Date Night In Dumbo, Brooklyn.

Dumbo in Brooklyn is one of our favorite places to go on a date and man did we have fun on this night! Time out market has so many places to eat and we had some pretty tasty Thai food. It was windy and cold and walked under the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge until our faces couldn't take the cold wind anymore. We then drove into Manhattan and went to see our "old friend" which is our new favorite photo booth to take goofy photos because that's what you do inside these photo booths! Even with a fractured arm...it was the perfect date night! 

Under The Brooklyn Bridge.

I can't believe we are one week away from Christmas and 14 more days until 2025! I have been so unmotivated to write on here but alas here I am about to document a moment under the Brooklyn bridge  from June 4. 

After my daughter got married and chelsea flew home from JFK Jon wanted to cheer me up by taking me to the city for a broadway show to see Hell's Kitchen and to relax at one of my favorite spots in Brooklyn. Dumbo is my absolute fun zone and on this day we saw art, had some yummy ice cream, or in my case a root beer float because that always makes me happy. I absolutely loved this day and to tell you the truth, looking at these photos, at times...I miss summer. 

A Day In Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Williamsburg in Brooklyn is a hip town and I love coming here. there are many things to do here and earlier this year Noah and I ventured out to it. I have always wanted to see this mural of Drew Barrymore. I saw it on Instagram years ago and we finally captured it in person. It's pretty much peeling off but the artist, Steven Paul who was just 17 years old at the time did a really good job. He titled it "Lost Time" and entered it in the Scholastic Arts & Writing competition in 2014. He also won the gold medal for this photo which led for him to collaborate with Colossal Media by turning it into a mural that is four stories high! It is now one of the most famous murals known as "the Mona Lisa of Williamsburg." Amazing!

February Snapshots In The City...

 

The month of February was no different than January. Warm temps. No major snowfall. Lots of rain. It has been pretty dreary with bits of sunshine but at least we live in a part of the world where we can just venture outside without having the need to get on a plane and travel somewhere exotic. We get everything in our backyard. New York city is a gem and I love it! Almost 16 years of living close to the best city in the world and it never gets old. Here I am walking right past the house where one of my favorite movies was filmed. Any guesses? Here's a reference, "snap out of it!" MOONSTRUCK! Love the location in Brooklyn. 

And here are a few gems that we encountered this month....

Coney Island At Dusk!

It feels like it was just June yet somehow we are nearing the end of august! We are trying to "live up" of what's left of summer before school starts so last week we ended up going to Coney Island. It's become tradition to go every summer and even though it can be trashy (in a good way) we love going! We don't mind the smells of weed or trash because let's face it, it's legally part of the world now but we don't mind that and we just focus on the positivity of this unique experience and just have fun with it! 

We always always ride the cyclone and the wonder wheel! They are both old rides and I swear I felt as if I was going to fly out of the roller coaster every time it took a curve. We screamed and cheered and upon rolling up to the top before dropping down the guy sitting behind us said, "welcome to hell." I totally had a final destination moment but nonetheless chelsea and I had a blast screaming all the ahhh's and I even said, "shiiiiiiiiiiiiT" once while riding this 95 year old roller coaster. Don't regret it and it's definitely worth the 10 bucks!  

It was a low key fun afternoon and stayed until late in the evening. I'm so glad I made this reel at dusk when the lights turned on because it truly does look magical. 

A Little Valentines Day Message....

 

As my husband and I have gotten older Valentine's Day for us has become low key with spontaneous outings. We don't go all out for each other like we used to in our 20's showering ourselves with material gifts, flowers or chocolate but mostly with love letters. What we've realized in our 50's is that our love has become even more sentimental. Our love for others has become stronger. Sure we think of us but mostly we think of our children first. We think of our friends and family and anyone who may be having a rough time when it comes to this holiday. It can be the most romantic but also the most hated. Misunderstood and lonely for some. I just want others to know that you are not alone. Never alone. You have you. Love you. Take care of you. Make time for you. Find things that bring you joy that revive you with energy. Love is always there. It's in your heart. It's in your mind. You just have to know it, because it's always been there.  It took a serious love for God and a marriage to realize that I've always been loved. For me. Love is a beautiful thing and we have the choice to make it a beautiful one for ourselves and for others. Look for the lovely on this day and all the days of your life. 

So no matter what -  celebrate your love today. Whether it's for yourself or with your spouse, your family and friends. I wish you the best of today. And know that your are the first person in your life to be loved...by you. Remember that! 

 Happy Valentine's Day my darlings! 

Light Leaks In Brooklyn!

So happy to be a 70's baby and to have been raised in the 80's. This amazing immersive art installation took place in Brooklyn and it took me back to the 70's where Chelsea and I took in the sounds of listening and dancing to the background music while a ton of disco balls were glistening all throughout the room. Truly a genius creation. Light Leaks is the place to go that will take you back in time to relive the 70's. So glad they expressed their creation with disco lights and balls for 50 days! It's no longer on display but hopefully they'll come back again next year! 

