Free Prospect Park Adventures

Come jump into the Prospect Park adventure--trust me--it's magical.  It's not a pedestrian Mecca--like it's Manhattan sister--it's an experience where if you might find yourself in a silent green opening.  Fall is especially gorgeous there. If you cannot get out of the city for your fall foilage fix--this is the place to come--and absorb the rich succulent colors.

There are trees for climbing--with extraordinary knots to examine and discuss why the tree has knots and holes--and what animals are loving the cool innards of the tree.

This is not necessarily budget-friendly, but in case you wanted to know and felt the need--here is the information so you could ride a horse around Prospect Park.

Years ago, I brought a butterfly net for my four year old to attempt to catch cabbage leaf butterflies (or something like that) and one of the horse back riders stopped their horse and shouted at my dear child, "Leave those butterflies alone--they have a life too!"  Some New Yorkers are so involved----in other people's lives.  When this happens just let it roll off your back--they're just interfering people with an absurd desire to . . . interfere.

Also, my kids found it an extraordinary opportunity to collect amazing leaves, rocks and sticks.

When you get to the Prospect Park Lake, notice everything. Take a moment to breathe in the wet lake smell and then visit with the swans and ducks.  Be careful. They think anything you hand them is food. Thankfully, they were not easily fooled by the leaves my kids were attempting to feed them.

Don't forget--geese, swans and ducks--they all bite.  The honkers hissed threateningly when my daughter asked to eat some goldfish crackers (which we did not feed the animals).

I know you cannot see their faces too well, but my kids were in heaven! They loved every second by the lake. We were just supposed to walk by, but we stayed there for a half hour.

Here is the adult swan and the "teenager."  I am sure the swan went back to his/her swan buddies and said, "Dude--don't go to those kids, all they are giving are leaves.  He-llo! If I wanted a salad all I have to do is get out of the lake."

Prospect Park is a fabulous place to sit and read, walk, meditate, think, lawfully pick mushrooms for cooking, bird watching, concert absorbing, play a lot of sports, and just about anything, including driving in certain areas. 

 

Oh I love this place!

It's amazing!  We are so blessed to have the blessing of an amazing park!!! As always, public parks in NYC are free! Yay!  

Spumoni Gardens

When in Brooklyn as the Brooklyn-ans do. . . visit the pizza/ice cream hot spot!

When visiting this place right before Hurricane Irene, we were blessed (or so we thought) to park in front right after the sanitation guys convinced us that parking there would be just ducky and we would not get a ticket. Two minutes later a meter-maid showed up and told us to move our car or. else.  So, we parked . . . in the parking lot. Seriously, I had no idea it was there, but then it was--yay! How many places in Brooklyn have parking?  Thank you Spumoni Gardens for the parking spots.

We walked right up to the window and asked what most people order. The guy there answered uninterestedly," This pizza." He pointed to the one he had sliced up in front of him. So we got two pieces.

My kidlets had to visit the loo so it took a few minutes before we could sit down and enjoy the goods.  By then the pieces of pizza felt like they'd just been pulled out of the fridge.  But we ate them.  I don't get the hype--but maybe it needs to be piping hot for the tastiness to set in-I may  need to try it again with Spumoni-lovers so I can understand their zest for the place.

 This is the kid's piece of pizza. Truth be told I think they were completely focused on the ice cream.  It looked tastier before. They told me it had too much sauce and not enough cheese. They're used to Dominoes cheese smothered pizza so this comes as no surprise.

Children's Museum of Art in Manhattan

Picasso's quote is on the bathroom door.  It says, "Every child is an artist--the problem is remaining an artist once we grow up."

 This is the stairwell.  It looks so delightful.

A couple of weeks ago we went to this fabulous museum in China town. It is so fun and lovely.We went on a Thursday and after school it is pay-what-you-wish (which fits very well into our budget).

The kids walked around with wide eyes looking at every single option. The entire museum is filled with tables for kids to make their own art. The night we went they had flubber (not pictured), paper folding, painting with bottles of paint, watercolor paints, beading, drawing, play dough and other exciting things.   We are definitely going to go again. 

It was very convenient to be able to sit in one room (minus the downstairs) and know that you could see all your kids at the same time if you need (I have three--I could see them most of the time or walk five feet and check on them.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden again

Oh the wonders of a grasshopper. He was taken captive for a
short time, but released unharmed.

Plant Spider, in the childrens garden.

This is where the classes go for their summer classes.

Do you feel more peaceful now? The Japanese Garden is quite soothing and beautiful.

I think I would totally do a photo shoot next to the
Japanese Garden.

I could not figure out why the fish were gathering for meal time
until I realized that my kidlets were dropping in cereal they smuggled out
of my bag.

Governor's Island

You should come to Governor's Island!
Super cost-efficient!
Free bike rides for 1 hour on Friday (even with a kid seat on the bike--yay).

Free Mini Golf--my kidlets loved it!

Touchable art exhibit--the kids love it. They have a delightful drum set that is loud.

It's an old historically significant military base.