History boat tour

This morning we (all three of us!) went on a boat tour lead by the New York Historical Society. The weather was at times precarious but it was definitely neat to see Manhattan from the water. I think we were the only NYC residents on the tour, except for Mike our tour guide from Queens, or was it Staten Island?


Daddy and Meg "on tour."


Happy history buff.


Underside of the Brooklyn Bridge.


Mama and Meg cruisin'.


Waterfall art installation under the Brooklyn Bridge by artist Olafur Eliasson.


Family and Freedom.


Her full name: Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World

Covert sitting up!

Many times I have come to get Meg up in the morning or after a nap and lo and behold - she's sitting up waiting for me. I still have never witnessed her getting from laying down to sitting up in her crib. One of these days I'll catch her in action.

Minding her peas and carrots

Meg and her prop spoon; she is just getting the hang of finger foods.


More peas please!

Just another Sunday

Our little cutie is definitely her father's daughter. Here she is "reading" the Wall Street Journal. She loves to turn the pages and see what the next page has in store.

Beautiful... and brains too!


WSJ cutie!

Meg and I have been able to meet Andy downtown for Sunday family dinners. What a treat!

Dining out on the town like a big girl!


A crinkly paper treat! (Easy pleasing.)

Meg's got her eyes on an Italian boy

On Thursday we took a picnic lunch to Madison Square Park. It didn't take long for Meg to become enamored by a little Italian boy (two-years old, or so) named Bruno. She couldn't take her eyes off him (except to pose for the photo below). (In her defense, not that she needs one, Bruno was running all around and chasing squirrels and picking up leaves - all of things that normally get Meg's attention anyway!)


Picnic.


Where did Bruno go?

Mama & Meg at the MoMA

On Wednesday Meg and I met up with Uncle Tyler for a little lunch date. We saw his office just south of Central Park (it is really amazing - I say "you have arrived" Tyler!). We walked over to the MoMA for food for our stomachs and food for our minds. Tyler had to jet off to a meeting but Meg and I walked the exhibits for a couple of hours. We had a nice and exhausting day.


Meg snoozin' - when she was awake she contentedly look at the art. But like a lot of people, the museum got the better of her and lulled her to sleep.


Jasper Johns - painting of America (looks cooler in person).


Pablo Picasso's sculpture - Pregnant Woman.


Andy Warhol's famous soup can art. Personally, I am a fan of the tomato.


Monet up close. I have seen reprints of this throughout my life and I never really liked it as much as I did seeing the original in person. It is quite lovely not to mention HUGE! The triptych takes up the entire wall of its display room.

Wonder girl, as promised

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Meghan Jane...
Here is a shot of Meg in all of her swim class (old) glory! The Y makes everyone wear swimcaps, no matter your age or likelihood of actually putting your head in the water - unless you are bald. The caps are one-size-fits-all, pretty hilarious.
(Blogpot wouldn't let me change the orientation of the photo but this way it looks as if Meg is flying... nice effect.)

Sunday, Sunday

Although our summer schedule has been hectic at best, we have been lucky enough to have been able to go to church almost every Sunday.


Daddy and Meg flying around, post-church of course.


Shot in front of St. Joseph's - Daddy and Meg.


Meghan getting in pre-crawl position. (Outfit courtesy of me(!). I bought it for Maggie to wear to Andy and my wedding more than three years ago. Glad that MJ was able to wear it too.)

Busy Friday

Auntie Rebecca and Meg at J.G. Melon's.


J.G. Melon's - noteworthy burger joint in the UES.


Play 'til you drop. Meg was exhausted but still playing like crazy with her friend Gracie (the daughter of a friend of Uncle Mikey's from business school). She finally took a little power nap late that afternoon on our long journey home.


Meg, Mama, and Meg's 7th great uncle Samuel F. B. Morse - as in "Morse Code" - in Central Park.

Central Park at long last

Central Park swing time! (Outfit and handiwork courtesy of Auntie Brandy.)


Upper East Side - posh window shopping at its best.


The Whitney Museum of American Art (street view).


Happy to be at home too.

