Governors Island Summer 2012

(Tip toeing across Lady Liberty's forehead.)

After an incredibly wishy washy morning of lounging around, watching TV, and asking each other over and over, "What should we do today? We should do something. It's so nice out," we finally decided on Governors Island.  It's one of my favorite summer activities.

I love that it doesn't have to be an all day production. It was 2pm when we finally made up our minds to go. The island closes at 7pm, so even though we got there at 3ish, we still had plenty of time for fun without over doing it. Plus, the weather had cooled down and most of the people had gone home. It was perfect.

Most importantly, we still had time to order ice cream from a Mister Softee Truck. Of all things, Ella ordered a snow cone, Oscar chose Sponge Bob with bubblegum eyes, and Owen picked Sonic with bubble gum eyes. They totally ignore the fact that Mr. Softee makes the best soft served ice cream in the world. I even offer to sprulge on getting their cones dipped! Cherry, Chocloate, even Blue Mystery flavor! Anything! Please pick something without bubble gum eyes! Blank stares. Mr.Softee is totally wasted on them. Might as well be a 7/11.

Beyond ice cream, I love the sculptures and art found through the island. This year includes 1/1 ratio of the Statue of Liberty's face and a gathering of crazy red chairs, among other things. There's also a donation golf course that is so visually interesting. We noticed it too late (closes at 6pm) so we couldn't play. I didn't take any pictures of the course because perhaps I'll go back and do a post about it later?

There's only so much picture taking I can take in one day before I start to drive my family bonkers. I'd already shot a bunch of butterfly pics and then Lady Liberty became my next obsession.  Enough is enough. But isn't the sculpture fabulous? I love the perspective and statement of standing and jumping off of the Statue of Liberty's nose. What does it allllll mean?

(Hot punk rock dudes in the background. Something for everyone at Governor's Island.)

Hope you have a very deep weekend filled with a mix of sculptures, punk rockers, family, and islands. Really does make for a great day.

Supplies for Your Expert Butterfly Catchers

I got suckered into buying these butterfly nets from the farm's gift shop last Saturday. At the time I was annoyed at myself for giving in to my kids every want and desire, but now I'm glad I did. We've had so much fun and success with these things. We've gone butterfly hunting twice--once at the farm, the other time at Governor's Island. Can you believe we've caught a total of 16 butterflies? Ella made sure to keep track. Owen caught two in one swoop!  Skillz.

The kids had the most success trapping a butterfly while it was on the ground. Once caught, we use the catch and release method (like fishing). Bonus: It's such good exercise. My kids wore themselves out running after these crazy creatures. Here's a few supplies if you too would like to try a butterfly adventure this summer. It's the best!

Schylling Creature Catcher Nets When I bought these nets from the gift shop, I asked if they had a life time warrenty. Eh, no. But the nets have endured two outings flawlessly despite boys standing in them, holding soccer balls in them, ect. So far so good. I like that they're solid wood with a metal frame. No plastic parts! That helps.

Insect Creature Peeper. Magnifies the creatures 3x their size! I don't own it, but it's tempting.

Butterfly Pavilion. Owen's teacher gave him this butterfly house on the last day of school. It's a fun way to keep track of all the butterflies we collect during the day. I can't wait to release them all at once. Got to stick to my no pets policy. :)

And a here's few butterfly books I plan on checking out from the library: National Geographic: Butterflies, My, Oh My--A Butterfly!, From Caterpillar to Butterfly, Where Butterflies Grow,Waiting for Wings, (of course) The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Catch and Release!

So agressive. Watch out butterflies.

Catch and Pose.

F it.

Rob, the laziest butterfly catcher ever. This method yielded zero butterflies FYI. 

Wooden NYC

On Saturday we spent the morning being lazy. Watching cartoons. I was finishing up a small blog assignment (more on that soon!). Rob made us homemade pancakes. We made sure to tell him he was fabulous. We all took naps. Then we cleaned the house. Boring.

Suddenly it was 4pm! The thought of starting a family adventure at this time of day seems pointless. Usually if anything fun was going to happen, it would have started by now. Actually, it would be wrapping up. There's dinner and bedtimes and tantrums to be had. And plus rain was in the forecast. But Ella demanded that we needed to get out of the house. And since I give my kids whatever they demand, especially when they whine, I asked her: Will Governor's Island suffice?  Her response: Yes indeed.

We got on the island at 5:15pm and got kicked off by 6:15pm due to rain. But I wasn't disappointed. Why? Look what we found! Aren't these simple structures so inspiring? Dominos as windows for a skyscraper? Brilliant! The bright colors. The sloppy handwriting. This is exactly the kind of toys I adore. The buildings are moveable and so perfectly messy.

Ella and the boys were overwhelmed by it all at first. I remember Ella saying, "I don't know what to do. My brain isn't working!" Her and the boys took a minute to walk around and look at all the buildings, the bridges, and the random parts.  That's when I took these first few pics. Then, just like that, they started building the city of their dreams. Take that Sim City!

Governor's Island

Every time I adore NYC, it's usually when it reminds me of San Francisco. Is that so wrong? This happened to me on Saturday when we took a trip to Governors Island. It reminded me of the Presidio in San Francisco. Only, I think I like Governors Island more. Here's some reasons why:

The only way to get there is by boat! And it's free! You can either take a ferry from Manhattan or Brooklyn. It took about five minutes to get to the island. We didn't have to wait in a long line, and the kids felt like they were going on a true adventure.  Click here for directions and ferry schedule. 

On the island: No cars. Only kick scooters, bikes, and I suppose these roller skates if you wanted. The island felt massive. And like my trip to the NY Botanical Gardens, I didn't feel like I was fighting for my space. I knew a lot of people were on the island, but I didn't feel them. Or hear them. It was so nice to be away from all the racket. And see some new things. FYI: Free bike rentals on Fridays!

What really made me fall in love with the island was the free events. And not the kind of lame activities that you have to wait in line a million hours for a turn. There's sooo many really good ones for kids and adults that we didn't get to everything. Click here to see all of the free events this summer. 

The Big Apple Circus is there every Saturday and Sunday for juggling lessons. Not like Owen needs any, he's a natural juggler. The most serious juggler you'll ever meet.  Look how easily he caught all those balls. Such an amazing child that Owen. 

(red shorts day 6)

The Children's Museum of the Arts will be there every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Check out some of their stations below in the pictures. My favorite activity the CMA provided was the art rental kits (I forgot to take a picture of this). Here's how it works: Parents leave their ID, and they can borrow an art kit for their kids to draw around the island. It's filled with charcoals, water colors, paper, pencils etc. Such a great idea! Adults can join in on this activity too. 

We decided to take the ferry back to Brooklyn. On our walk to the subway, we stopped in at a perfect restaurant. I'll post about it tomorrow.  Until then, start planning your trip to Governors Island.  You won't be disappointed.