Sandbox Music: Rudin Family playground

I love the Sandbox Music program -- such a fun (FREE) summer activity for the kids. It gets us out of the 'hood exploring new playgrounds and learning fun stuff about instruments and dance. This summer I had big plans to get to some of the Central Park playgrounds that we've never visited, but it seems that the summer got away with us and we only made it to one performance. Nonetheless, we had a great time.

The Rudin Family playground is on 96th and CPW and is really fun. A great space for both of my kids -- lots to do for both and some great shade! There was this amazing wisteria-covered trellis that was built over the benches which was lovely on the hot day that we were there. A great sandbox, a water feature, baby and big kid swings and 3 different climbing structures. It was big enough that we didn't feel crowded but small enough that I could keep an eye on both kids. Definitely a new favorite!

the musicians

twisty slides!

Gabriel takes it in from the sidelines...

fun in the sandbox!

NYRR Sprint Triathlon

I did it! I raced my first triathlon!

This summer, my friend Leslie and I did the NYRR Sprint Triathlon in Queens. It was such a great time. 400 meter swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. I had been training tons for most of the spring and summer -- especially for the swim since that was my biggest weakness. But it all paid off! Of course, it was THE hottest day of the summer up to that point and the heat index was record-breaking -- they even threatened to cancel the race, but it went ahead as planned and luckily everyone survived.

The swim and the bike went much better than I expected, but the run was definitely the hardest part and it was only 3 miles! I had gotten a lot of advice to train running after biking and I really didn't listen because that totally rocked my world. Just the sensation of transitioning to run after having been going so fast on a bike was really hard. I felt like I was going SO slow. My Garmin had needed repairs so I didn't have my pace watch to help me out and that was rough! But, it actually went pretty well and I came in faster on my run than I had anticipated.

It was such great feeling of accomplishment and a great pay off for lots of training. I'll definitely be doing another one!

Utah trip, part 3

After spending a few days in the SLC area, we headed down to Price to meet up with Jon's family. It was so much fun to see more cousins, aunts, uncles, and another great-grandma! Jon's aunt has a fabulous home in Price with horses, 4-wheelers, a tractor, and a dog! The boys were in heaven there too. Jon's cousin has 2 little girls that are the same ages as my boys so that was really fun to get them together. They had a great time. Once again, the backyard reigned supreme as we were able to just let the kids play. No hauling around to playgrounds necessary.

We drove up the canyon on one of the days we were in Price and had a great time. Jon's aunt brought her trailor and loaded up the 4-wheelers so we were able to ride around on those (a 5-year old boy's dream). Such a nice day to relax and enjoy family.

After spending a few days in Price, we headed up to Park City, to enjoy the last part of our trip with Jon's parents and siblings. We rented a vacation home with everyone there and had such a nice time catching up. Baby Eliza (our little niece) is getting so big and it was really fun to watch the boys play with her. We also went up to the Alpine Slides and amusement park in Park City for a day. I had never been so that was a real treat. Noah LOVED everything about that place. I was super scared of the Alpine Slide, but I sucked it up and we all went down together -- even Gabey! Such a fun memory.

Price

tractor time!

Grammy and her grandbabies!

Nana and the grandkids

ready to ride!

Noah enjoying the wilderness

Gabey wishing he could dive in!

cute cousins!

feeding Aunt Patti's horses

Gabey loving Aunt Patti's pup!

Noah and Raeley

snapping!

Gabey and Kelsey

peek-a-boo with Nana

hotel swimming pool = awesome!

(even if it's 10:00pm and we'd been out ALL day)

the fam

Park City

Noah playing with Eliza

Gabey enjoying the view... and some ice cream!

Uncle Mike and cousin Eliza

Gabey on the train!

cooling off with an icee

mini golf

super trampoline!

Alpine Slide!

yay for vacation!

Utah trip, part 2

Our adventures in Utah continued with a trip to the Children's Discovery Center in SLC, Liberty Park , and Cowabunga Bay (awesome).

The kids had a great time at the Children's Discovery Center -- it was a really fun place. The rock climbing wall, water table, and helipcopter on the roof were definitely favorites. We headed to Liberty park afterwards and had some fun on the amusement park rides (the super old ones that were around when my parents were kids!) and splashing around in the awesome water park.

Cowabunga Bay was pretty amazing. I was so proud of Noah for going down one of the big slides all by himself. It was just such a family-friendly place that it made the whole day so much nicer. I mean, "family changing rooms" -- you can't beat that! Gabriel enjoyed the lazy river and the pool the most. We even snuck in a trip to a Pizza Planet-like place across the parking lot (and added a second wristband to our arms for the day!) before heading to Price to meet up with Jon's family.