Her first day here was spent recovering from her red-eye flight, and then visiting some of our favorite neighborhood haunts. We kept things fairly low key so we'd have the energy to keep up with the events scheduled for the next day: Halloween.
I know I've mentioned before just how much I love the way Halloween is celebrated in Brooklyn, and this year my mom got to see firsthand how great it is. First up was the costume parade at the elementary school. Because of a last minute time change we weren't aware of, we missed seeing Garrett's class march, but we were able to catch Caleb's. The parade was immediately followed by a party in Caleb's kindergarten classroom.
Waldo at his desk.
Reading a Halloween story.
These two Waldos were thrilled to find each other.
Caleb's class at the costume parade.
After school it was time to get ready for trick-or-treating, which in our neighborhood is in full swing by about 3:00. The boys all looked darling, and the three older ones loved walking into the stores on our street collecting candy. This was the first year that Matthew got into it, and he was absolutely adorable as he walked around holding his watering can bucket saying, "Trick-treat!" and "Thank you!" after he was given the goods. Caleb got the best comments as we walked around the neighborhood: "Hey look! I finally found Waldo!" was the most popular one.
The Carrot Seed boy, a scientist, a carrot, and Waldo.
Trick-or-treating, Brooklyn style.
The next day was Saturday, and with Blake able to join us, we took our adventuring up a notch by driving into Manhattan to see the Sesame Street exhibit at the New York Public Library branch at Lincoln Center. The GPS took us right through the heart of Times Square, which was NOT fun, but once we FINALLY found parking, we were able to thoroughly enjoy the exhibit, which featured actual Sesame Street puppets and a stoop! It was a seriously awesome exhibit, not to mention extremely nostalgic, and I'd love to go back to see it again.
Big bird!
More friends from Sesame Street -- and this is only a fraction of who was there!
These boys can tell you how to get to Sesame Street.
Afterwards we took a round about way home to see one of the earliest LDS chapels in Brooklyn, located in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It's no longer owned by the church, but for anyone familiar with early 20th century LDS architecture, it sure looks like it once did!
Sunday morning the NYC Marathon ran through our neighborhood. We caught a few minutes of the first wave of runners before we had to head to church.
Watching them run.
Flooding 4th Avenue with a rush of adrenaline.
The next day, with the bigger boys off to school, Mom and I took the two littles into the city to meet up with Auntie Colleen at, where else, Fishs Eddy. Oh, how I adore that store. While we were in that part of town, we made the circuit of some our other favorite places -- Paper Presentation, Trader Joe's, The Container Store -- then topped off the outing with lunch at Chipotle.
Seriously, this place is magical.
And someday I'm going to decorate my kitchen like this window with the collection of really cool dish cloths I've been amassing over the years.
Because we obviously don't know how to stay away, on Tuesday we went back to Fishs Eddy. The bigger boys were out of school for Election Day, and Blake took the day off work, so in the morning we all went shopping at Century 21, and then in the afternoon Mom and I headed into the city for a girls-only outing. We stopped in first at Fishs Eddy to buy the treasures we'd realized overnight that we should have brought home the day before, then headed up to Times Square to take in a performance of Les Miserables on Broadway. What a show! This was my second time watching a professional performance of this musical, and it blew me away. Will Swenson, of Singles Ward fame, is currently playing Javert, and he was great. They all were great. And I think my mom was right in her suspicion that this Valjean would be our favorite one yet.
I just can't stay away.
Because, really, what a welcoming sight!
Pinch me!
Photography is obviously not allowed during the performance, but you can take this intermission snapshot and my word that the production was spectacular.
The next few days were much quieter. We took a long walk to get a closer view of the Verrazano Bridge, made a trip to the library, and divided and conquered so that I could attend Matthew's Early Intervention IFSP meeting (I took Garrett and Daniel with me directly from after school pick up to the meeting in Downtown Brooklyn while my mom took Caleb and Matthew back home with her).
I think the Verrazano might be my favorite NYC bridge.
Walking with Grandma.
Matthew has qualified for twice weekly speech therapy sessions through Early Intervention, which means we're officially three for three in the Speech Does Not Develop Normally department.
A morning jaunt to the library with a jaunty little boy.
Daniel turned six months on Saturday, and we celebrated with pizza from Spumoni Gardens that he couldn't even eat. Hopefully someday he'll get to learn himself how delicious it is. Afterwards we went treasure hunting at Brooklyn Flea. My mom came away with an awesome vintage handwriting/alphabet poster, and Caleb came away with an ear ache that reduced him to tears, so on the way home we made a stop at the urgent care to get him officially diagnosed with an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.
Happy half-birthday, Danny Boy!
Treasure hunting!
I stayed home from church on Sunday with Caleb and Daniel so that Caleb could rest and recover, but by the afternoon he was feeling well enough for a family walk through Greenwood Cemetery. Our good friends, the Grimshaws, joined us, and overall it was a very pleasant outing.
Oohing and ahhing at the coy pond.
The only "famous" grave we managed to visit belonged to Louis Comfort Tiffany of artistic stained glass fame.
Family photo.
Hauntingly beautiful.
Mom's last day in Brooklyn was spent making a few last stops in the neighborhood, the most important of which was Bagel Boy to pick up some favorites for the people in Provo. We were sad to see her go, but the goodbye won't be for long -- I'll be heading to Provo for a visit in the winter, and she'll be back in the spring. 'Til then!
1 comment:
What a fun 12 days!! That cemetery is beautiful!! And that last picture of your boys.....absolutely darling!
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