Nicole and Charlie Fish in Cincinnati

Week of July 23:

So I’ve discovered a weather pattern here in NYC- 1 nice day followed by 4 days of increasing humidity until it finally storms and pours down rain on days 6 & 7- not great when your day to day survival with a 2 year-old is based on how much you can be at the park.

Tuesday we had to check out what was voted as the city’s best burger by New York Magazine- Resto http://www.restonyc.com/ It’s acutally a Belgium resturant, so i wasn’t so sure how good it would be. Boy was I wrong- it was the best burger! Then we went to the White Stripes concert at MSG- very fun! Who knew they used to be married??? I thought they were brother & sister- pretty crazy to see a concert in that huge place and it’s only 2 people.

Thurs I snuck away during the day to check out a few sample sales. I figured since I live in NYC, I should take advantage of this unique experience. So basically a sample sale is a top secret location in the city where designers sell the seasons samples and also have overstock items for a big discount. I found out some of these locations by subscribing to a website that sends me weekly emails. So I picked 2 out that sounded interesting, hopped on the subway and was on my way. The first spot was in a shady area near Penn Station. The building is not marked from the outside- you have to know the address. I climbed up 2 flights of stairs and was a bit scared, but what’s a little fear for the chance at a great deal. I finally reached the floor and saw some signs. There were racks of clothes in this big warehouse. You can’t try anything on and all sales are final. I found a pretty dress and sweater by Tocca- orginally priced $250 for the dress and $185 for the sweater for a total of $100 for both- pretty good deal. Next I went to a sale in Soho that had high-end soaps & candles. This location was much better and less scarey. They had really nice stuff. I got a bunch of soaps and a couple of candles for $35- each candle retailed for $40! Great deal! So that was my experience with Sample Sales-

Thurs night Bill and I were sitting on the couch complaining about NYC and to see if we could find somewhere to drive to this weekend. So we found this cabin in the pocono mountains in PA that was 1 1/2 hours away. The idea of swimming in the lake and letting Charlie run around sounded so appealing! Bill thinks it’s funny that when I called the place I asked if it was a dry county- the lady laughed and said no- I had to be sure! That could ruin a weekend

Saturday-Monday: Bill walked to the car rental place in Battery Park. It’s kind of hard (and very expensive) to rent a car here in the summer b/c everyone leaves every weekend for the Hamptons. We loaded up the car and were on our way. Driving there wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated and before we knew it the scenery was much better- trees, mountains, grass, …ahhh! Our cabin ended up being really cute and on a lake. We had so much fun swimming, hiking, playing golf/baseball/soccer, eating & relaxing. The Modrovsky crew hung out with us since the cabin was not too far from their house. It was great seeing them and Charlie loved hanging out with Maggie. They make some beautiful kids! What a fun & relaxing weekend- Thanks Mark & Maura for spending time with us!

The boys: Mark, Bill & baby Michael

Maggie & Charlie

Funny Charlie stories: He is talking much more and said “Char Char ice cream, me tummy” and lifted up his shirt pointing to his stomach to show where that ice cream should go- pretty cute!

Week of July 16

I forgot to mention last week that Bill & I saw the movie “Sicko”- Even for the conservative, Bush lovers & Michael Moore haters, this movie was GREAT- everyone should see it!

Wed 18th- Dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Chelsea. We ate outside and had a special guest- a baby mouse/rat right next to our table. I know, you’re thinking he’s just a baby, BUT he will grow up to be a big, nasty, huge RAT! So romantic to dine with him… At dinner we has Celebrity sighting # 14   (we’ve been on a drought lately)  Maura Tierney AKA “Abby Lockhart” from ER. She wasn’t wearing a bra, which upset Bill- She looks just like she does on the show- normal person, no make-up…  She was with another woman, in Chelsea… hmmmm…no bra….hmm

