NY - Pictures Only Edition

I am hopelessly late with this post, so it's going to be pretty much pictures only.

So this one is of M on a deck a couple of days before Hurricane Irene went through the area.

And this one - a few hours before the hurricane. Notice the difference? Yep, this gave us (mostly Grandma, really) something to do. We (mostly she) were busy clearning the yard and lemme tell you, it never looked this nice!

Then there was also plenty of baking with Grandma (she's trying all those no-gluten recipes). M actually created his own recipe for a crispy cracker-like bread and mixed dough. Then we baked it and, surprisingly it was very good!

We did spend a few days post-hurricane without electricity, which at my parents' house also means without water. And M did get sick. But all's well that ends well. So we celebrated with a little get-together.

Also, grilled with Grandma

And tried out Uncle's motorcycle

Then one day, tired of staying in and our the house, I offered M a trip to the Bronx Zoo. And he said "NO WAY!". And that's how we ended up at the Intrepid instead.

And it was a huge win for all of us (Grandpa, M and myself) since we all enjoyed it. First, we looked at all the airplanes on the flight deck

Then we climbed all the way up to the captain's bridge for a nice view of the Downtown.

We then went to the lower decks where there was a museum with a very hands-on area for children (and yes, their parents). And as it turned out, there was a life-size model of Mercury landing capsule, complete with all the buttons and switches and all that. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you can guess what M was busy with for the next hour or so.

Nothing else could match the excitement of the capsule. Not even going onto a real submarine!

And the next day we also went fishing with Grandpa. Let me tell you, last time I went fishing, I was like in elementary school and it was boring. But this time we went to this little pond full of sunfish and in 4 minutes we caught 4 fish.

They were tiny and we were too glad to release them back. M liked fishing, but not the fish themselves who seemed to scare him with all the flapping and jumping. Plus they were cold and wet and slippery and overall not very pleasant to touch, as M noted.

Weeks 8 and 9 - Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

These two weeks zoomed by so fast that didn't have a chance to update my blog. Things were constantly changing. For example, in the space of 3 days our departure date (from NY) changed 4 times!

As you might know, Chris had to come home earlier than planned because he took a nasty fall (actually, a series of 7 or so nasty falls). As a result, he is on crutches for the next few weeks. What was at first thought to be a nasty sprain is in fact a full-blown fructure. So here ya go - a BIG change.

Then a bit out of a blue I had a pretty big and extremely urgent project for one of my clients. In fact, I was so busy with it that I had to put a few other biz projects on the back burner. And then I had to catch up on those...

But we still managed to have some fun and get some stuff other than work done.

During our last week or so in NY, M got into building with unit blocks. Most of the stuff he built was part of his Space Exploration program - a house for the astronauts (see above), another building where they'd train for the missions (see below), a launch complex, a hangar for the space shuttle, etc.

There was also a huge change in how he built them. He used to ask me for help balancing the blocks or even coming up with design ideas. But lately he's been building completely on his own. Which obviously makes me very happy and proud.

Now the only thing he asks from me is to take his picture next to his latest creation.

The weather cleared up some. Even though it still remained very cold, at least the snow melted. It started to feel like spring! Change in the weather meant that M and Grandpa could finally launch some real rockets. You can imagine the excitement!

No snow meant that we could finally go to a playground. Sure, there was mud all over the place, but that just upped the fun factor. Except on the first day when it was so cold that after about 20 minutes M asked me if we could go home already.

In our last week in NY we spent quite a lot of time in the backyard. M got to sit in Grandpa's new airplane! And check out the first greens in Grandma's veggie garden. We also played soccer with this huge dirty mostly deflated Chuck E. Cheese-themed ball. Even Grandpa got in on the action.

We also built this structure (above) from a playhouse someone junked and Grandpa picked up months ago. Do you know what this is? Nope, it's not a house or a castle. And it's not a rocket or a space station or a space shuttle.

Ok, I'm going to tell you - it's a ship. A regular ocean-going ship. M was the captain and I was both the crew and the passengers. My responsibilities were few and consisted mostly of saying "Ay Ay, Captain!". The captain, on the other hand, stayed very busy making snacks and coffee in the galley, appearing on the deck only to fight sharks.

