Crawdads for Dinner

Now for a while I'll be posting from July.  Can you believe I just barely uploaded these photos?  Yikes.

One thing I love about Scott is that he thrives on having new experiences. If I had gone into Uwajimaya alone, I probably would have noticed the crawdads but I'm 90% sure I wouldn't have grabbed out 20 live ones, transported them home, and then boiled them.  

Going in for the kill:

They turn red almost immediately!

Ice bath:

This was such a memorable evening on the deck.  We just sat out there for a few hours, eating away and enjoying the lake. And my $5 market flowers!

If you've never done a low country boil, you MUST try it!  It's even more fun to do with lots of friends, eating off newspaper with no napkins or utensils allowed!  

Thanks for the fun, Scott!

Lady Liberty

We got on the 1 train toward South Ferry, and this time, we actually got off at the last stop, South Ferry!  Craziest thing happened, just 2 stops into the ride, my friend Tamara from Jerusalem boarded our train!  What are the chances!?!  We had a great time catching up, and luckily Tamara had an ipad for T to play with (Have I mentioned she's in a screaming phase?) and she had hand wash for when Scott accidentally touched a stranger's blood.  Yeah that was weird.  Oh the New York subway...

The ferry terminal to Staten Island shares a building with the metro stop, so the transition was easy.  There was a man in our elevator who had is headphones on, but we could hear his music louder than if we'd had a true speaker going ourselves... apparently T liked his tunes because the started shimmy-ing and dancing and pointing and waving "Hi" to the man.  He was very flattered and hung around us a bit longer than he needed to, I think because he got such positive feedback. :)  

(Side note:  We've been very confused as to why, how and where T learned to shimmy.  Then one day we watched her Sesame Street show with her, and saw that Destiny's Child is featured in several songs on this episode. Yep. Destiny's Child taught my child to shimmy.)

Back to Lady Liberty.  The free ferry was very crowded, especially on the side with the Statue of Liberty, naturally.  So we joined the masses and I snuck my camera above heads and through arms to get what I think are some great images!

Leaving Manhattan behind:  

Once we arrived on Statten Island we just took a walk around the point and ate our picnic in some shade.  Pretty dreamy.  I think Scott and I have an unspoken, mutual understanding that it is a sin to eat at any chain restaurants in NYC because there is too much good, cheap food to spend time and money on something generic we've had before.  But Subway was just too convenient and tasty to pass up this day.

 I thought there was no better day to wear her tourist shirt than our day to the Statue.

One the way back to Manhattan we stayed inside and got a much better view of Lady Liberty, but through glass.  One of the MTA workers told Scott that he couldn't carry T on his shoulders inside the boat.  Too dangerous.  I would understand it if that rule were in place outside on the deck, but inside, really?  Another government employee told us earlier this week "Your baby can't move around here." Hmmm.

And on the way home, a stop by the Charging Bull.  Note to self: Go early in the morning to avoid hoards of people and the use of your elbows to get a photo alone.  Was it worth it?  No.

It's hard to imagine that 6 months ago I didn't know that all the neighborhoods/streets in Manhattan  revolve around Central Park, or even that Manhattan is truly an island.  (I can't believe I just admitted that, but my mom and sisters will undoubtedly think this is too funny not to share...)  We are learning lots and getting to know our city, although we definitely know we are still new!!

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

The afternoon began with a makeover at Sephora.

Our good friend Brenda works color there and had me in for a total makeover!  Even T thought she was pretty cool...

 Peacock inspired!

 It turns out Soho is really close to Chinatown, so we walked on over to Prosperity Dumpling (4.5 stars and 1,500+ reviews on Yelp!) for some pork and chive dumplings.  They are 4/$1. WAY cheaper than groceries!

We ate them in the park, which was extremely reminiscent of my time in large community parks in mainland China.  Very legit.

 Then, on to the Brooklyn Bridge!  

 This is something we intended to do when vacationing here last April, but it just didn't happen.  So we were excited to make it happen now while the weather is still good!

 And this is when she got an attitude adjustment.  

I love it when our family outings coincide with the golden hour.  Pretty spectacular!

Brooklyn with the Girls

Last week, I ventured out with 3 other moms and 10 kids to a pop up pool in Brooklyn!  It was a little ways away, but well worth it for the fun times and spectacular skyline views.  This was my first friend outing and it went so great I've gone on more since then!  I laugh at myself thinking how weird I am about managing a baby in the city when I see these girls do it with 3 kids each!  And they all have just a single stroller- their 3 year olds walk! 

Someone on the street came up and asked my friend Minde which way to Bleeker street... she told them she's "from Manhattan and doesn't know this area well, sorry!"  About 30 minutes later someone else asked me for a direction, so following Minde's lead I replied "Oh shoot, I'm from Manhattan, sorry I can't help you!"  LOL.  Like I would have known the way had we been in Manhattan, or even my neighborhood for that matter!  

T was a happy girl that day, thank heavens!  She missed both naps but held it together splendidly!

