Picnic at the Park

I've been really looking forward to going on a picnic at Gantry Park ever since Christmas.  We were given a really pretty woven basket and a blanket as gifts, and I couldn't wait to use them.  There have been two issues stopping us from going.  First, I usually have to work on Saturdays, and second, it keeps raining on the weekends.  Well, I finally had a weekend where I didn't have to work, and the weather report only said like a 30% chance of rain.  I insisted we try for a picnic.

Chase is always happy to take the 7 Train with me :)

It was a nice, cool day at the park.  It would sprinkle on and off a little, but that didn't stop Chase and Marcus from playing in the grass.  Gotta take advantage of grass when you see some :)

Playing with the frisbee

Frisbee and Airplane Watching

Chase wanted to take off his shoes and let the grass "tickle [his] toes."  He'd run full speed all over the place just to keep touching the grass.

Chase tried a little bit of baseball too, but he was too quick to snap a picture.

And then of course, our snack break.

He's obviously a picnic pro.

*chomp*chomp*chomp*

I know I've said this before, and I will probably say it again, but I love Gantry Park.  It's so pretty.  Seriously, the best location in NYC.

Our set up -- don't you love the basket and blanket?!

And the view

On our way back to the train, we came across the Glass Posse Long Island City Yarn Bomb.  This was a project a bunch of our friends participated in back in probably February.  Kristy Glass led a project where they basically used fiber arts projects to graffiti an abandoned playground.  I had seen the video, which is the link above, but I hadn't seen it in person.

Glass Posse Yarn Bomb In LIC

After a few hours out and about, we were all ready to get back home and rest... just in time for some more rain.  It's been a weird summer out here with a couple crazy hot and humid days, followed by nice, cool, rainy days.  Seriously bizarre.  But it's keep us all from going too crazy in the heat.

One tired dad

And one tired boy

Definitely a successful picnic :)

Fathers Day

Chase was super excited to give Marcus his Fathers Day gift.  He saw me wrapping it on Saturday night and could barely hold his enthusiasm in.  I think the conversion went like this (Keep in mind Marcus was in the other room):

Chase (yelling): Present! Present! Present for Chase!

Me: No, Chase, this is for Daddy.  Shhh!  It's a surprise.

Chase (yelling): Present for Daddy! Present for Daddy!

Me: We'll give it to him tomorrow.  Shhh!

Chase (yelling): Present for Daddy! Present for Daddy!

Chase LOVES presents.  :)

So then Sunday morning, when Marcus got home from his early morning meeting, I brought out the present.

Me: Chase, do you want to give Dad his present?

Chase (yelling): Present for Daddy! Present for Daddy!

Chase was really excited to give Marcus the gift.

Then he promptly stole the gift.

And opened it.

Marcus was still excited about the gift.

Even though Chase wouldn't let him look at it.

This is what we got him -- the book Darth Vader and Son :)

And I was really excited to give Marcus the gift I made.  I have been slowly learning to crochet, and I made him a tie.  I think I restarted it 75,000 times, but somehow I finished it before Fathers Day.  A big shout out to my fiber arts mentor Kristy Glass.  Pretty sure it would have just been a big, thin, grey mess without her help.

He was impressed him I actually finished a crocheting project.  I've had a rough start.

Plus it came to a point!  Just like a tie should.
This was probably like six weeks ago, half way through the remaking process.

And it even tied and looked right!

TA-DA! Posing to show off the tie :)

I also made us breakfast!  Buttermilk pancakes.  Yum.  It actually became our default choice because we had a lot of leftover buttermilk.  (I had wanted Texas Sheet Cake on Saturday, so I made an entire jellyroll pan full of delicious cake.  Sadly, the recipe didn't use all of the carton of buttermilk, but happily, it provided the necessary ingredient for some fantastic pancakes.)

