Family fun in the sun

Lest you think all our summer fun excluded John or Hyrum or New York City or some combination of the three, we used our 2.5 weeks between returning from out west and starting school to great effect.

First up: summer streets. There is something really liberating about walking down the middle of Park Avenue just because you can.

So, John did miss out on some of the fun. We went to visit Christina & Co. in Maplewood.

Hyrum and I attended music makers.

On Labor Day weekend, we really did it up right. First, clean house. Second, family swimming at the pool on 112th, where Evelyn showed us that she can now swim to and from the wall as long as she doesn't have to come up for air. (We're still working on that last part. Seems like it might come in handy to be able to go more than one breath's length at some point.) After swimming, tacos. We ended the day with 20 minutes of monkey bar practice at the playground. More to come on that.

On Monday, John had all kinds of adventures with the kids while I slept in until 10:30. It was amazing. After nap, we all trekked up to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, which was really great, just too far to do with any frequency.

Monet water lilies exhibit

Coolest water lilies I've ever seen

Digging for worms in the family garden

Two weeks ago, Evelyn all of a sudden decided she wanted to do the monkey bars. We spent quite a few late afternoons practicing, and just in time for school to start, she did it by herself! I was really proud of her for practicing so hard to learn something that didn't come easily at first.

Since the first day of school was a half day, we declared it half summer/half fall and went peach and apple picking with Julia, Will, and Maddy.

Off to the fields

Hay ride

All the apples a boy could want

Peaches!

And with that, summer was over. Until next year.

Zoo camp!

Last year, my friend Hillary raved about how much her kids always enjoy the summer camp put on by the Central Park Zoo. So, like the incredible mother I am, I went into my calendar and set myself a reminder for January to register Evelyn for zoo camp. It was the perfect end to summer. They met special animal guests every day (including such favorites as a python and a spitting cockroach), they wore unattractive matching red shirts, and they did tons of crafts and games. Plus, I'm pretty sure she got to eat graham crackers and fruit snacks. Win/win/win.

Poor Hyrum was a little devastated the first day, particularly. When we got to the front of the drop off line and the lady asked Evelyn for her name, Hyrum said, "My name is Hyrum Prete!" Then, Evelyn got a name tag. Hyrum said his name again, but no dice. After that, she got a shirt.

"Where is my shirt? My name is Hyrum Prete!"

I tell you, sometimes being the little brother really stinks.

Evelyn gets to go to zoo camp . . .

. . . but Hyrum has to sit at home with Mom. In the rain.

Unfortunately, bud, this is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Since we don't have room in our apartment for every craft, I took pictures instead of lovingly packing her zoo camp treasures away for long-term storage.

The last day, they had a birthday party for Harley the rabbit, complete with hats.

Actually, there were hats almost every day. This was the day they spent a significant amount of time petting and feeding the sheep/goats/etc.

And this was animal Olympics day. Note the Laurel crown.

The caterpillar and butterfly were from animal family day. Yeah, didn't really make sense to me either.

This was my favorite craft of the week, and I think we'll keep it, maybe even frame it. They painted a flower with "pollen" (chalk dust). Awesome.

So, if your kids will be 4 or 5 next summer and you live in the city, here's our recommendation. Central Park Zoo kinder camp. Sign up early.

First day of Kindergarten

You're gonna have to trust me on this one, but she was really excited to go . . .