Back indoors we did a couple of projects. I came up with one after seeing this idea on a couple of blogs. This is an art-science project since it combines painting with pendulum action. The set up is very simple - a funnel suspended from a broomstick and filled with paint. It got pretty messy, but M was really into it (and he still doesn't like messing with paint). In fact, he chose the colors and operated the pendulum. He then got into mixing colors with a stirring stick.

The second project was M's own invention. He actually got so into it that he was at it for almost 2 hours straight and then continued on and off for the next couple of days. The setup was much more elaborate and included a printer paper box, some leftover cardboard (from building our hexbug habitat), a large pot, an old broken tripod, lots of sticks, pinecones, and pieces of wood and a space heater (set on low for safety). So what do you think this whole thing is? Ok, I'm going to tell you right away 'cause you won't guess in a million years. Ready? It's a machine for making rainbow-colored hay from ground lunar stones (which explains the moon on the floor in the backgroud). At least it was that on Day 1. On Day 2 the setup was simplified a bit and became a bonfire so we could all warm ourselves up.

In between all this fun we also managed to make it to Brighton Beach. I promised myself not to get M more Russian books this time (I bought him a ton in the last few weeks). But you know me - I can't resist good books. And the ones I saw at the Kids' World store were fantastic. Plus Grandpa insisted on footing the bill. So M got about 6-7 more books, including an awesome Encyclopedia of Space Exploration, this time - in Russian. Then I went to the bookstore for grownups and bought a few more books, this time - for myself, mostly about Russian history and language.

And then it was time to pack and leave. We had to get a mini-van to fit all the stuff we were taking with us even though I left quite a few books and toys and most our winter clothes in the attic. But in all fairness, we had 3 adults, a child, a cat and a pair of crutches to fit into the car. Why 3 adults? My brother volunteered to help us with the move back (I told ya last year - he is (mostly) an angel). And now we're finally back home! Well, we've actually been back for almost a week already, but that's another story.

Week 7 - Science Museum

If I remember correctly, that's when we went to the Liberty Science Center in NJ. It was a cold and windy day... And I had a head cold or something like that. So my memory is a bit fuzzy when it comes to the details.

First we took the train to Hoboken, NJ. A real-life double-decker train (guess which deck we were on) that moved snail-like from one station to the next until just over an hour later it reached Hoboken.

Usually this train is empty on Saturday mornings (or was it a Sunday morning?). But not this time. Hoboken was having a pre-St. Patrick's day parade and drink-fest that day. So every platform was full of drunk revelers and the train cars were choke-full, standing room only, after just 3 or 4 stops. Good thing we got in at the first stop and had to get out at the last one. The downside - spilts beer all over the train and some drunks chanting "drink up-drink up-drink up" for like 30 mins straight.

Why did I have to take M's car seat with me, you ask? 'Cause we weren't going to take the train on the way back, but instead ride in a nice BMW car. But here's M familiarizing himself with the local real estate market while waiting for the train.

Before going to the museum we stopped by J's place (my brother's girlfriend who sacrificed a huge chunk of her day to be our cab driver. Thanks, J!) She has this awesome dog, Guinness. Isn't he adorable?! And he is super smart too and very nice with kids. So not only did M get to give him some treats and play with him, but also was able to walk him for a little bit (with our supervision, of course).

Finally, the museum... What can I tell you? It's awesome and huge and absolutely overwhelming. Full of people too, but I s'pose everything is on a weekend. So we went to almost all the exibits except for the Sensory Tunnel one. I didn't think M would've liked it (they warn you to prepare for 10 minutes of crawling on all fours in a sensory maze in pitch dark). And I didn't feel all that well to drag him through it on my back. Maybe next time.

But him and Arkadiy did go on a space roller-coaster simulator. And tried their hands at controlling a mini-excavator. And drilled for oil. And dredged the Hudson River. Plus we got to see all sorts of interesting things about germs, watched an operating theater in action (a banana was getting staple-ectomy done by a couple of 6-year olds).

