Island Hopping

This is the time in New York when the weather is perfect.  It won't last long.  Any day now it will be too muggy and humid to even sit in the park for more than 15 minutes.  But now there's sunshine and a cool breeze and the living is easy.

Ella and I spent Saturday over in Queens at a genealogy festival.  No really.  One of my very good childhood friends has become an avid genealogist and has even published a book about one of his Swiss ancestors who traveled through South America in the mid-1800s.  He was a featured speaker at the Global Family Reunion this weekend and I was so proud to watch him speak about what his research has meant to him.  Ella and I were able to sneak away and see a couple other speakers as well, including Henry Louis Gates, which was exciting.

 

Kevin and I celebrated twelve wonderful years of marriage on Sunday.  It was our first since having kids where we didn't get a sitter and go out on our own.  We celebrated with the kids this year and had a really great day.  It started with an away game for Ella's softball team.  We woke early and traveled down to Chelsea and watched an exciting game.  A woman who played on the Olympic softball team for the Dominican Republic in 1976 even pitched the game for us.  She was so funny and got the girls really revved up.

Miss Ella rounding third

From there we headed to the bottom of the island and hopped on a ferry over to Governors Island.  Governors Island is only open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend and only on the weekends.  The city has put a lot of money into making it an amazing destination - beautiful parks and bike trails, picnic areas, playgrounds.  It's a really fun way to spend a day and must be NYC's most hidden gem.  We checked it out a couple years ago but even since then they've added so much.  They happened to be having a mini-Burning Man type festival this weekend, complete with a Hoola Hoop field, costume tents, and music around every corner.  We lucked out.

Costume tent

Mini golf in the shadow of the World Trade Center

Playing catch with Lady Liberty watching on

Without much planning it turned out to be one of my favorite anniversaries yet. 

Today was our first official day of summer vacation!  We slept in a bit, fueled up at Starbucks, and then met up with friends in Central Park.  After some picnic time in Sheep Meadow we made our way to the lake and did something I've wanted to do since we moved here two-and-a-half years ago...rented row boats!  The weather was perfect, the company was so fun, and the turtles were out in full force.  Just a perfect way to start our summer.

 

Thank you to super-mama Julie for a great day!