Not long now

Meghan is moments away from crawling, I think. As of yesterday she can get up on her hands and knees at the same time (up until then it was either one or the other) and rocks back and forth or even scoots backward. It happened so fast! I wouldn't put it past her to be on the move by the end of the week! In more milestone news, it looks like her four top front teeth are about to break through. Our little girl is really growing up so fast (and I just bought size 4 diapers today too!).
As for MJ's parents, we went to the movies for the second time in her life! Uncle Tyler and Aunt Rebecca babysat for us on Saturday and had a nice time with their niece. They even let her play with the remote control, suckers! They must have had a serious developmental pep talk with her because now she is unstoppable, in a good way. Now I am off to bed, tomorrow is our second mommy-and-me swim class, can't wait.

Happy Fourth of July, America!

Like I mentioned in the previous post, on Friday, July 4th, we took the subway out to the end of the line to Coney Island, Brooklyn. Definitely a hot spot on Independence Day with the hot dog eating contest being the major draw. It was a fun, memorable experience but I feel confident in crossing Coney Island off my NY-to-do list.


Daddy and MJ seconds before the hot dog eating contest kicks off.


"Happy 4th of July!" (patriotic outfit courtesy of Auntie B)


It was an exciting contest this year: Six-time champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi and defending champion Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, were tied with 59 hot dogs eaten after the new ten-minute time limit, but Chestnut prevailed by winning a five-dog "eat off" held immediately after the contest. (Details via Wikipedia.) The announcer was hilarious and definitely kept our attention for the ten-minute competition.


Joey Chestnut and his mustard champion belt, pictured here with some of New York's Finest.


Right after the contest was over they reset the countdown clock for next year... t-minus 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 39.9 seconds and counting...


Proud sponsor of the IFOCE hot dog eating contest.


While she's not old enough to eat a Nathan's dog she did thoroughly enjoy playing with her Nathan's napkin.


Sacked out.


Coney Island family photo.


Tyler and Andy enjoying the colorful Coney Island boardwalk - those smiles don't lie.


I "heart" the USA (and the remote control!).

New York State of Mind

So this week I made a pact with myself that I would try to do more New Yorky-type stuff. Tuesday we went to our first mommy-and-me swim class at the YMCA in the Village (unfortunately, no pictures - but rest assured she was the cutest!). Then ventured uptown to the Upper East Side for a class called Rockin' With Andy (and no, not our very own Andy, although we would love to rock with him too). Andy plays guitar and sings and the kids just eat it up; some even try to touch the guitar while he is playing - little groupies in training. Meg liked to shake her shaker with the beat. Then Wednesday we ventured so far uptown that we left the borough of Manhattan and went to the Bronx. Every Wednesday is free admission to the New York Botanical Gardens so we went to check it out. Thursday we spent the day recuperating from all of our outings and celebrating Meg's 9-month birthday. And then Friday, July 4th (happy b-day America) we took the subway to Coney Island for the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating) hot dog eating contest. And we celebrated an American victory - Joey Chestnut (2 years running now) from San Jose, CA, over arch-rival Kabayashi of Japan. (See next post for pix.)


Plushies, plushies everywhere!


Little girl versions of their respective fathers - so cute!


Meg at the NY Botanical Gardens, trying not to let the humidity get to her.


NY Botanical Garden conservatory.


Dome of the conservatory.


Meg at our picnic (watermelon-themed outfit courtesy of Bean). Apparently you cannot sit on the grass anywhere at the Botanical Gardens. I guess that is part of the reason their foliage and lawns are immaculate. So we brought our trusty blue blanket and made our makeshift picnic right there on the slate outside the Garden Cafe. Meg received dozens of compliments from her adoring fans. I was inspired by all the lush vegetation and had a salad (and some fries). I think we can check this off our NY-to-do list, though.

Inclement weather and plums

The skies literally opened up the other day and down came the rain! Meg and I decided to spend the afternoon in the dryness of our own home, where she dined on some pureed plums, yum.


The rain was really something to behold. You can barely make out the trees across the street (it just looks white) because the rain is coming down so hard. There was a ton of thunder too, which nearly woke MJ up from her nap.


Meg enjoying her lunch - such a happy girl. I can hear laughing just looking at this picture.