And we went outside for a breath of air and a great photo op, but just for a few seconds - it was windy and M wanted to get back, like RIGHT AWAY. Oh, and also created giant soap bubbles and attempted to control a neuclear reactor, a hydroelectro station, a wind turbine and something else equally awesome with lost of buttons and levers and lights (I think it was a laser beam).

All said and done, by 5pm (the closing time), we found ourselves in the museum's store. M wanted some more Space stuff, but I put my foot down and said he could get 1 small thing that was not space-themed. So instead he got himself a hex bug. But I'll talk about this separately since it's so cool.

Then it was time to walk Guinness again and head home. Needless to say, M fell asleep half-way. He was actually so tired that he didn't wake up when I moved him from the car to the bed and changed him into PJs.

The next day he wanted to paint something. Here's what he painted.

The description that he gave me: "Mama, this is something glassy with stinky beer and it fell on the floor and broke into lots of pieces. And then here is a big germ!"

Where Are We and Why?

Where - my parents' house in Rockland County, NY.

Why - because we had to since Chris is away on training for a couple of months.

The really big question on my mind is "Will it work out?". I'm a bit scared 'cause

• the house is really small
• the on-demand water heater nightmare
• it's winter in NY meaning limited driving for me (plus I hate driving here anyway with all the traffic)
• not much to do - it's a suburb with practically nothing going on within reasonable driving distance. Not in the winter anyway. Not compared to Raleigh.

On the plus side, my parents are always very happy to see us and are always there to help me out with M. So I can maintain my crazy work-homeschooling-no-life-to-speak-of balance and not worry about how to manage it all if I were to get sick. So in a way, I am a lot more relaxed.

Plus I'm armed with about a billion activities to keep M busy with. Plus all the day trips we can potentially go on - really exciting!

For now we're still settling in and arranging our bedroom. The cat is getting used to the new surroundings as well (yeah, we took him with us). I need to go to a few stores to stock up on supplies and essentials such as arts and crafts stuff, building blocks, and a kid-size table. So Michaels and IKEA are on my list of places to stop by. Except that we've been in the house for the last two days because of the really bad weather. Oh well, there's always tomorrow (actually, there'll be some more nasty weather tomorrow).

Chocolate and Grapes

This week M watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie. You know, the updated one with Johnny Depp. It's funny 'cause last time we tried showing it to him, back in January, he could care less for it. But now, it's a whole different story. Not only he loves it, but he even plays pretend chocolate factory. He's building one out of a ball of twine, a mailing tube, a workout mat, a bunch of pebbles and quite a few pretend components that noone but him can see. He even puts pretend gloves on, just like Willy Wonka! BTW, he figured out why he needs those gloves - so that his hands don't get sticky from all the chocolate.

As for the grapes, we finally found a pick-your-own vineyard, Lu Mil, growing Scuppernongs and Muscadines. It was quite a drive too, all the way in Elizabethtown, NC. But I think it was worth it. The place is really beautiful and my pictures don't do it any justice.

Picking grapes is much easier and more enjoyable than picking strawberries. So even though we spent plenty of time just running between the rows of grapes, looking for the biggest Muscadines and for huge insects, and snapping photos, we picked a nice bucket of grapes really quickly.

Then we got some grape cider slushies (great stuff!) and retired to a shaded patio to enjoy it. Except, of course, that M kept running back into the store to check out the old gramophone that they had as part of their room decor. He loved it since, of course, it worked and the did have an old record on it too! He kept spinning the record, but of course got little except noise and some garbled sounds now and then. Still, he was excited and said that we should buy a gramophone.

This is his new thing - "we should buy" this and that. Yesterday it was a puppy. A few days ago it was a different car. Then it was a chocolate factory, of course, and a cotton candy-making machine. And now it's this - gramophone. Well, I don't know about buying one, but we can probably make one pretty easily. Something to think about...

Today, when I asked M what was his most favorite part of the day (something of a ritual we have now every night before going to bed), he said "Going to pick grapes with you and Papa. We are going to go back, right?". Gotta love this kiddo!

