Mimi Marlene Goes to New York City

Well, here we are at Pino's Pizza for my special Mother's Day lunch with Annie and Bee. (It is hard doing a self portrait well. Sorry Bee!) Pizza was yummy! We also went to a Park Slope bakery to share a dessert. Thanks Annie!

Here we are at Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful, and on Tuesday's it is free!

Bee loves to play in the water and throw as many leaves as she can find into the flowing pond. We were there at least 10 minutes. That's a long time for a 19 month old!

Bee loves holding her own food. She loves to eat wherever we go. This is an egg burrito Annie has brought along for her.

Bee is styling in her sunglasses.

I love her curly hair! I told her many times she was my "Curly Girly."

Bee is standing her ground here. She did not want to follow her mommy. In just a few seconds, she goes down a path to her right. I had to chase her down and talk her back to our path. Funny!

The big diaper box came and it was her playbox all the time I was there. She got rides and spun around in it. It was her baby house, etc. She really enjoyed this box!
Annie found new baby diapers for free by one of the stoops. Bee is diapering all her babies with the 4 diapers her mom gave her. The rest will be going to her friend Hillary who was due on Memorial Day. (We did not hear from Hillary before I left on June 3rd... So, no baby yet, I guess. I did get to meet her mom who was in NYC from Bakersfield waiting for her grand baby to appear.)

Cory took me to Mother's Day dinner at "Song," a Thai place in Park Slope. My Chicken Pad Thai was the best I have ever eaten! The serving was huge, the place was hip and upbeat with candles on every table. The price was amazing for under $7, I got 2 meals out of my 1 serving!

On Wednesday morning, we walked to the end of the block, crossed the street, and we were at Prospect Park. It is an amazing place for people and animals to enjoy! This is a playground that has water features among the many playground facilities. Bee got on her water clothes and shoes and got to splash in the water. What fun!

Because it was going to be the hottest day of the year so far at 91 degrees, Annie, Bee, Bryna, Felix and I took the subway out to the NYC Aquarium at Cony Island. Here we are at the sea lion show. We did not stay for all the show..... it was too hot.

We moved inside to the air conditioned exhibits. We had a snack down party by a huge fish tank. It was fun letting the toddlers wander and hang out in the cool buildings. Each mom had plenty of snacks for all to share. There was some controversy over the blue berries. Felix did not want to share with Bee because they are his favorite. Bee loves them too. Bryna was a great referee for the toddlers! :)

Thursday morning we got ready to go to the Prospect Park Zoo. (You know, almost across the street from their apartment.) Bee put on her Farm Dress and all the necklaces I brought her from California.
Bee loves to feed the sheep. For a quarter, you can buy small pellets to give the animals. Bee gives them one by one. This is a patient sheep!Goats get fed too! There are many animals at this local park zoo, both wild and tame. It was a fun morning!

When we got home, Bee insisted on daddy putting on her ballerina shoes. These are house shoes she loves to wear. Later that evening, we went out for Mediterranean food. Bee got her own red bean salad, hummus, and fresh handmade pita bread

Annie's Pitza... Pitza, because it is on a freshly made pita bread with Pizza toppings.

Cory ordered this.... I don't remember what it was called. I had a pitza too, but I guess my picture did not download. Yummy!

Bee loves to play with her babies. She is a great mommy to them. She moves them from place to place all day long. She is getting necklaces for them. She usually lays down by them for a minute and then moves on to another place like the couch in the other room, the chairs, tent, or the box. These babies have a wonderful life with Bee as their momma!

Friday we went to the Brooklyn Children's Museum. We were a little early, so we played in the next door park for about 20 minutes until it opened at 10 am. Bee loves to swing, but mostly she loves to slide. I have some great videos of her sliding. This is a very fun museum for kids to play and imagine many things to do. Here Bee is making us Pizza. All the things are there for a full restaurant experience. She made it, baked it, rang it up on the register, got dishes for the table.

Here we are enjoying our pizza!


We went grocery shopping. She picked out many things, checked them out, conveyored them back into a return cart, and restocked the shelves. (This day, we had most of the areas to ourselves. Many kids were in the museum on field trips, but we easily avoided those areas.)

Here we are learning to write Chinese characters. There are a lot to learn!!!!

We went upstairs to the Japanese exhibit. We had a tea party and did many things the children in Japan do.

Magnet board with leaves to put up. She did them all!
After Bee's nap, we went into Manhattan. Here is Cory and Bee in the Magic School Bus display at Scholastic Book Store. Fun Fun Fun!!!

Bee loved holding this paper umbrella in "The Pearl." Oriental gifts, food, clothes, you name it, they probably have it in this Soho store. What a big girl walking down the Manhattan streets with her Mommy and Daddy.

So we went to an Indian restaurant called Hampton Chutney Co. Bee and I shared a Dosas with avocado, fresh tomatoes, arugula and jack cheese. The sandwich was wider than the tray on the diagonal!!! 2 meals for under $9 out of that huge sandwich!

After dinner, we went to Moma Design Store. We found this Bee backpack. It was a must have for my little Bee. She wore it all around the store while riding the wooden trike provided by one of the store employees. She was busy and the adults got to shop! Bee loves her bee!
On the way home we walked through the Friday night celebrations in Little Italy. Then on to Canal street for some bargaining shopping for scarves, tee shirts, and a purse. Cory took us to a wonderful Chinese bakery called Fay Da Bakery. Everything was very low priced. My chocolate torte was 95 cents and very yummy! Annie got a huge Red Bean sweet roll for 95 cents as well! We saved them for when we got home, because we were still full from dinner.

