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!

Gingerbread Lane

Just before the holidays I saw a Groupon for a discounted entry to the NY Hall of Science in Queens that included the Gingerbread Lane exhibit which is billed as the world's largest gingerbread village. I mean, how have we not seen that yet, I wanted to know?! So once things calmed down after Christmas and my sister's visit, Nacho's birthday and New Year's, I figured we'd check it out. The holiday break from school always promises to go on forever but after about a week, you realize you don't have that much time left. So by the 2nd of January when I was feeling like shit and trying to figure out what was going on with my stomach, it was the plan we had to cancel. Luckily though I found the strength to get up the day after my marathon ER visit and make good on my promise to take the girls to the museum. It sounded like a fairly low-key thing to do and we really didn't have anything better to do the day before school started back up. Seeing the amazing candy-covered decorations all around the upper atrium was fun, but the girls definitely weren't ooing and awing the way I was. They seemed much more interested in the science this time around and good thing we brought Papa along so he could delve right into making shadow puppets and airplanes and dropping their creations from the balcony to hit the target below. Yes, it was a museum visit with all kinds of lessons to be had and I enjoyed capturing it all with my new lens. I think it helped take my mind off my abdominal pain and the girls did their best to ham it up which made me smile. 

My only real disappointment that day was that one of the newest exhibits "Connected Worlds" was temporarily out of order due to technical issues. I've seen a few photos from friends' visits and it really looks amazing. It will definitely mean a return trip in a few more months and, probably a return lunch or dinner at Nixtamal, where we ended our adventure that Sunday afternoon. More and more I realize these little girls aren't so little anymore. But I think it really hit me looking back at these photos. The one of Elisa and Nacho with his shadow puppet about to attack her and that look--that perfectly seven year old eye roll. OMG. It's too much. She's too much. I don't know when she grew up, but it's right there staring back at me now. And Carolina isn't far behind. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but sometimes it really seems like it happens in these leaps and bounds. We've been having a tough time of it again Elisa and I and I wish I could understand why that happens. Sometimes I want to squeeze her so tight and tell her that her emotion and rage is all going to carry her far in life if she can figure out where to focus it. But right now, it's exhausting. I just can't take it always directed at me, at us. I know she does better at school holding herself together, but sometimes I just wish we could go one day without her screaming or lashing out. When she was at the museum and engaged it seems to give us a respite. And that is worth a lot. I hope for more love and hugs and engagement this year. And way less of the other stuff. Is there a Groupon for that too?

May days

May is here and wow, what a difference it's made. Temperatures have gone up crazy fast (80s!!) and we have had lots of afternoons and evenings at the park already. Add to that a few playdates (one carefully arranged by Noah and Carolina at preschool) and Elisa's field day at AOC and it's been a busy week. By the end of it, I was ready to hang out with birthday girl Jenny McTaggart for a nice catch up morning in the city. We'd decided a while ago we wanted to hit the Hiphop Revolution photographic exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York and Friday proved to be the right day for it. The sun was out and we met up on the 7 train into the city which gave us plenty of time to catch up on life and all the stuff we're both doing. We rounded out the visit with a beautiful picnic lunch inside the Conservatory Garden in CP at 105th and Fifth Ave and a quick pitstop at Dough Loco to grab iced coffees and some dessert. And by the time I got home, took a little catnap and woke, it was time to pick up Elisa and head to SGP for a casual evening under the trees. Yes, the city is starting to warm up and with it, our social lives. Yay May!