A Little Spot of Tea?

Matt bowls Friday nights and is missed by the kids at bedtime. At first I attempted to get them all done at 8 as they usually do every night but they refused. Rather than fight them we came up with activities for us to do together to make the nights special. Louis and Leah LOVE tea and Alice in Wonderland so we've taken to having tea parties when we can. Tonight they asked for finger sandwiches and treats like they would have at their favorite tea spot Alice's Tea Cup. I was less ambitious and went with easy finger sandwiches and treats I didn't need to bake.

It has become a bit of a montly tradition for us and one I have come to enjoy sharing with the kids. Leah especially loves trying new teas and it gives us a moment to talk and catch up from the busy week.

Egg Salad, turkey and cheese, grapes, madarin slices, robin egg whoppers, Raspberry shortcake thumbprint cookies, dulce de leche cookies and red velvet whoopie pie cookies 

Off to Nana's House We Go

Tonight we visited Nana for Friday night dinner. Lindsay started visiting reguarly for Friday night dinners. We came along this time. Leah helped set the table. We are going to try to come more often.

Mani-Pedi Time

Leah wanted to have her nails done for her recital. She chose blue glitter nail polish.

Impromptu NYC Trip

For this week's Friday "Leah and Mom" time we headed to Manhattan. When we got to Penn Station I asked Leah "Uptown or Downtown?" and she chose downtown, off we went.

We walked from 34th Street to Chelsea. I took her to the former "Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion" on 6th Avenue. It used to be the Limelight. A club I spent most of my youth in back in the 90s. Leah hears a lot of stories told among my friends about those days and wanted to see what the building looked like. Much has changed over the years. We also stopped at a few stores on the way down to 14th Street. We walked over to Union Square and we visited with the artisans at the market. Leah stopped and spoke to some of them, all on her own. The artisans were nice and generous with their time and answered the question she had regarding the different medias. Everything from jewelery to photography to paintings to custom t-shirts.

We picked up some apple cider and apple cider donuts to have as a snack later on in the day. Next up with walked down Broadway, stopped at the Halloween store, then went by Grace Church and walked around. I used to spend many days in the church for various different charity functions and I always enjoyed the history and beauty of the building. Leah seemed to appreciate it some as well. We also made our usual stop at the Strand Bookstore and met up with a friend who works there.

After the Strand we walked down to Waverly Place because Leah wanted a picture with the street sign that says "Waverly Place". She loves the show Wizards of Waverly Place and they always show the area down in Manhattan and the street signs.



We then strolled past NYU and over to Washington Square Park where we spent the next three hours. If someone were to ask me what summer in the city means to me...well the fountain at Washington Square Park would be it for me.



Leah enjoyed the fountain and played in it for a good solid hour.

After the fountain she sat to watch the Yogi & Contortionist show starring "the Black Supernatural". The guy is amazing. Leah loves street performers. Anytime we head to Manhattan I always make sure to bring a few singles with me because she does stop to enjoy many performances in the parks and streets. She always wants to give something.

As if the fountain wasn't enough she followed up with the sprinklers at the playground.

We had our apple cider and donuts for snack time.

As always where there is sand, there you will find Leah.

After an hour or so at the playground we headed over to Dojo's for dinner. Still love the place. The best fried calamari, with the most delicious dipping sauce. Leah had their chicken fingers with soba noodles. I asked them to make me something they no longer have on the menu, best soba noodle soup ever. They said 'no prob' and it was well worth it. Leah of course ordered her usual Shirley Temple as well.

Dinner was followed by a walk back up Broadway to the movie theater. We saw the newest Ice Age movie. It was funny and a perfect way to end the day. When the movie was over we walked over to Union Square and Leah got an ice cream sandwich. We sat by the stoop and people watched. Lots of interesting people to watch. There were some break dancers and also some old school skater kids (not kids anymore) I used to hang out with a long time ago. All grown now, mostly professionals but they still ride at the park. We also stopped to listen to the different musicians out in the park. Leah danced to nearly all of them.

We headed to the subway and took the N train to Herald Square. We walked by Macy's and then headed to Penn Station.

We had a lil adventure on the LIRR on the way home. The train left the station as it should and then suddenly stopped, pretty hard stop and for about 15 minutes we didn't go anywhere. Just sat in the tunnel while the engineers tried to figure out what exactly was wrong. Then we went in reverse back into the station and had to transfer to another train. Took an extra 45 minutes to get home. The train engineer chose not to collect tickets on the way due to the delay. Save the ticket for our next time heading into the city.

I love NYC and I will always consider it home, especially the Village, NoHo and SoHo. As much as I enjoyed my years as a youth in those parts I could not have imagined how wonderful sharing those things with Leah would be. She loves it. The noise doesn't bother her, the crowds don't bug her and she is really right at home there.

Friday at Roosevelt Field Mall

After work today I picked Leah up at school and we took the bus over to Roosevelt Field Mall. We've been doing 'Back To School' and Fall/Winter shopping this past week. We also do some great window shopping there. Leah took a nap on the bus (it is about a 45 minute ride there) and I relaxed.

We window shopped for a bit. Then we got a banana-berry smoothie. Did some more shopping at the toy store and bookstore. Matt met us at the Food Court, we had dinner and headed home.

Fridays

Fridays are great with Leah. Now that its warm out I pick her up early and we hang out. Sometimes we go to the malls, sometimes we walk down and get ices at the Ralph Ices that just opened right by her school. A couple of times we've picked up picnic stuff up at John's Farms and walked down to the park, eaten, played and then walked down to the library. Sometimes we get a ride home and just veg out at home. No matter what it is mostly our time and it is wonderful.

Today we went to Ralph's and Leah picked out a chocolate milk ice and we took the bus to Walt Whitman for some shopping & to get lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Leah loves to listen to my Ipod so its pretty easy to keep her entertained while we shop, take the bus or sit in a restaurant waiting for food.