This year, we added another notch to our our annual family tradition of a picnic lunch in Central Park. We brought a soccer ball, a frisbee, and some slingshot-type toys John bought for a few euros when we were in Spain in May. I let John take the kids out to run around in the sun while I "set up lunch" and mostly just lounged around on the picnic blanket in the shade.
At the last minute, we decided not to pick up fast food, and I was pretty impressed with what I could assemble on short notice out of my cupboard: dried fruit, strawberries, potato chips, peanut butter sandwiches, and some festive cookies I had the foresight to buy the day before.
A couple of weeks ago, I found a relatively inexpensive Living Social deal for our entire family to see the fireworks from reserved seats at a pier along the Hudson. I was a little nervous, since the evening came with a lot of "extras." In my opinion, "extras" are rarely all they're cracked up to be, and in fact, sometimes indicate that the main event isn't all it's cracked up to be either. True to form, the promised buffet dinner was a total bust. We waited in line for an hour only to bail when we realized we were still at least 30 minutes from getting food (as well as a 25 minute walk from the fireworks, plus time to get through security and find our seats, with less than an hour and a half left until showtime). Evelyn got a balloon butterfly, though, so it wasn't a total waste. And the kids were FANTASTIC! Evelyn didn't complain at all while we were waiting. Hyrum was so quiet in the stroller, I forgot he was with us a few times.
When we got to the pier, the sun was just finishing its descent, and it was still hot, hot, hot. But not as hot as it would have been a couple hours earlier. Our pointless standing in line at the buffet served us well here, because by the time we found our seats, we only had 30 or 40 minutes left to wait before the fireworks started.
The children were absolutely entranced. I couldn't pull myself away from the "fire flowers," and their reaction to them, long enough to want to take a picture. But those moments are ones I will not soon forget.
At the last minute, we decided not to pick up fast food, and I was pretty impressed with what I could assemble on short notice out of my cupboard: dried fruit, strawberries, potato chips, peanut butter sandwiches, and some festive cookies I had the foresight to buy the day before.
A couple of weeks ago, I found a relatively inexpensive Living Social deal for our entire family to see the fireworks from reserved seats at a pier along the Hudson. I was a little nervous, since the evening came with a lot of "extras." In my opinion, "extras" are rarely all they're cracked up to be, and in fact, sometimes indicate that the main event isn't all it's cracked up to be either. True to form, the promised buffet dinner was a total bust. We waited in line for an hour only to bail when we realized we were still at least 30 minutes from getting food (as well as a 25 minute walk from the fireworks, plus time to get through security and find our seats, with less than an hour and a half left until showtime). Evelyn got a balloon butterfly, though, so it wasn't a total waste. And the kids were FANTASTIC! Evelyn didn't complain at all while we were waiting. Hyrum was so quiet in the stroller, I forgot he was with us a few times.
When we got to the pier, the sun was just finishing its descent, and it was still hot, hot, hot. But not as hot as it would have been a couple hours earlier. Our pointless standing in line at the buffet served us well here, because by the time we found our seats, we only had 30 or 40 minutes left to wait before the fireworks started.
The children were absolutely entranced. I couldn't pull myself away from the "fire flowers," and their reaction to them, long enough to want to take a picture. But those moments are ones I will not soon forget.
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