I was expecting plastic sides since it was advertised as a "pop up pool" but I guess they only got a 4 year lease, so since the land hasn't been bought it qualifies as a pop up.

Lots of water play with all the kiddos!

And an incredible lemon ginger sorbet to cool off.  Maybe not $3 for a teeny cup amazing, but definitely amazing!

I think this was the day I started to fall in love with my new city.

Chihuly Exhibit, Seattle Center

The Chihuly Garden and Grass exhibit in Seattle was on the top of July's to do list.  It was lucky I still had my old library card to get the local price, because $19 was a bit too much, but I felt fine about $15. His work is really incredible.  I sort of chase down Chihuly's work in new destinations when I visit... Jerusalem, Las Vegas, on board a cruise ship, in fancy hotels... if Chihuly's around I try to go.  So the fact that his most notable exhibition is in his/my hometown of Seattle, it was a must see!  

Enjoy!

  

We were so glad my cousin Nathan and his wife McKenna could join us!

I first saw the Exhibit in Top Chef Seattle where they come for one of the final challenges!

The one-eyed wonder himself: Dale Chihuly!

The Harlem Welcome

Yesterday was our third Sunday in the Harlem 1^st ward.   If you ever come to church with us, you will hear the Bishop explain what the sacrament is, why we take it and then at the end he will ask for new members and visitors to introduce themselves.  After each introduction, the entire congregation replies “Welcome!” in about as friendly and enthusiastic voice as you can imagine.  At first it felt quite alarming, but “The Harlem Welcome” is already become endearing and welcoming. It is so great to be in a ward where the gospel is taught each week, and where there are real walk-ins and investigators coming every week.  In that regard, this ward reminds me a lot of Costa Rica… very friendly people, unassuming, coming to church to learn the principles of the gospel and practice them.  I can tell I’m going to like it here.  There is a convert baptism this week—Michael is so excited to have the gospel, you can feel his soft heart and joy at having answers, comfort and guidance in his life.

There is one sister who I met my first Sunday who has been an exceptionally good friend to me. That first week, she sat in the hall with me during Sunday School, passing snacks between our two baby girls and visiting about life in NYC- mom style.  She answered lots of questions and gave me confidence about this endeavor. While she has 3 kids and has lived in the city over 10 years, she was really eager to find our commonalities and get me involved. She and others have said that the mom group in the ward is a no drama, happy group of friends.  She said “none of us have family out here and we all need each other.”  That week she called me three times, inviting me to various events and keeping me in the loop.  On our Brooklyn pool day, she met me at a closer stop so I wouldn’t have to go all the way alone.   Through a series of unfortunate events, I was about twenty minutes late.  Once we met up, she was nothing but happy to see me and curious about my story- not a bit miffed that she and her three young children were sweating and bored down at the platform for almost half an hour.  Is that a good friend or what!?!? 

Our ward does have a bit of Harlem flair, which adds to the thrill of testimony meeting and Sunday school commentary.  But, for the most part, the ward is made up of working professionals and a few students.  We are a very diverse ward family in race, income level and life stage. That only goes to show that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone… fashion models, people without teeth, students, elderly, single people, families, everyone!  We are glad to be part of a ward family and we are excited to be settled and getting involved!  

The Subway Stairs Story

Funniest story from the subway today, I thought I better write it down before I forget:

I was going to meet Scott downtown after T's nap.  So I got our stroller packed for a day in SoHo, Chinatown and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  The stroller was quite full and quite heavy.  Getting down the stairs to the subway causes me a considerable amount of anxiety... it's getting better with time, but I still get geared up and eager about the whole situation.  The stairway at our stop feels particularly narrow.  So today I got to the top of the stairs, and waited a long 30 seconds for a kind stranger to offer a helping hand. When nobody volunteered, I just lifted the thing up and started down the stairs myself.  A few steps down I saw another stroller coming up, so I stepped aside trying to make room for all of us.  Through this process, there was a very large man standing about 5 steps below watching the whole ordeal.  Once the other stroller passed I continued down the stairs, watching my footing and trying to get a better hold on my stroller.  When I reached the man, I realized he wasn't moving and this event was going to be even harder than I anticipated.  

Then from the bottom of the stairs turns a woman, jaw dropped open, appalled at what is going on.  She immediately looks straight at the standing man and shouts,

"Would you help her???"

After some negatory body language, she gets crazy.

(Keep in mind that here I am, between two steps awkwardly hefting the stroller and a crying baby)

Woman: "Take a look at your surroundings, and then act like a HUMAN!"

He defensively says "You don't know my situation, woman!"

Woman: "You could at least move your fat body!"

Oh baby... it was intense!

The woman then proceeds to come gently over and lift the end of the stroller all the way to the bottom of the stairs.

Once I thanked her profusely, she marched right back up there to give him some more fightin' words!  I heard them banter for at least another 2 minutes while I waited for my train.  I have a feeling this is only the first of many solo adventures on the subway stairs.