Brooklyn and Beyond (Part 2)

7/2/16

5.8 miles

Late morning departure to famed Farmer's Market for salad fare: sorrel, cilantro, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers. 

We continue South to Williamsburg (also a part of Brooklyn). There, on Saturdays, is Smorgasburg, a weekly food market with heavenly scents, varied fare, long lines.  

We eat and drink, lounge in the shade, listen to live jazz, and gawk at the passersby. 

We decided to pick up the laundry we had dropped off the day before, feeling very NY as we lugged it back.

MJ now spends most of his time pulling himself up using the couch. He likes to stand there and reach for the remotes. When he can't get them, he grips the edge and uses it to "walk" to the other side of the couch (where he also can't get the remotes).
He's spending an awful lot of time on those chunkerdoodle legs of his...

A moment before mommy busted him for sucking the NY puddle grime off the wheel (and she was subsequently awarded Parent of the Year right there on the spot).

       

7/3/16

13 miles

We load two packs with the intent of getting to Prospect Park, which is 6 miles south in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

(For me, Brooklyn has always been Greenpoint. Newsflash: it's huge.)

On the way, we are stopped in front of the Bushwick Inlet Park. We are asked to pose in front of the sign that details the long fight to pull this land from the clutches of greedy developers (these activists are in their 50s and saythey started fighting when they were our age). #wheresourpark

We park it at the Brooklyn Museum "stadium" to rest and have lunch. 

Families began to gather and we discovered that the nearby holes in the ground shot water high into the air in elaborate patterns. MJ and all the nearby children are spellbound.

Long, hot walk back. 13 miles maaay have been a tad ambitious for so early in the trip?

We order Fornino for dinner, which Rachie calls the best pizza in NY. We would be inclined to agree.

This time, Dani wins at cribbage.

Little hipster scarf from Uncle Wigwam (Richard) and 

Aunt Janine helps ward off the morning chill.

          

7/4/16

4.5 miles

Intending to stroll around Greenpoint, we somehow end up in Williamsburg.

We have a delicious breakfast at Bakeri (Cinnamon roll! Vegetable tart!).

There is a Bakeri right around the corner from our apartment, but we meant to do that.

The weather is beautiful, so we take the stroller (and its sleeping occupant) to the East River Park for the grass, the breeze, and the view. 

MJ wakes up eventually, and, after some time nosing around in the grass, notices another baby. They lock eyes. Smoke signals ensue. We strike up a conversation with the family that belongs to the other baby. Vally and Alex are Greek, and live nearby. Their son Jasson is 14 months, and is daring to stick his finger near MJ's mouth. Repeatedly. Having both felt the wrath of the two toofs, we are vigilant.

We say our goodbyes at the park, and head home. Back at the apartment, MJ (this after many falls and near misses) starts to put a hand down to survey his landing area. When he can feel the floor, he lowers himself down. We can't believe it.

When the baby goes to bed, we start watching a billion part documentary about the history of New York. It begins with the earliest Dutch settlement, after sailors happen upon one of the largest natural harbors in the world.

We learn that Manna-hata is a Dutch iteration of a Lenape Indian word meaning island of many hills (though after the grid was designed and imposed on the island, the topography changed almost entirely) and that Brooklyn comes from Breukelen, after an earlier Dutch town in the Old World.

MJ's first taste of grass!