first Airplane ride

Biet took her first flight on a jet plane! We three dropped Nico with our dog sitter and headed out on our first family vacation to... California! It turns out that our little baby girl is quite a spectacular traveler. She slept through most of the flight, and ate through the rest. By the time we arrived to the west coast, she was smiling and drooling and full to the brim. Gaby and I, on the other hand, were a bit exhausted (its tough to rest on the plane when you're holding a sleeping baby). The California sunshine perked us right up though. And who was there to pick us up at the airport? Auntie Lala and Grandpa! Biet finally got to meet her Grandfather (he'd been waiting to kiss her chubby face for five months!). I think she approves.

Exploration Day 1 (photo heavy)

Twas a gloomy, rainy, overcast day yesterday. We awoke in our slowly evolving new home, sat down for coffee and breakfast, and began planning the projects we wanted to complete in the apartment that day. Should we build the new bed frame or put up shelves? Finish painting or put away the winter clothes? Organize the records or hang the guitars? Then Gaby had a great idea: how about none of it? What if we put the apartment plans on hold for a few hours and went on an adventure? Biet, Nico, and I were game. We threw our plans out the window, grabbed a couple umbrellas, and went to explore our new front yard: Prospect Park.
The park was completely deserted in the chilly wet weather, and it was beautiful. We hiked deep into the center of the land, past the lake and through the forested area, and into a lush green field. We discovered abandoned turn of the century platforms, grand at one time but now decaying. We let Nico run free and head the way. We watched the ducks and the swans, and said hello to the occasional fisherman. We walked under bridges & down staircases & along winding dirt pathways. It was a magical way to spend a rainy day.  I couldn't believe that we were still in New York City. I can't believe that this green oasis is our new New York City.

Rainbow City

Imagine yourself walking up 10th Avenue on a hot summer evening, pushing a carriage through Hell's Kitchen with your slumbering baby & your husband at your side. The streets are empty, the buildings desolate, & you can see the wavy heat emanating from the concrete. It seems that this dark & industrial corner of town has been deserted for the summer. When, suddenly, you come across...
RAINBOW CITY!

The empty parking lot of yesterday has been transformed into a colorful nighttime balloon land, a block of childish wonder squeezed into the somber city. You look inside- not many people.. You ask the admission price- "No, no, Miss, Rainbow City is free to everyone!" Are there rides? No. It was made to enjoy, to frolic & run around in, an interactive conceptual art piece. So you smile and look at your husband & sleeping daughter. And the three of you go inside to run & play..























And though the baby girl slept through it all, you know one day she'll see the photos. And on that day she'll see that all of the spontaneous joy, wonder, magic, & luck in her life, that it was in her life from day one.

Subway to The Highline

Biet is becoming a subway-riding pro (or rather Gaby and I are becoming stroller-folding baby-wearing metro-card-weilding pros) lately. We were all feeling the urge to get out of our neighborhood the other evening, so we hopped on the uptown train, then walked cross-town, and finally arrived at... The Highline.  

We hadn't been there in nearly a year (I'm pretty sure the last time we walked along the ethereal garden in the sky was right before I was pregnant) and in our absence a whole new section of the highline opened- & it just keeps getting better! Now the mix of pathways and plants stretches twice the distance along the raised abandoned rail tracks, winding through the area's industrial architecture along the way. We strolled along in the dark, enjoying the city view from up high, and at the end of the tracks we decided to keep on strolling, all the way home.

So we walked the 30 blocks down and 10 Avenues over & finally arrived at our cozy apartment, happy & exhausted.  Biet slept for most of our outing, but decided to awake for a snack and a dance on our way home.  She woke up just as we were passing another street piano, so we all took a break and listened & swayed to the music for awhile.  The man playing was an elderly gentleman, dressed as an old-time cowboy.  He played AMAZING classical music without any sheet music.  It must have been an unusual sight: such a tiny baby out in the nighttime, dancing with her Mama in the middle of the street, to Beethoven being played by an ancient cowboy.  But New Yorkers are a little crazy like that; we set our own hours, play music if we want to, & make our own adventures.