Jason Naylor Art Exhibit.

If I had 7,000 bucks I would have definitely bought a painting from the one and only Jason Naylor. He is an absolute gem when it comes to art and his creativity when painting his pictures. I love that they all portray acts of love, kindness, peace, and hope in reaching out to the world that he is indeed spreading inspiration in the city. Especially when everyone was experiencing isolation at the time Covid began. I know his colorful words of inspiration gave people hope. We have seen many of his murals throughout the boroughs of New York and when we heard he was having his first solo gallery exhibition called, "Reading Between The Lines" in Brooklyn for one day we headed on out to see what he had left. All he had were two huge paintings left and unfortunately couldn't spend our stimulus check on it! LOL! It would have been nice but I guess I'll have to save my pennies for next time but look how colorful and gorgeous these paintings are! If you live in the city and hear about Jason Naylor having another exhibit please go check it out. He is also a very pleasant person to talk too! 

Jane's Carousel Grand Opening In Dumbo!

Oh how we've missed riding on carousels particularly the ones in the city. Jane's Carousel and the Seaglass carousel are our favorite ones to go to in the city and after a year of being closed due to the pandemic have both opened up! We went ahead and decided to go on grand opening weekend! The lines weren't too crazy at Jane's but we did stand in line for about half an hour but you can't beat the view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges and the price to ride it isn't too bad. So it was worth the wait! For two bucks you can ride it and it's a good timely  ride. The kids are 16 and 11.5 years of age and they still love riding on the carousel. I hope those days of them riding on the carousel never end. We ended the day eating ice cream and pizza at our favorite spots in Dumbo. We absolutely love this area. There is always fun things to do and see all year round here. 

KAWS - WHAT PARTY

 

When I found out that tickets went on sale for the KAWS exhibit I immediately snagged some but had to wait three weeks to go. When the day finally came we were super excited. Noah is really picky when it comes to art and this one did not disappoint. KAWS has become his number one favorite artist and we literally could have been here all day. Noah was enthralled with all of his sculptures and paintings and even begged me to buy a boba feat sculpture but to no avail. They were all sold out. At least we left with some postcards and a couple of key chains. Nonetheless this exhibit was absolutely epic. The artist is originally from Jersey and is now based in Brooklyn. From what I read a lot of his characters are used to express human relationships, emotions, and states of mind. And his signature is a bunch of x's which I think is unique. There's also a lot of fragmented figurative and landscape imagery in his paintings. I captured a lot of shots of his work and they are sooooo freaking beautiful. Wish I could buy at least one painting and get a boba fett for Noah. Not sure I want to buy one for 400 bucks though! Here's a little 15 second video of some of his favorite figures.

King Kong In Brooklyn.

Noah is a huge fan of King Kong and whoever installed this gorilla prop is pure genius. And the fact that they added a mask to it is doubly cool! It truly is the coolest halloween decoration ever! The drive to Brooklyn was worth it. I sure do love how New York goes all out for Halloween. Even in Brooklyn. I love this small island and how big they go out to make it fun for everyone. Especially the kids. This year has definitely been a rough one and to see New Yorkers adding spooky fun, and joy this Halloween warms my heart and I'm sure the kids get a thrill out of it too! So looking forward to Halloween! 

Coney Island On Memorial Day.

Coney Island is one of my favorite places to go in the summertime. It may be overcrowded and let's be honest...dirty but none of that matters to me. It's nostalgic and brings back so many memories of the time my mom took my sister and me to the movies to see the Warriors. Often wondering what this place looked like in real life. She has yet to come here for a visit but loves the photos I take every time we come here. 

Inspirational Thought For The Week...

"For beautiful eyes look for the good in others, for beautiful lips speak only words of kindness, and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." 

-Audrey Hepburn

Indie Bookstore Day In Brooklyn!

Over the weekend we spent our entire day in Brooklyn, and it was dreamy. The fact that it was Indie bookstore day made it worthwhile. We spent most of our day in Greenpoint which is near Williamsburg. We stopped by a couple of bookstores, and took advantage of the weather, and scenery and walked throughout the neighborhood only to spot beautiful blossom trees. We even spotted a box filled with books, and Noah and I began to fumble through it and he took a couple. Hey, when a sign reads free, take it! 

That One Late, Late Night in Dumbo...

If I look extremely tired in these photos it's probably because I was! They were taken a couple of weeks ago in Brooklyn where we spent most of the evening meandering the streets of Brooklyn way up until midnight! Although the shops at the Empire Stores close early the building itself is open until 2am and when we saw this booth we couldn't help ourselves. We stood on the white circle trying to figure out which small black little camera to look into and we had way too much fun. We most definitely have become fanatics of photo booths, and any kind of self picture-taking booth that deals with a hashtag. 