Phillipsburg Manor x 2

Did I mention that I love touring Historic Hudson Valley?! Our first week in NY we went to Van Cortland Manor and our second week I wanted to see Washington Irving's Sunnyside and also Phillipsburg Manor. We went to Phillipsburg first and liked it so much that we went there again just 2 days later. What a great place for kids to run around and explore! And for this particular kid, Mr. M, this place - with a working flour mill, a barn, a large kitchen garden and lots of farm animals - is as close to perfect as it gets (oh, and the ice-cream shop is just down the road so yes, it is perfect).

Both times M's first and the longest stop was at the flour mill. He's absolutely obsessed with mills and particularly with all the gears and axels and millstones. The first time we went with a small tour, but the second time we were the only ones at the mill and the miller offered to do the demonstration just for us! Super cool!

M got so worked up about the mill that when he found an old millstone in a gazebo by the dairy building he spent at least half an hour pretending that it was his mill and explaining to us how the mill operated in an excited mix of Russian and English words.

We had a hard time getting him away from his "mill" to look at the giant yellow caterpillar, a huge batterfly and to smell different herbs in the kitchen garden. He did perk up when I mentioned that they grew licorice, but got disappointed when he didn't see any candy hanging off the plant.

Fortunately there were farm animals. First time a cow got close to the fense and licked M's knee. You should've seen how happy that made him. Unfortunately, on our second visit both the cows and the lambs were too far away, in a shade (smart), but we watched the chickens and got to meet the resident cat, Moses.

And even though the admission price is pretty steep ($12 for adults, kids under 5 are free), we plan on going there again on the next visit.

Second Week in NY...

... is over and we're back home now. I've been so busy with work (good) that I had no time to even upload all the pictures (bad-bad-bad). Check out a really cool letter T that M fashioned out of acorns on one of our walks.

I'm experiencing some kind of writer's block, by the way, so will likely rely on pictures since the exchange rate is so favorable - 1 picture = 1000 words.

So here we go, our second week in NY:

I can't say that we did much. We did go to Brooklyn, more specifically - to Brighton Beach. I wanted to take pictures there for one of my work projects. Needless to say, I also planned on spending major $$$ on books. Fortunately, my favorite store there, St. Petersburg Kniga aka RusKniga improved dramatically in the past year. They now have excellent children's books from some of the best publishers in Russia, including M's favorite series "Жили-были кролики". Plus I got quite a few awesome and surprisingly inexpensive reference books for myself.

The unexpected side-effect of this trip was a rifle-making project my dad and M worked on for our last 2 days in NY. But let me preface by saying that we are not a gun-toting family, nor have membership in NRA. Both Chris and I know how to shoot. I even tried skits once or twice which was totally embarrassing, but a lot of fun.

But you know, boys are boys. Through a combination of things - playdates with older boys, illustrations in books, visiting historical battle reenactments, playing with water guns - M got really excited about guns and pistols.

So little wonder that when he saw a toy rifle at a toy store in Brooklyn he really wanted to have one. Unfortunately, it was not only fairly expensive, but it was extremely cheaply made. So instead I promised M that дедушка would make one for him.

Turns out, it's really a cool project and something that both my dad and M enjoyed working on. The result is pretty awesome-looking too considering that the whole thing was fashioned out of a scrap of plywood, 2 plastic clothes hangers, a spare coil, a length of black hemming ribbon and a leftover black spray paint.

One of the days last week was so stinking hot, that I gave up on playing outside and took M to the air-conditioned mall. Turns out, the kiddo had a blast there running around, climbing all over the toy rides, observing glass-paneled elevators, and looking at all the interesting things in the stores. He loved it so much that he informed me that "молл - это классно и прикольно". Of course it is cool and fun - he got a pair of helicopter jeans (no worries, those are regular jeans, but with wings embroidered on the back pocket and with a real belt with a real belt buckle, "like papa's!"), a jembe drum and a xylophone out of it (plus a small wooden cat figurine that he promptly refashioned into what else - a pistol).

I didn't get out empty-handed either. After much salivating over a pair of skanky heels, I ended up getting a pair of jeans and a T-shirt at Delia*s (ah, it's so nice to know that I can still fit comfortably into size 3/4 in a store that caters to teenagers).

Ok, I'm going to write some more while I have the time, but since it's on a different subject, it'll be in a separate post.