On our way home Bill decided we needed to try that ice cream place, Pinkberry- those of you who follow the celebrities will know that they seem to always go there in LA, etc- so we had to see what the big deal was. There was a long line and very confusing menu… you just picked from 1-3 scoops and 1-3 toppings, but no ice cream flavor choices???? hmmmm… So I asked the girl at the register and in her very polite and friendly (yeah right) NYC way, informed me that it was yogurt and yogurt flavored. WHAT? yogurt? and you can’t even get a flavor? But we had to taste for ourselves. I got 1 scoop with oreo topping. I noticed on my way out that there is no fat in it and no calories… hmmm, so this is why they eat it… I was pretty excited to try it- i took one big bite and almost gagged. It was so NASTY. It tasted like spoiled milk- YUCK. I threw it right in the garbage- Bill threw his out too. We went right down the street and got some real ice cream- The real kind with all the fat!

Saturday 21:  We decided to adventure to Coney Island. We took the subway there (1 hour)- not too bad and I have to admit that I felt like a kid all excited to go on rides, see the ocean & eat ice cream. We got off the subway and could see the big ferris wheel. We walked out of the train station and the first thing we saw was Nathan’s Hot Dogs-

This was a religious experience for Bill, as he is a regular viewer of the Hot Dog eating contest held here every 4th of July and we only buy Nathan’s dogs when we grill at home. Our few moments of excitement were quickly over when we saw thousands of the weirdest, oddest, smelliest, craziest people we have ever seen. We walked to one of the amusement parks, which to be honest made the Porter County Fair and Indiana Beach look fancy… My mom always warned me to stay away from the “carnies” at the fair- this place is every parent’s worst fear. People are covered in tatoos, have no teeth, thongs out, and wear wrestling hats. But we told ourselves we were there for Charlie and he was happy to be there and ready for rides.

 He went on a bunch of kiddie rids which he loved and then we decided to find the beach. We got to the boardwalk to find thousands of even scarier and stranger looking people, and everyone seemed to be wasted. We let Charlie play in the sand for a while and Bill & I drank beer on the beach- this was a nice white trash bonus. Then we got an ice cream cone for him and headed home. The line for Nathan’s for too long for Bill to even want a hot dog… This place is so dirty- check out this picture of poo in the street and garbage all over- and people are eating right by it…

We are glad we experienced Coney Island, but we won’t be back… Bill is too scared

Sunday: It was a beautiful day so we decided to take a boat tour around Manhattan.

It was nice and even educational- Charlie kept wanting to read his books on the boat and I told him he couldn’t b/c it was too windy and it would be sad if the book went in the water. I said “wouldn’t you be sad if you’re book went in the water”. Of course he said “no”. I said, “what would you do?”. He said, “Char Char splash wa wa…get book”. So much for that conversation- the kid is already smarter than us.

Funny Charlie moments: Charlie is obsessed with the dark this week. He builds “caves” with pillows, puts his trains in the cave and shines his flashlight in the cave. It is very funny and cute to watch. He also goes in the bathroom (with dada only) turns the lights off and makes monster noises with the flashlight. He’s very into things being scarey. This is great for me, because those of you who know me, know how much I love Halloween, so we’ve already started talking about it

He’s also into expressing his feelings, “Char Char sad”, “Char Char cold”, “Char Char sleepy”. Very funny. We had ordered “Cranky the Crane” (Thomas toy) for his b-day, and it finally arrived yesterday. Charlie is treating it like a real person. He carries it around the house and shows it how he can make baskets, hit golf balls- he talks to it and tells it to “watch”. It’s hilarious.

One more thing- when he hurts himself, he says “Sorry Char Char”. Ok- that’s enough Charlie stuff for this week.

Week of July 9- it’s so hot here, that I’ve decided that this is what hell must be like. We are avoiding going outside if possible. The smells, sweaty people, lack of air flow…hell-

People are walking around soaked with sweat- in their suits and nice clothes with big sweaty pits and backs- so gross.

