Coney Island

For the first time since we moved here, we took the F train south to the end of the line at Coney Island. We thought we should see Coney Island at least once while we are living in Brooklyn. I read about a sandcastle contest going on this weekend so we went to check it out. It was a very hot, humid day yesterday and with virtually no shade on the boardwalk, we got quite sticky and gross. We headed to the water to find a nice breeze. It was my first time walking on a true East Coast beach, complete with lifeguard chairs, long piers and sprawling sand.


We saw another piece of New York history, the famous Cyclone roller coaster. You can see it here behind Ethan. Unfortunately, the 80-year-old wooden coaster was closed. Maybe next time...

What's a visit to Coney Island without a world famous Nathan's hot dog and some lemonade?

Sometime in August we plan on seeing a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game. They are the Mets Single A team and they play at Keyspan Park, which is on Coney Island. And maybe we'll go out to see the Staten Island Yankees play too.

Picnic at BBG

We got a family membership to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens back in April. We found out about certain members only events, including sunset picnics. Normally, the Gardens close at 6 pm, but every Wednesday in the summer, they let members stay until late. And the last Wednesday of each month, members can bring a picnic dinner and eat on the grass. This is a treat because food is not allowed into the Gardens on other days. So we packed our sandwiches and headed there after work. We found the Children's Garden, which had a huge vegetable garden, flowers, garden art, and interpretive signs.

The Leak

I mentioned the leak in our ceiling in the last post. Here's what it looked like:



We had another rainstorm on Monday and came home to find another mess. Luckily, we had put a bucket under the hole and it caught most of the water. The unlucky part was that curious Luna knocked it over soon after I got home and the mattress got wet again.



The super came this morning to fix the damage since NY is supposed to have thunderstorms all weekend. I hope this leak is fixed for good because Ethan and I are tired of sleeping on the air mattress.....

Steam Pipe Rupture

I'm sure you've all heard about the steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Station. I didn't hear about it until I got home from work, but the news footage was pretty intense. And a little scary to think that there are 83 yr old steam pipes still being used in Manhattan.

Wednesday was a crazy day weatherwise as well. There was a HUGE rainstorm happening as I walked to the subway in the morning. An umbrella or raincoat was useless to this type of rain. There were rivers in the streets that I had to wade through to get across to the other side. People think it rains a lot in Seattle, but I'd take Seattle rainstorms any day rather than the ones in NY. When I got home from work Wednesday night, I had a surprise waiting for me in the apartment. Water had gotten into the ceiling and leaked through the plaster and dumped out on our bed. Awesome. We are sleeping on the air mattress until the super fixes the damage.

Battery Park City

We heard a rumor about a movie theater in Manhatan that is practically empty on the weekends. One of Ethan's coworker's told him about Battery Park City, which is on the lower west side of downtown Manhattan. It's a city within a city, with it's own movie theater, parks, and mall. The World Financial Center is in Battery Park City and the WTC site is across the Westside Expressway. Ethan and I saw the new Harry Potter in a non-crowded theater (what a luxury!). Afterwards, we walked towards the Hudson River and discovered one of the coolest parks ever! Nelson Rockefeller Park is a waterfront park that has a playground, basketball courts, nice green grass, and ping pong and pool tables on the boardwalk.

For those who have seen the movie "Mad, Hot Ballroom", this room will look familiar. It's in the World Financial Center Mall.

As we walked around Battery Park City, we began to see some really muscular women. There must have been a bodybuilding contest in NYC this weekend. I tried to be very discreet when I took this photo but it looks like I was caught....

Shakespeare or Transformers?

Ethan and I went to Central Park yesterday to try our luck at scoring Shakespeare in the Park tickets for Romeo and Juliet. Tickets are free and handed out from 1-3 pm on the day of the show. We showed up at noon and were greeted with a line about a quarter mile long. The park opens at 6 am and apparently, judging from the sleeping bags, blankets and even some mattresses, people had been camping out since then. We got in line just for the fun of it and around 1:15, a theater employee told us that we were too far back to get tickets. If we didn't get in line before 7:30 am we didn't have a chance of getting tickets. He also told us that we could wait in the standby line and hope to get tickets that way. BUT we'd have to stay in line until the show started, which was 8 pm. No thanks. I wanted to see the play, but not THAT badly.

So, with the rest of our day free from standing in line, we took the train back downtown to Times Square. We generally try to avoid this part of town, especially on the weekend, but it does have 2 of the best movie theaters in town. We went to the AMC -25 screens- and got tickets for Transformers. I don't think I watched the cartoon much when I was a kid, but I do remember the toys being really cool. This was the most entertaining movie we've seen in a long time. The special effects are unbelievable ---those CGI film guys are good. Go see it!

