we tried a new church last weekend. our neighbors invited us and also offered to drive. it was the first time we've been in a car in 4 weeks. we liked the church a lot. it's a presbyterian church and they do communion every week. the girls accidentally took the wine instead of the grape juice, so we've spent the week reassuring them they will not die. it's a small church of about 200. lots of small children and young families.
we are making friends with a lot of the families in our neighborhood. there are a lot of families who have been here for a decade or more. they have lots of wisdom to impart and we're grateful for the warm welcome.
we have lots of fun doing the stereotypical nyc stuff like the brooklyn bridge, china town, and times square, but we also do boring stuff like going to the movies.
we are completely unpacked and ready for visitors (hint, hint).
in answer to the anderson's comment, we have not been asked if we are yankees or mets fans (that's a little like talking about religion and politics here), but we are yankees fans...although clay is a fan only by association with me and the girls. also, we do venture into manhattan, but the pizza's better in brooklyn. if you'd come up here, we'd show you!!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
talking to grandparents
i thought grandparents would be especially tickled with these pictures...we try to set aside one night a week to call grandparents. the girls have their own cell phones (for calling family only) and they are racking up the minutes. hailey can't sit and talk, so she paces in the parlor when she's on the phone.
Trips to the Park
div>for those of you not familiar with the brooklyn area, prospect park is in the heart of brooklyn. it's a 565 acre park with a 66 acre lake complete with pedal boats and a guided boat tour. there are lots of geese and fisherman (although it is strictly catch and release, so we're not frying up any trout).
we practically live at the park. we've been at least a dozen times and we've seen about half of it! if brooklyn were it's own city, it would be the 4th largest city in the US, but we can walk 3 blocks to the park and we are surrounded by nature. once your inside the park, you can't even hear the traffic anymore. it's been a true oasis for us... and about 7 million other people.
playing in the water at the park...
fighting at the park...
gymnastics at the park...
the prospect park zoo
the animals are so used to so many people that you can walk right up to them. we stumbled upon this swan family with three little ones.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Life in Brooklyn
where do i start...
1. this really is the city that never sleeps! we're getting better at sleeping through the natives.
2. we have begun to ration night gowns and towels in an effort to cut back on laundry visits. our 150 year old house doesn't have a laundry room, and a trip to the laundry mat with 3 kids is not the funnest thing we could be doing. everyone else here seems to literally air their dirty laundry in public, and i am having a hard time showing all of brooklyn our underwear.
3. i thought i'd miss our cars. i don't. we haven't even taken a cab. our landlady has a spare car she generously offered to us anytime we need it, but we haven't taken her up on it yet. we like the walking and subways are far quicker than a car. i do think we'll take a car to the beach next weekend.
4. i am truly sorry for anyone who has not eaten a hot dog in prospect park in the middle of the afternoon.
5. nobody smiles, but everyone is friendly.
6. kennedy's fried chicken on the corner doesn't really have fried chicken, but they have the best gyros we've ever tasted.
7. kids adapt a lot easier and faster than their parents.
8. in a city where so many cultures collide, the supermarket is a fantastic social studies lesson.
9. i'm really glad i married my best friend, because he's the only adult i talk to most days :).
10. the rules on the subway according to hailey are, "don't smile and don't look at anyone". truth be known, you can smile and look at anyone, but they'll know you're new!
11. the only thing that shocks new yorkers are the prices for gas and food. other than that, they've seen it before.
12. sitting on the stoop is the only way you'll get to know anyone.
13. having 3 kids here is an anomaly. it does help start conversations, though.
overall, we are settling into a routine, staying up late, having a blast, but we are sorely homesick... miss you all.
Love, Ang
1. this really is the city that never sleeps! we're getting better at sleeping through the natives.
2. we have begun to ration night gowns and towels in an effort to cut back on laundry visits. our 150 year old house doesn't have a laundry room, and a trip to the laundry mat with 3 kids is not the funnest thing we could be doing. everyone else here seems to literally air their dirty laundry in public, and i am having a hard time showing all of brooklyn our underwear.
3. i thought i'd miss our cars. i don't. we haven't even taken a cab. our landlady has a spare car she generously offered to us anytime we need it, but we haven't taken her up on it yet. we like the walking and subways are far quicker than a car. i do think we'll take a car to the beach next weekend.
4. i am truly sorry for anyone who has not eaten a hot dog in prospect park in the middle of the afternoon.
5. nobody smiles, but everyone is friendly.
6. kennedy's fried chicken on the corner doesn't really have fried chicken, but they have the best gyros we've ever tasted.
7. kids adapt a lot easier and faster than their parents.
8. in a city where so many cultures collide, the supermarket is a fantastic social studies lesson.
9. i'm really glad i married my best friend, because he's the only adult i talk to most days :).
10. the rules on the subway according to hailey are, "don't smile and don't look at anyone". truth be known, you can smile and look at anyone, but they'll know you're new!
11. the only thing that shocks new yorkers are the prices for gas and food. other than that, they've seen it before.
12. sitting on the stoop is the only way you'll get to know anyone.
13. having 3 kids here is an anomaly. it does help start conversations, though.
overall, we are settling into a routine, staying up late, having a blast, but we are sorely homesick... miss you all.
Love, Ang
Cooling Off
we moved here on the hottest weekend in recent nyc history...good timing, eh? it was 100 degrees with 100% humidity, which makes it feel about 110. we have found many ways to keep cool and the girls are eager to jump into every water fountain between here and manhattan.
we all spent the last day with everyone here visiting the statue of liberty and ellis island. after that, i took my mom home to catch a cab-which turned out to be the air-conditioning repair guy :) and clay and the girls went with his parents to the empire state building. i can't say i was sad to miss that one.
Getting Ready for the Big Move
we got the biggest budget truck we could find, loaded up all our stuff, went to the uhaul store to get a trailer for the rest of our stuff, and clay and his dad set off on a 2004 mile drive across the country to our new home in brooklyn, ny. this gas guzzler got 5-6 miles to the gallon, so next time we may just sell all our stuff and go shopping when we get where we're going!
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