Governors Island

We had a glorious day on Governors Island with the kids and grandpa. We started out a bit late ( as usual..) but made it to Pier 6 and jumped on the 1:00pm ferry. About 10 minutes later we were on the Island along with quite a lot of other people! I say this because although I live so close to "THE CITY", I have never been on Governors Island or really felt the need to see what it had to offer and these droves of other ( non touristy looking people seemed to be on it). Sure, there were some tourists but it felt almost like the city dwellers going to their back yards, with their picnics, bikes, wine, novels etc. 

The main reason I wanted to go was to see this Vintage French Carnival called Fete Paradiso which had opened up a few weekends earlier. It looked like fun and I have been trying to get the kids out doing something of substance every weekend before the snow sets in and we begin winter hibernation!

Anyway, we had the right idea because the day was lovely, we cued up for the ferry early enough and while we waited had ice cream and enjoyed the site of the city (Freedom tower beyond..). Evalie has become very friendly since she became a walker so she was walking ( running basically) up and down the pier greeting her fans the people on line. She chased some pigeons and then got startled when they chased back...

On the Island, there aren't any cars, so everyone walks or rides bikes ( which you can rent if you haven't your own). There is a large well manicured lawn which had some kid friendly art installations. The 3rd Annual New York City Poetry Festival was in full swing along Colonels row, there were really good smelling food carts ( or maybe I was just so hungry..)

We took the long way to get to the carnival and just when Arielle started to get inpatient ( if your have kids you know this happens rather quickly..), we saw the logos chalked into the road..so as we followed these little carousel horse we found Nolan park.

after some rides, we had lunch at Le Gamin...

and a few more rides..

Played in this recycled-cloud by another ambitious architecture student ( yawn..)

and we were done.

Tassel Garland DIY

As much as I loved this tassel garland as a decoration for my daughters 1st birthday party, but I just could not bring myself to spend that much money on it at the time because I had so much else to deal with so of course I set out to try to replicate it somewhat with a few things at home and I think it came out pretty well. I had wanted to make a really long one but this ended up being good enough for the table we had at the party.

All you need to make this is:

1. A few packs of good tissue paper in the colors of your choice.
2. Washi tape ( or clear tape..)
3. a roll of ribbon or string (I used a blush color)
4. x-acto blade with new blade ( had tons in the basement from architecture school!)
5. cutting mat  (had in the basement from architecture school!)
6. pair of scissors
7. metal ruler OR straight edge

And all you really have to do is put on some good music and have an hour or so to spare... and patience of course!

1. Take the sheet of tissue ( 20"x20") and fold in half, the start to cut into strips leaving an approximately 1.5" edge at the top ( at the fold) 

2. Try to keep the strips equal in size and straight.

3. Once you're done cutting, unfold and cut it into two halves

4. Take one of the halves and unfold it flat so you can see the seam in the middle ( approximately 3 inches)

5. Start folding in perpendicular to the cuts until you have a thin spine. ( also at this point you could twist instead to get it to really look like the one I referred to)

6. Foldover in the middle and drape over your ribbon ( I hung it up so I could easily hang the tassels as I made them)

7. At this point, you can use washi tape to close the neck, or clear tape and I've seen people use hot glue which is useful if you decide to twist the neck instead of fold (I try to stay away from hot glue guns unless its really the only option)

The only thing that bothers me about this is that you can see the folds from the prepacked tissues..I almost want to steam them out..OK not really..but you know what I mean.

I guess it didn't really look so bad in the end. Enjoy.

Dinner tonight...

I've been off this past week and have had the chance to remind myself what it feels like to be a full time mommy. From morning to night, from breakfast to dinner and all thats in between. I really kind of miss doing this, seeing all the moments we miss of the kids during the nine or so hours I'm away at work. I know myself though and have learnt over the years that I need to work for my own sanity but I also like to have the option to periodically fall into this role of mommy for a while.

Anyway, while home, the hubby has been able to come home to a freshly cooked or chopped.. rather dinner, clean house, bathed and fed kids etc. and I remembered how much I do sometimes enjoy cooking. Anyway, here is one of the things we had this week, summer rolls (also known as fresh spring rolls). These are healthy, tasty and versatile alternative to the traditionally fried soppy version. They are basically a medley of veggies and/or meat wrapped in a light rice paper and dipped in anything from peanut sauce to sweet chili sauce.

 This time I used shrimp, scallions, cucumber, carrots, mint, noodles and lettuce (really just things we had in the refrigerator). I guess these ingredients I could have also made these but whatever..

You basically have soak the rice paper in water for a few seconds, until its pliable enough to roll but not to soft where it would rip. Then lay out your ingredients onto the sheet and roll. I tend to roll forward and pull towards my sef to get a tight seal but it takes a few times to get a feel for how you roll yours. Remember to tuck the ends in before the final roll and plate with the seam facing down. After a few minutes its ready to be sliced on the diagonal and served.

 Eat as soon as you make these or they start to either get dry or soggy depending on where you store them. I basically cover them with a damp clean cloth for a bit until we were ready tot eat and that worked fairly well.

Evie's first day at the beach

The fourth of July this year fell on a Thursday, luckily we took the next day off, turning it into a four day weekend for us but since we don't have a tradition per say, we are usually just floating around. This year was no different, we had no plans and decided to just call it a staycation. It turned out to be quite fun for us all. On Thursday we cleaned up at home then headed out to get some food for a BBQ and packed a picnic to camp out and watch fireworks. The kids really enjoyed them even though it was quite late when it finally began. 

The next day, we hung out at home and pulled out the pools for the kids to play around in. Then on Saturday, we decided to get up early and go to Greenwood lake. After living here for almost eight years ( unbelievable..) I was surprised we hadn't been here more often. We camped out around 11:00 and stayed until 6:00pm. We had snacks, toys, music and drinks and after staying all day, I still had to drag them home. They were in and out of the water, my husband even got some fishing in. 

Arie doing her best baywatch run..

 Even I went into the lake and I must say it wasn't as bad as I had expected..