Just when things couldn’t get any nastier… they did- We were at Charlie’s school for soccer on tues and we arrived a bit early, so Charlie was kicking the ball around with the teachers and I was just standing there watching. I felt a tickle on my foot (bare foot) and looked down to see a HUGE bug, beetle thing. I jumped and said to one of the coaches- “that was on my foot”… He looked at me with fear in his eyes (ok, a bit exaggerated, but you get the point) and said “that is the biggest cockroach i have ever seen”. WHAT? Did he just say a HUGE, 3 inch (not kidding), disgusting, COCKROACH was just crawling on my foot?  2 of the other guys chased it around as it jumped/flew (didn’t know they could fly) and screamed around the gym until one of them smooched it… So Charlie won’t stop saying, “bug, momma foot, bug, all gone”. He is scarred for life and so am I.

On Sunday we went to the NYC Fire Museum. They had some interesting things, but it was a bit of a let down b/c there aren’t any kid friendly exhibits.

 Baby celebrities:

Sam Scuglik

Adam Klaus

Amy Scuglik is on the news- check it out!

http://www.fox19.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=1588557&h1=Su

July 1-8: Michigan vacation. Boy do we love MI! Fresh air, beautiful scenery, crystal clear lakes, good food, nice people… It was worth the 15 hour travel day on July 1! We had a great time relaxing and enjoying this beautiful place. Mimi, Papa & Aunt Allie arrived on tues. We had lots of fun. Charlie enjoyed swimming, playing golf & baseball & croquet, catching bugs with Mimi, eating ice cream (daily), and watching fireworks.

Playing mini golf

on the dock

Allie, Mimi & Papa- everyone had assigned rocks by Charlie

Sleeping Bear dunes

Funny Charlie moments: He has started saying his whole name “Char Char Mark Fish”- very cute. He wasn’t so sure about having all of those names, but we’ve asked him to say it so many times that I think he’s accepted it. He talks about himself in 3rd person, which is very funny, “Char Char Mark Fish book”.

Week of June 25- I guess summer is officially here in NYC- It is hot, hot, hot- I mean sticky, smelly, you can feel the air it is so thick, no breeze, you sweat the minute you walk out the door hot. It smells like a mixture of cigarettes, garbage, pee, b.o., & food- yum. I’ve decided it’s not the place to be when it’s 90 degrees. In case i didn’t tell you before, garbage is everywhere- i mean everywhere. They pick it up 3 times/week, so literally everyday (b/c each street is on a different schedule) there is garbage on the sidewalks. We don’t have alley’s here, so you just put it in front of your building- no garbage cans either b/c there’s no where to keep them- so you can imagine the smell when it’s been cooking in 90 degrees. Also, sometimes they just don’t come, so it sits there another 2 days. Plus, people dig thru the bags and then there is garbage blowing all over. Nice, i know.

The firemen here are so nice- i’ve decided they really are the only nice people, so Charlie & I take every opportunity to wave to them. They always wave back, smile, & sometime honk. Today they happened to stop right in front of us and all get out (Charlie’s mouth was wide open) and they all gave him high fives- how cool he thought he was.

Funny Charlie story: Charlie is very into boo boo’s right now- he is always wanting to put bandaids on and points out people’s boo boos when we are out and about. Well his new thing this week is to kiss the bandaids- yes strangers elbows, knees, fingers- you can imagine how much new yorker’s love that. Luckily most of them have been other kids. It is actually quite sweet (but kind of gross).

The owner of our apartment told us from the day we moved in (4 months ago) that he was putting up a trellace and having flowers planted to block the hotel that is going in next to us. Well it was finally finished this week & looks so pretty. It was worth the wait. They also put in an irrigation system that is in every planter on the patio and waters itself 2x/day- it’s awesome- only in NYC!!!! Check it out-

see the small hose in the planter- pretty cool