The Never-Ending Summer

Man, am I missing the year-round school system about now.  The kids would have been back in school for two weeks already back home...

With no summer camp this week, I did my best to keep us all entertained.  This week's theme somehow became eating and reading our way through Manhattan.

The kids and I hit some yummy bakeries and teahouses:

 A shop that sells only rice crispy treats (in dozens of flavors)

 Tea and strawberry shortcake

An Alice in Wonderland themed teahouse

And even a grilled cheese truck!

I snuck a couple zucchinis into the kids' diet this week with this delicious Chocolate Zuccini Bread (using organic zucchinis from our farm box)

After a week of indulgences, the kids had their teeth cleaned.

We came upon this children's reading area in Bryant Park.  There was a big bin of children's books and the kids read for a solid hour here.

They also did a lot of cafe reading.  We hit the library three times this week!  They're both getting close to the 10 books required this summer to make it onto the Wall of Fame at school and get lunch with the principal.

Yesterday was a bit rainy so we finally made it to the Swedish Marionette Theatre in Central Park.  It has been a landmark in the park for decades and this month's play is my all-time favorite, Pippi Longstocking.

The puppeteers came out afterwards and demonstrated to the audience how marionettes work.  It's a lot harder than it looks.

The rain stopped while we were inside so we enjoyed a nice picnic in the Shakespeare Garden after the play.  Holden kept proclaiming it the most beautiful garden he has ever seen (there were a TON of butterflies).

And today we used some free passes we had to the Children's Museum of the Arts.  It was our second visit but they are constantly changing up what arts and crafts activities they have available for the kids, so it was like it was new all over again.  We spent a good three to four hours there.

 Holden loved the weaving.

Ella drawing a self-portrait.

The highlight of the day was an interactive exhibit they had going on where they tape bubble wrap to the kids' feet and let them step in paint and then dance around.  They never wanted to leave.

 

How cool is that??

The things that made me smile this week came from notes we found from the kids:

This is what Holden thinks of Kevin's summertime homework list.

It never hurts to ask.