4th of July

Our first 4th of July in NYC came on a Wednesday, I hate it when that happens. Ethan and I made plans to take to F train to the Brooklyn Promenade, but at the last minute decided not to brave the rain and crowds and stay home. We had Flags of our Fathers on DVD and decided that was our patriotic act for the day. Until we realized that we could see part of the Macy's fireworks show from our living room window! We got to see the top of the show and had the TV tuned in as well so we could see the full show. It was definitely the most amazing and longest fireworks show we've ever seen. There are 3 barges set up on the East River that shoot off the explosives simultaneously. We need to see the show in person next year. I know that the family firework fanatics would enjoy it too. (Dad, Andy, Matthew, etc...)

These two are some of the photos I took from our window. My digital camera doesn't do too well with fireworks....but you get the idea.

Here's what we would have seen from the Promenade. Next year.....

The Ducks

You know you've seen them around town, downtown maybe or in Fremont. You've heard the blaring music and the "captain" shouting at passing pedestrians. One day during our visit we decided to experience the "Ride the Ducks" tour. Our cheesy driver, who probably tells the same jokes and plays the same music on each tour, drove us to the waterfront, downtown, on 99, and to Lake Union. The best part was when we drove into the water from the boat ramp and motored around the lake. As a tourist for the day, here are some photos from the Duck:

The Duck ahead of us entering Lake Union.

Gasworks Park

Anyone watch "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel? Here's on of the Seattle based boats moored on the lake.

Downtown Seattle --- looks tiny compared to Manhattan. I always thought Seattle was a big city until I saw NYC. Seattle is the perfect size.

The famous "Sleepless in Seattle" houseboat.

Vashon Trolley Video

Vashon

We took a trip out to the cabin on Vashon. The big windstorm in December had snapped the cable for the trolley so we got to ride the new and improved version. The zipline seemed to be faster. Make sure you are going feet first or you'll bump into the tree at the bottom! All four of us took a turn and I tried out my video setting on my camera to get an action shot of Ethan.

Seeing Friends and Family

We did our best to see everyone while we were home. We had two family parties, went out to dinner with friends and went to a wedding. It was nice to see you all and catch up. It felt like we had never left!

Lisa and Chase's wedding (SPU friends)

Dinner with my teaching program buddies

On the Vashon ferry

Reuniting with childhood friend Kate

I apologize for Ethan not being part of these photos. Unfortunately, he didn't have the camera with him when he visited his old squadmates. Next time!

Our First Anniversary

We celebrated our first year of marriage with brunch at Salty's with my parents, welcoming Junior back to Seattle at the Mariners game, steaks at the Metropolitan Grill and a night at a swanky Hotel 1000.

Griffey waving to the fans. (He hit 2 HR's and the M's won. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome!).

We were on the 11th floor of the Hotel 1000, which was also celebrating their one year anniversary in June. We had a great view of the Sound and a room bigger than our apartment.

We were in awe of the bathtub with a faucet opening on the ceiling! Can you see the stream of water?

The view from the room was a great reminder at how beautiful the Northwest is and of how much we miss being home. Only 2.3 more years until we can request to move back...

66 Hot Dogs

Did anyone see the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest today? We decided not to brave the crowd at Coney Island. We stayed home and on ESPN watched Joey Chestnut eat 66 hot dogs (with buns!)to beat 6 time champ Kobayashi. It's unbelievable that a human stomach can hold 66 dogs and it was pretty grotesque to watch. I think it will be a long time before I eat a hot dog.

Happy 4th everyone!

June Homecoming

We just returned from a 9 day visit in Seattle. It was great to be home and Luna was the only reason we came back to Brooklyn. (Okay, I guess we wanted to keep our jobs also). I'm a little jet-lagged and am heading to bed. I'll post Seattle photos in a few days.

Luna did everything she could to keep us from leaving her home alone.

Roses Galore

In order to make the most of our annual membership, we walked through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) during the Rose Festival. The rose bushes were in full bloom and there were many wedding parties taking advantage of the colorful backgrounds for their wedding pictures.

Guess he didn't like that one...

Danica, here's the rose I was telling you about. It's yours!

So now we've covered Spring and Summer in the BBG. Stay tuned for Fall and Winter. The Gardens are mostly filled with deciduous trees, so I can't wait to see the yellows, oranges and reds come Fall.