabid fan. But sometimes you need to dig deep and get back to that part of yourself that was into things like new music from one of your favorite artists ever. And so I went off to hear Polly Jean sing it out into a humid and stormy-looking night sky. She was amazing as always even if being a concert goer in this day in age is a bit annoying. So many people with their fucking iPhones in your face recording or taking terrible photos. I warned one young thang to put hers away only later realizing her English wasn't so good--but hey, she got the point. And a few others around me were equally strict. It helped that they were selling cute little cups of rosé and I had Monica and Maryann to share the fun evening with. Getting another ladies night out at the end of the week courtesy of Dawn was another perfectly stress-reducing evening. Olive came over to watch the girls and I skated off to the Empire Hotel near Columbus Circle to join the group toasting cocktails to our playgroup days and Jessie's eminent departure. We've been friends for 8, almost 9, years already most of us and the connections are hard to recreate. Having a group of moms who I could identify with initially was such a saving grace and it has been a comfort through all these years of child rearing. Losing one of our dearest feels like a harbinger of things to come in a way. More and more these days, I feel like Sunnyside is only part of our story. It's been everything to us so far, but somehow I believe there is more to come...

And yet, we are here and as much as the future might take us elsewhere living in a community where spontaneous music festivals can happen at our park or where we can just pack up and leave for the airport with only 30 min travel time is such a dream. We made the most of our last night in the neighborhood before vacation by spending it with Quinn and Adam and the boys who organized the first annual QUIP festival. Food trucks and live music added to the atmosphere and I enjoyed hanging out in a beach chair while the girls mostly ran around like always. The light rain drove us to seek cover for a bit, but thankfully it ended quickly and we were able to stay out as long as possible. Knowing we'd be captives on an airplane for so much of the following day, it felt like we had to bottle the air and take it with us. Nacho was flying home on a red eye the next morning so I made good on prepping for the trip by getting laundry done and having the girls mostly packed by Sunday morning. Now for the rest of July in Spain. Estamos listos!

K sings!

May seems to be spinning out of control a bit lately and it's only just getting started. In the midst of my work for the park's Memorial Day Fair coming up, there are lots of end of year school events like field trips, concerts and field days to work around. And with the way AOC splits its grades into two chunks (K-2 and 3-5), there is double the fun for the next few years. Unfortunately, I've had to say no to most of the daytime stuff in order to preserve some sanity, but the evening concerts are a must. So this week we went to see the Kindergarteners belt out their spring songs and considering it was the hottest day of the year so far with temps near 90F, the gym was actually surprisingly cool and comfortable. 

And honestly, since Nacho was working and took the car, we took a Lyft over and it was so much easier than parking and running in late. We were there right on schedule, grabbed some seats near Amanda and Max and his parents and the big girls ran around the gym for a bit before the show started. The K classes went first this time which was nice, and we sat patiently through the rest of the concert before bolting to get another car home and the obligatory ice cream from the ladies vending outside. So yeah, one spring concert down, another one to go!

Winter Concert 2014

The Winter Concert at AOC was last night and it was another beautiful moment for the school to come together and enjoy what these kids are learning. The set was amazing as always, and the kids did a great job of delivering their songs with gusto. Elisa seemed to enjoy her place in the back row (sorry, tall kid) and was animated and boisterous with her singing. Her friend Beckett was even more hilarious to watch wiggling and imitating the motions of our fab music teacher Mr. Alan. And I suppose it was a bonus that the whole thing started on time and finished way early since they cut all the grades down to two songs. My only disappointment was that the concert really didn't allow for the kids to shine. Each grade was on and off so fast I didn't really get to savor the performances. And they didn't do any solos or highlight any of the kids instrument playing which I suppose I understand but it definitely took away from the overall feeling of the night. The fact that Mr. Noel was not involved was probably part of it. He has such a great way of amping the kids up and getting great performances. So I suppose it was a decent concert considering all of the changes, but I couldn't help but leave with a sense that I was lucky to see the concerts from last year. So without further ado...enjoy the video of the first graders' second song. The first one I botched while recording.

Spring Concert

Thursday night we had the Spring Concert at Academy of the City. It was something Elisa had been talking about and practicing for all winter long. And the day was finally here. She had a small solo in her class's multicultural song and we were very happy Nacho could be there to see it too. The kid has some lungs! Her part was spoken in Creole which was kind of funny because the night before the concert she came home sobbing that she'd lost her practice sheet with the words. Uh oh. I thought if this kid hasn't learned it by now, we're in trouble. And of course, the next morning, I finally found a scrap of paper in her backpack with two mysterious phrases written in a language I did not understand. Bingo! But it was too late. So we waited with anticipation to see how she would do that night. And of course, my little star shone. She was holding the mic like a pro and all too eager to belt out the lyrics, even when it wasn't her turn. The fact that her mic picked this all up and lead us in the audience to crack up was even better. She had no clue...

And by the end of the show, the rest of the school had entertained us for over an hour and a half. The third graders did a rendition of "We are the World" that sent the audience into overdrive. Ms. Galashaw had us all clapping along and the mood was jubilant.  I'm so proud of Elisa and her school for being able to host these kinds of productions and for making the community come together for a little song. We all need more of this in our lives. Enjoy!

Seriously?

I totally bought tickets to this. For Sunday. I'm pretty sure Elisa is going to go into shock and pass out when she finds out who we are going to see. And I'm not even kidding. She's been impersonating Dorothy the Dinosaur so much recently that most conversations begin with "No, no. I'm not Elisa. I'm DORO-THY." And she wears socks on her hands (because Dorothy has white gloves). I can hear the screaming already. Good screaming. The kind I am trying to bottle and save for all the years ahead when she won't let me take her to a concert. But Sunday, oh man. On Sunday I am going to be her hero. And now I don't know if I can contain myself and keep a secret, but I'm going to try.