good bye

Our last day was spent packing and hanging out one last time on the great lawn. We really grew to love this park in just a week. My kids each expressed, in their own way, a bittersweet truth of travel. That the yearning to stay longer and the feeling of homesickness often battle within yourself until you do not know what you want anymore.

After a wild ride to the airport and a long flight home, we are all happy to be back. And already planning our next escape.

science experiment::wake up the yeast

This is such a great science experiment. It can be done with things you have around the house, all ages enjoy it and can participate and it lends itself to further explorations. Basically, we wanted to find out which foods "wake up" the single celled yeast organism. My kids already knew that sugar and starches were the food of choice - so we tested various sugars, including lemon juice since it is a fruit. Here are the specifics:

What you need
plastic freezer bags
lukewarm water
measuring spoons and cups
yeast
variables to test

What to do
-Discuss what you want to test and make a list. Then narrow it down if you need to. In the past we have had some great discussions about what might happen with a slice of apple, apple juice and apple sauce.


-Gather the items and measure into bags. We used 70ml of water to 1t of yeast and 1T of the variable. Your amounts can be different, just make sure they are consitant in each bag.


-Make sure to make a plain water bag to use as the control.


-Use words like control, variable, hypothesis, test, conclusion...


-Record ideas on a simple table and write a conclusion.


I love that even prewriters can easily participate in the lab manual portion of this project. My 5 year old drew bubbles in amounts that represented the amount of activity in each bag. So, lemon juice only has four little bubbles and maple syrup had as many as he could fit on the table.


Really beautiful watching the bubble form and then pop to make larger bubbles. Like a lava lamp.
We discussed how this might affect our bread making, thought about the wild yeast in the air, and made a list of variables to try in the future.

This is the maple syrup after a few hours. I had to set it in the sink where it exploded.



Pin It

art and candy

A great last full day. We slept in and then wandered across the the park to the Guggenheim.  We really like Frank Lloyd Wright, so the visit was mostly to see the architecture, but we were surprised to see a great show by Lee Ufan and an amazing installation of 100,000 dollar bills by Hans-Peter Feldmann.

We then headed downtown with a stop at ABC Carpet and Home and a fabulous lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. I had a very simple salad with aged goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, arugula and tomato. Somehow, the quality of ingredients combined with the best bread I have had in years elevated the whole thing to a holy experience.

Next, came a pilgrimage for the kids. We had talked and read and watched You Tube videos about both Dylan's Candy Bar and  Economy Candy. I am so pleased that they chose to go to Economy Candy, which has been in business since 1937 and has loads more character than the other option. It was a long subway ride and walk down to the lower East side but it was worth it. As soon as you walked in a scent of sugar strong enough to rot your teeth washed over you. Elliot claimed in a low dreamy voice, "this is heaven...." as they made their selections. We bought gummy jets, pop rocks that turn into gum, lavender candy, licorice, chocolate bars, Lego shaped candy and Bronx roasted pistachios.

It took us nearly an hour to get back up to 86th St because it was rush hour, there was a water main break and tons of random stopping in the tunnels. Oliver said he thought it was a good thing that we had so much to eat, so if we were stuck for a long time, we would survive. I agreed. And we did survie, just.

Tomorrow we exit the city at 3, so besides packing, we might hang out in the park and go to lunch, or think about MOMA. It will be sad to leave, but we will be happy to return home to our friends, families, pets, and big, quiet space.

sweet, sweet sunday in nyc

A beautiful Sunday playing in the Ramble in Central Park, shopping for amazing farm goods at the Columbus Street market (maple sugar cotton candy!), hours looking at the dreamy dioramas in the Natural History Museum and a late night run with my subway savvy daughter to Trader Joes.  A very good day indeed.

art nerd

Today I went to a conference hosted by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I graduated from last year. I specifically went to hear Sally Fallon speak about traditional foods. It was pretty good - and apparently the kids had a crazy time in Central Park playing in the creek and then stocking up on treats at Trader Joes. But, what I could not wait for was our afternoon in the Met. Seriously, I think the Met is the best museum in the world, better than the Louvre even. There was something for everyone.

