Wednesday afternoon Jamie and I took the girls for a little stroll around our neighborhood just to get out a little bit before dinner.
Right in front of our apartment building is an awesome park that is basically our front yard. The girls love the playground and I like all the green space. Although I do not like the bird in the photo flapping way too close to me (I have a bird phobia... which doesn't come in handy in this pigeon-filled city!).
Less than a block from our apartment is a subway station which is so nice when we want to head downtown or run errands.
A few of you have asked if I'm ever "scared" walking around here. No, so far I haven't ever been scared- even at night. Often (like in the above photo) there are people sitting around on the streets at all hours and you have to walk right past them which can be a little awkward, but I've never been scared.
There is a Starbucks a few blocks from our apartment which, of course, we frequent too often.
And now that Jamie has the whole family addicted to Mister Softee ice cream we eat way too much of this, too! :) You might imagine with all the walking we do that I'd lose weight... but NO between ice cream, starbucks frappacinos, and having restaurant delivery several nights a week... no weight loss for me!
But how can you turn down ice cream like this??
We found a place to sit and enjoy our ice cream (the bus stop!).
And, yes, Annie is with us on this walk! We were trying out a new backpack carrier that my friend Becca told us about. Annie loves it! (And I do, too.)
People here sit on the sidewalk in front of their apartments like it's their front porch (cuz it really is).
And Audrie talks to EVERYONE. These cool dudes walking past us... Audrie cheerfully hollers out "Hi!" with a big smile and wave to them. She cracks me up.
As this girl passed us Audrie said to her "You look like Princess Jasmine!". I used to cringe and tell her to stop, but it's not like we're going to see them again and I don't suppose she's really doing anything wrong??
On this walk we stopped at a new park (there are a billion parks in our neighborhood and we are still finding new ones all the time).
Annie was ready to play!
Audrie headed to the swings.
There are always lots of moms (and dads!) in every park we go to. Our neighborhood is a very family friendly part of the city.
I usually have to follow Annie around to make sure she is not stealing snacks from the other moms.
Our sweet little Annie is growing up so fast!
She's getting more blond. And tall. And changing too fast.
We love her so stinkin' much!
She decided to get brave and try the tire swing.
Audrie thought she looked lonely and joined her.
These two are actually really enjoying each other's company more all the time. They play together really well and I love watching them giggle together.
Next to this playground was an area in our neighborhood called Cloisters Gardens. So stunning! My photos don't do it justice. It really is an oasis.
Beautiful little nooks where you could read in the cool shade.
Jamie and Audrie ran off ahead of me...
Up the steps there is an area where you can sit and look at the Hudson River. The breeze off the water was so nice!
You never would have thought that you were in the middle of Manhattan!
It was almost like looking over the Buffalo River (almost...).
There was a cute elderly couple enjoying the serenity (well, until Audrie came barging through!).
We were tired from exploring the park, so we decided to catch the bus home. While we waited for the bus Jamie and Audrie acted like big dorks.
Audrie likes taking the bus!
Annie was pretty sleepy and ready to get home.
We got home in time to see the sunset out our window.
Such a beautiful view of our new home! Hope you enjoyed this little tour of our neighborhood. :)
