Art Under the Bridge Festival

Today we went back to the Art Under the Bridge Festival. This year, Stan and Elaine came in from NJ to join us. It was a great time. We started off with a nice brunch together at Jolie, then hopped on the train to Dumbo.

It was a breezy and beautiful day in Brooklyn.



Elaine enjoying some art.



Stan acting goofy.

We saw all types of sculpture, painting, video and performance art. The work varied from beautiful to intriguing to prosaic to just plain weird.

We all liked this painting. This is pretty much how I picture my dad and my Uncle Stan when they were little kids.



Aside from all the artists who open their studios to the public, a lot of other buildings in the neighborhood put on exhibitions of their own. One of the more unique venues was definitely the legendary Gleason's Gym. Here, Cheryl checks out some boxing-themed photographs hanging on the side of a boxing ring.



It's a really cool space, and you can almost smell the history in the air. (It smells a lot like sweat.) And now, to the pantheon of great champions who have trained there, such as Jake "The Raging Bull" LaMotta, Roberto "Stone Hand" Duran, Muhammad "The Greatest of All Time" Ali, you can now add: Scott "Generally Amenable to an Amicable Resolution" E.



In another gallery, there was a huge wall full of portraits of Brooklynites, both famous and unnotable, along with their quotations on what they love about the borough. Here's one panel of the wall.



I took one close-up picture of a picture in this room. This one's for you, Mom.



Cheryl, Elaine and Stan taking a much deserved break.



Some of the craziest stuff of all was going on outside on the streets. The sidewalk along an entire block had been covered with a lush, grassy turf. On another block there was a tag-football game going on between two strangely dressed teams. It involved a lot of yelling and cheering but I don't think the ball was ever actually snapped.

Then we turned a corner and saw an elephant. It was painting -- or at least it had been trained to swipe a brush against a canvas.



Cheryl and Elaine with the elephant.















By this point we were all beat, so we made our way down to Brooklyn Bridge Park and took in the incredible views. Stan called it the best art he'd seen all day. He had a point.



It was still so nice out that we decided to walk home. On the way, we passed through some more outdoor pieces. This one made me feel like we were walking through a decomposing dinosaur's ribcage.

A beautiful park in Brooklyn on our way home.


Once we got back, Stan and Elaine treated us to a fantastic meal at Po, which (since Taku closed down) is quickly becoming our favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. It was a long and fun day, and we were happy to relax back at home with Missy & Monty.



All in all, a great way to kick off Cheryl's third trimester!!! Tomorrow we're off to the Atlantic Antic, so we'll post pics from that in the next couple days. Hope everyone has a great week!

25 weeks

Updates on Avery:
15 weeks to go!!! Not very much time left before Avery is born! I had a checkup this week and everything was normal and I've gained 13 lbs!!!! OY VEY!

Updates on the moving poll:
We don't know who in the world would want us to move to NJ (besides some Shapiro/Goldblatt people) - but that was the overwhelming majority! Don't hold your breath, but Sunday is another open house for a reduced price. Our indecision should hopefully be over sometime shortly. In the meantime, you can still vote for middle names at Avery's New Spot.

Have a great week... more to come next weekend - we have lots of fun plans and we'll be sure to take some great new pics!

24 Weeks

It was another fun weekend. Most notably...

(1) We spent a couple hours at the Brooklyn Book Festival, which was a first for us both. First, we listened to Marty Markowitz interview Dominic Carter. (Probably only our NY readers will have any idea who either of these folks are.) Then we watched a panel discussion with Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, his wife & brother (not Russel, some other guy). It was a nice event overall, and hopefully next year we'll get to attend even more events.

(2) We had another open house, which takes a lot of work to prepare for, even with our little apartment. After the ordeal of being moved out of the apartment for two hours, Missy and Monty decided to buddy up and stick together for awhile.

(This is about as close as they every lie together.)

(3) We walked down to DUMBO and had dinner at Grimaldi's, which serves what is pretty much known as the best pizza in New York, which would thereby make it the best pizza in the country. (You heard me, Shana & Lisa!)

After years of hearing the hype, I was skeptical, but I have to admit, it was really great stuff. Cheryl sat under a painting that depicted Marlon Brando as Don Corleone saying "I'm going to make you a pizza you can't refuse."

(4) Although I get to feel Avery moving around pretty much every time I put my hand on Cheryl's belly, this was the first weekend where we could see her bumping & moving around. The bumps were not big ones, but we could definitely tell that she was bopping around in there. Cheryl said she thought Avery might have even had hiccups. It was really cool to see.

(5) Finally, Cheryl made it to 24 weeks. Here's a new picture!

New Nephew

Today was special because we got to meet our new nephew, Ryan, who was born yesterday afternoon. We spent about an hour at the hospital in NJ with Elissa and Jon, then Ken and Peggy showed up to meet the baby as well. It was a lot of fun.

Ryan already seems like a cool little guy. He's 7 lbs, 5 oz, was very calm throughout our visit, and occasionally peeked open an eye halfway to catch a glimpse of the world. He had a few moments of strong & healthy sounding cries, but was always easily consoled.

Anyway, it was great to welcome a new member to the family. We both feel lucky now to have six nieces and nephews, all of whom are healthy, sweet and fun kids. Hopefully more to come in the years ahead! Anyway, enjoy these pics of us with Ryan, Elissa & Jon.

Open House

As promised, here are some new pics of Cheryl. These were taken today while we were having an open house. Since we had to be out of the apartment for a couple hours, we brought the cats down to our building's garden/terrace area. It's safe to say that Cheryl and I had a lot more fun than the kitties, as we got to talk, have lunch and read, while the cats had to stay in their crates. But over all, it went very well, and we had a decent turnout for the open house. Hope everyone has a great week!

Week 23

In the past couple days Avery has really turned into an aspiring gymnast. Wednesday and Thursday nights I thought she was moving like a crazy baby b/c I was wearing one of those belly bands during the daytime and maybe she was being squished while I was at work. Thursday night I decided I can longer squish my baby, so I bought my first pair of maternity jeans and I'll continue to wear lots of dresses so she has more room (I've really outgrown all of my jeans anyway I was just in denial that I needed maternity pants). But regardless, she has not stopped flipping and kicking constantly for four days now and she can pretty much kick on-demand. She has also entertained some of my co-workers, now that they can feel her moving around as well. Quite the little performer. We have an open house tomorrow, but we'll post new pictures sometime this weekend.
Lastly, if you have not voted for Avery's middle name, you can do so by clicking here!

Yankees Game

The Yankees had a pretty terrible game today for Labor Day, but we still had lots of fun. We moved from our original seats to the shady side of the stadium. Avery was a big fan - she wouldn't stop moving and kicking throughout the game (I'm sure all the peanuts we ate helped too).

Yes, my pants are unbuttoned in this picture!