A Day in Dumbo, & A Lot Of Art.

If you want to have fun, eat good food, go to a flea market, and see some art installations in Brooklyn Dumbo is the place to go. We love this place because it exposes our kids to culture, and art. Not only do we have fun at the park, riding the carousel, and Noah scooting all over Brooklyn bridge park on his scooter, but everywhere you go there is bound to be a work of art in your midst. 

Sunday in Dumbo & The Brooklyn Flea Market!

Having the Ross's visit New York all the way from Utah was a perfect excuse to skip church and meet up with them this past Sunday. We hadn't seen them since 2004 back when we were neighbors living in our tiny basement apartments in Sugarhouse. The only kids we had back then were Sierra, Lexie, and Trace, and now we have four kids each! I can't believe how fast time flew for our kids and to see both Lexie and Trace as teenagers together was surreal because the last time they saw each other Lexie was four, and Trace was two! It was so nice getting current pictures of this gem of a family! 

A Birthday Celebration In Brooklyn.

Since the girls birthdays fell on a Sunday this year we decided to celebrate them on Saturday. I had asked the girls on new years what they would like to do for their birthdays, and Chelsea said ice skating. Lexie, being the humble, and money saving girl that she is said it didn't matter. I then said to her, "there must be something you'd like to do, or want."

Christmas Lights At Dyker Heights in Brooklyn.

If you enjoy seeing christmas lights as a family tradition during the holidays, and are ever in the new york area you gotta see the Christmas lights at Dyker Heights. After we took Noah to see Peter and the Wolf we drove over to see the lights Brooklyn style. I have heard of this phenomenon over the years, and this year decided to see them up, close, and personal for the first time.

Coney Island!

The last time we went to Coney Island was the summer of 2013. Sierra had just graduated from high school, and we wanted to do something fun as a family before she went off for college. This has been one of our favorite theme parks to venture out to since our girls were little, and even though this particular outing hasn't become tradition it's nice to come every once in a while to enjoy the rides, and take in the oceanic smell of Brooklyn. 

This year our dear friend Maggie who is like family joined in on the fun with us. The kids call her aunt maggie, and I love her like a sister. We all had such a blast, and seeing Maggie letting her wiggles out by dancing with the Coney Island dancers on the boardwalk made me want to boogie on down myself, but was too chicken to join in! It has been at least 25 years since dancing in a major public forum and to me this was major. The Coney Island dancers had some awesome moves, and I'm so glad maggie joined in without a care in the world because that's what Coney Island is all about...having fun. Totally reminded me of the time Sierra sang "Sunday Morning" in front of a large crowd on the boardwalk! 

We could have seriously been here all day, and we practically were! We ended up leaving late in the evening. That's how much we all didn't want to leave! I made a little video about our day, and you can view it on my YouTube channel here.

A must have when you come to Coney is eating a Nathan's hot dog, and a pretzel.

No matter where we are in NYC a pretzel is a must have for Noah. This kid can eat them all day long! 

This year we decided to ride the rides at Luna Park. We figured since the kids are much older that they can ride the "adult" rides, and Luna park had some of the best rides! Noah got to ride some of the rides too. He has seriously outgrown the kiddie park, and has upgraded to much "bigger" rides.

Noah played a fishing game, and because he caught a fish (you can see it on the video) thought he was going home with one of the stuffed animals from above, but instead got this blue soda pop buddy. He wasn't too pleased. 

The girls were thrilled to have ridden the Cyclone. Chelsea was four when we first came here, and was bummed that she had to ride the kiddie roller coaster, but after riding the cyclone now understands why she couldn't ride it at such a young age. They had a blast riding various rides! 

This was seriously a fun ride. Noah had so much fun that he wanted to ride it twice, and I'm so glad I got to ride in a log with my little guy! 

Chelsea has become a cop junkie, and loves the show blue bloods. It scares me a bit, because she'd like to be a cop, and/or an FBI agent when she grows up! She has the strong personality to do it, and put the bad guys away, and would be good at it. I've seen her upset, and trust me, you don't want to get on her bad side!  

I actually blame myself for encouraging her because I actually enjoy watching Blue Bloods as well as Criminal Minds myself, and she obviously has developed a love for those shows. Don't think she'll be watching too much of it during the school year though!

Anyway, we decided to try out Wahlburgers, and the food was pretty darn good! Those onion rings were super delicious! 

Couldn't pass posting this photo of a beach towel that read "Warriors." For those of you who are familiar with "The warriors" would understand why I posted this! Love that movie! 

We had such an amazing day making memories as a family. It's times like this where you need to have that inner child come out, and release all the stress that you didn't get to when you were young. I'm speaking for myself. I never had opportunities like this as a child, and I'm so grateful that we were able to come again, and let the kids have a little fun before school resumed!