Sorry we are so slow blogging these days, but the bigger I get, the less room i have on my lap for the laptop. Stefan and Deborah visited last weekend and we had tons of fun with them. Avery was particularly fond of the broadway show A Chorus Line and she pretty much danced her way through the whole show (it's nice to know we have the same taste in music, at least for now). We had what seemed like a million amazing meals and I'm sure Avery appreciated the huge quantities of great food as well. Here's some pics highlighting a walk around DUMBO and other family pics.
All four of us standing near the Manhattan Bridge (outside a funky gallery).
Sitting on a bench taking in the beautiful scenery of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.
This past weekend we also hung out at the Atlantic Antic, a great street festival that goes on right outside our building. As always, it was a lot of fun. Whereas most street festivals in NYC seem always to have the exact same food, vendors, etc., the Antic features all sorts of local and unique artisans, restaurants, and bands.
Here is the view from our window. The NYC Transit Museum (which is a block away from us) always brings out a bunch of old buses onto the street that you can walk through.
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!
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!
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.