Kids can never get enough of Egypt. We studied it last year, and it remains a favorite.

And to see REAL canopic jars! Wow - it all becomes so much more real to them. I was amazed at what they remembered and I had forgotten (like which organs went where).

Much time was spent in the Medieval and weapons area. There was some great armour from both eastern and western cultures. The boys began making plans about how they will decorate their houses with double barrelled pistols and swords when they grow up. That will be great.

We saw and loved Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, Degas, Manet....

Elliot refused to believe that this Chuck Close was a painting. The art history geek in me loves to see my kids in actual awe of visual culture.

This automated piece by Tinguely was interesting enough as a sculpture, but when it came alive... eyes popped and brains began working, thinking and planning on how they could make something like this. It was a favorite. And brought back great memories of hitch hiking in France to see this.

And to see your first (Action) Jackson Pollock seems like a huge milestone. Don't they look excited? (They actually were, but by this point we had a little museum head that had to be cured by some mondo cupcakes in the cafe). I remember when I saw Autumn Rhythm for the first time. I was 20.

Taking a family portrait in an Anish Kapoor piece was irresistible.

After a nice stroll home through a very dark Central Park, I peeked into the apartments on 5th Ave. and wondered what I need to invent, write, sell, conjure up, to live there.

i am too tired to write this post

Literally. My feet hurt from pounding the pavement. We went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, WTC site, and then spend a few hours in SOHO and the village shopping and looking around.

We also stopped to have a full 3 kid cry fest when we found a tiny baby rat and I would not pick it up and bring it home with us. There was no way I could save it, so we had to leave it. It will likely be the one thing they remember from this trip. Nice.








A highlight was The Evolution Store a great shop that sells insect specimens, human skeletons, meteorites and other sorts of oddities. (They have a great online store too!). David and I had gone over 10 years ago and loved it. It is amazing that we now have children who love it as much.

We ended our day by squeezing into a too small booth and enjoying ice cream sundaes at The Three Star Cafe, a neighborhood greasy spoon.

Tomorrow, David is taking the kids to the park (the big one) and I have a conference. If all goes right, we will spend the afternoon at the Met.

the naked cowboy and more

Today we woke up early, checked out of our apartment and walked maybe 20 blocks with our luggage. We looked like a row of ducks. Each kid is responsible for their own small rolling luggage and a few times I looked at my 5 year old in amazement. He was holding his own in the loud and chaotic Times Square, walking with purpose and doing such a good job keeping up. I think he will not be the same after this trip.

(check out the near naked cowboy behind my daughter's head)

We were lucky enough to be able to stow our luggage at my cousin's office and continued our adventure up to Rockefeller Center. 

(This should be our family motto)

My daughter would not let me pierce her American Girl doll's ears. She thought I would split her head open. So, we let the professionals do it. While expensive and so commercial, I do love to read the AG books and am glad that my 9yo daughter is still so sweetly into dolls.

If our day was not exciting enough, my middle kid lost his first tooth. It was hanging on all day, and finally he popped it out. He is beside himself and even packed his tooth pillow, so he will not miss out on any tooth fairy action.

After an exhausting trip uptown with all those suitcase back through Times Square and onto the subway (we are always up for the challenge) we found our new apartment. We are cautiously happy with it. It is big and in a great neighborhood.  It is also a 3 story walk up, which is no big deal, but the stairs are original to the building which is well over 100 years. So, they are wooden and creaky and wobbly. We live in an old house, but this is a little more rickety. And the apartment is cute, but a little shabby (kinda like us).

We walked the few blocks to Central Park which closed for a concert. The air has changed and the weather is cool and windy, a great change from Florida. On the way home we walked by the Natural History Museum and so many great looking restaurants, florists and wine shops. This is really a beautiful area. I am glad we are settled in for the next 5 days. I am looking forward to hanging out and exploring more.

Tomorrow we are off to see a big lady and do some SOHO shopping. See you tomorrow night.