Saturday morning Bee and I played. Here she has even more of her babies! What a fun time we had!
In the morning we went to "The Best Flea Market in NYC" a quote from Martha Stewart! Then on to Target. For those of you who have not been to a 2 story target store, I took a picture how you get your basket up to the 2nd floor. The carts have their own escalator! (The down side cart escalator was not running, so Annie had to to take the cart down on the elevator!

After Bee's nap, Cory, Bee, and I went back to the park. This path was peaceful and very wood feeling. But if you look to your right about 15 feet through the plants and trees was the sidewalk, a street, and tall buildings on the other side. You would not know you were in a big city unless you were looking for it.

Back on the paved park path at Bee's pace.

Bee saw Daddy walking with his hands in his pockets, so she had to copy. It is amazing what they watch and try to imitate!

This is the toddler area. All the parents hover! Fun to watch!Sunday morning we walked to church. Bee is wearing the Bee dress I made her. She had to bring her matching doll and handbag in her clear backpack. She looks to cute!

She doesn't always like to hold hands!

After Cory and Annie's church we went home for Bee's nap and then on to Brooklyn Tabernacle where CeCe Winans was giving a free concert. We got in line. It moved about 8 feet and then a man came out and told us that the Church was full and had to go to an "overflow" facility around the corner and across the street. That room filled up too! I don't know how many were there, but there are 10,000 weekly attendees at this church! It was huge! CeCe was fabulous, but Bee could only take about 1 hour. So we left early and went back home to rest.

For dinner, we went to an Australian sandwich shop. The food was wonderful. This is the vegetarian sandwich.I had a chicken with curry sauce.

Annie brought Bee a burrito. She was having a tough day working on cutting a left side I-tooth. After dinner, we went to Louie G Ice Cream and Italian Ice Shop. All the flavors are fabulous! I want to open one on the West Coast. They are all East Coast located, because we contacted them on the internet and they got right back to us!

Walking home in Park Slope, we passed this fire station. It had to snap a picture of the firemen just sitting out in front talking to whoever walked by.

Memorial Day, we rested in the morning. We took Bee to the park in the afternoon. She had a great time! She spent about 10 minutes on this drawing. She was really into making the hair on her kitty picture. She pointed and said, "Yaya." her name for cats!

See the parents hovering! Cory said they live in an area where everyone is very serious about parenting!

Bee loves to hang on bars. I have a video where she hangs almost 30 seconds without anyone helping or holding her. She has great upper body strength!Of course, Daddy wasn't too far away! Oh, I might mention the scab on her forehead. She missed the last step infront of their apartment the day before I came. They are called toddlers for a reason!

Relaxing in the park.

Cory put together the dragon kite. It was really cool!Bee kept pointing to the kite and saying..."BeeBee's."

Cory wanted Bee to share the experience by holding the handle. I'm not sure she really got it, but it was a cute picture.

On Tuesday, Jennifer and baby Oscar invited us over for a breakfast treat. There were 6 babies and mom's there. 4 boys and Bee! She holds her own with the guys!Jennifer is in the Black top and Oscar is in the green shirt standing on one of his toys! Thanks to Jennifer for the nice time and inviting me!

2 houses away from Cory and Annie's house, a neighbor has planted a beautiful flower bed. He has his 3rd floor apartment up for sale right now if you are interested, it is listed for $750,000. Bee and I were just happy to pose by the garden.

Tuesday night, we went out for pizza. Here is Cory's choice. Bee got toppings from Annie's pizza and garlic bread knots.Here is my mushroom and red pepper pizza. Only $3 and filling!!!

Here's Annie's pizza. Pino's Pizza was a fun place.Right across the street from the pizza place is the school Bee will attend for Kindergarten. We took advantage of their playground while Cory ran to Louie G's for Italian Ice for our dessert.

Bee loves slides!She is just starting up this one.

She looks determined! And, she makes it to top!My last day to play with Bee was a fun time! She dressed in all her jewelry and we enjoyed the entire morning together while Cory and Annie went to the DMV to get New York driver's liscences. What a fun little girl! A real treasure! Anyone who knows her will tell you the same. This is not just grandma talk! A Blessing from God! I have to say Thanks!While Bee took her nap, Cory took me back to Manhattan for one last shopping spree. (5 jackets this time!) I love Daffy's and Jack's World. They are both by Macy's and Greeley Square. Good time! Oh ya, Annie gave Cory a haircut!From that corner, you get a look at the Empire State Building. Had to snap one.
We enjoyed some Korean Ice Cream on a stick then caught the subway back home.

Flew from JFK to Salt Lake City then on to Fresno. The mountains were beautiful in SLC!

Oh yes, I loved flying Delta! It was a much better experience than United from previous flights.

Well, back home in Hanford and missing my Bee! I loved all the hugs and kisses. She is a sweet little girl! Come see Mimi real soon Miss Bee! Curly Girly, Honey Bunny, Beetle Bug, Buzz-Buzz!

Your Mimi loves you soooooo much!

(Only 3 hrs. to post this!)