Marcus did choose the dinner menu: manicotti and banana splits.  MANicotti.  ha.  Chase fell asleep on the way home from church, so we made and enjoyed a very peaceful dinner.  Not that he isn't peaceful sometimes, but I don't think he can go more than about five minutes without singing something or saying "Momma" over and over.  :)

He was pretty happy about his banana split :)

Happy Fathers Day to a great dad!

This is one of my favorites of these two studs, even though it's a little outdated

And Happy Fathers Day to this dad too.  

He's another favorite!  And so is this picture.

There are so many great fathers in our lives.

Happy Fathers Day to all of you!

Exercises before Bed

Chase cracks me up.  He's not stop talking and moving.  One of my favorite things he does right now is mispronounce words.  For example, "Winnie the Poop."  I'm not sure if he does it on purpose or not because he laughs every time he says "movies," since he says it almost sounding like "poopies."  But Chase LOVES Winnie the Poop.  And he loves Winnie's Up Down song - he sings it ALL THE TIME.  And tonight before bed, Marcus and Chase did the exercises along with Winnie.  Enjoy :)

Benihana

We alternate going to Benihana in June and August each year.  You HAVE to use your birthday coupons!  And we debated whether or not to take Chase with us.  We decided he could really enjoy it since the chef is right at the table playing with the food as he cooks it.  Glad we took Chase -- he loved everything, except the food.

Playing games with Dad at the table

Drumming with his chopsticks :-/
Yes, that is a PB&J on his plate... had to supplement the nothing else he ate.

We got him some kids chopsticks, and he rocked at picking up anything he could find.  His main entertainment was a cherry tomato.

He really was getting the hang of it

I love his face here - and I was so surprised he could do it too!

Watching the chef

I think this was during the onion volcano

Chase really was pretty great during dinner.  Shocking, I know.  But it's loud there, so that helps.  Plus he had those chopsticks and a cool hat.  It wore him out.

Those cute, tired eyes

Waiting for the train

Benihana 2015

I just LOVE this :)

I'm seriously considering asking to go for my birthday too... Yum yum yum.

Happy birthday, Marcus!  Hope 28 is good to you -- yes, we had to count and figure out how old he was turning because we couldn't remember if it was 27, 28, or 29.  :) 

Marcus' Birthday / Bedtime

I'm usually a stickler about not opening gifts before the holiday/birthday.  However, we decided to open Marcus' presents a few hours before his birthday.  Since Marcus was going to have a busy Monday and most likely not be around when all three of us were awake, we decided to have presents before bed on Sunday.

Chase was super excited to help with presents.  We went over how the presents weren't Chase's but were Daddy's a ton because he wanted them :)

Marcus let Chase help open his gifts

"ooooo!"

A book!  And two seconds after it was open, Chase started in on the second one.

I had wrapped Marcus' two books separate from his 'big' gift.  We made it look like he just got the two books, so he was super surprised when we (Chase and I) pulled a bigger box out from the bedroom.

And Chase had to help with this one too...

Prayer at Valley Forge
Every time Marcus would see this at a store or a friend's house, he'd comment about how he loves that print and wants a copy one day.

Marcus had a George Washington themed birthday.  I like gifts with themes.  Makes it easier to decide what to do and be a little creative.  Plus we had just started watching TURN: Washington's Spies on Netflix, so the timing for this gift was perfect.

Marcus decided the safest thing to do with new framed art was to get it up on the wall, so it was hung within minutes.  While Marcus found the the toolbox, Chase serenaded us with some of his favorite songs:

Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

More Singing / Craziness

Chase then intently watched Marcus with the hammer and nail.  He loves tools.  Sometimes when the super is working on a nearby apartment, Chase will go watch him work or help hold the drills.  

Narrating as Dad Hangs the Picture

You can't really tell from this picture, but Marcus had just finished a huge purge cleaning in his corner of the bedroom -- right in time for the art to be hung and pictures to be taken :)

Happy Pre-Birthday Boy with George in the background

And right after, it was time for Chase to get in bed.  Here are a couple pictures and a video from part of the bedtime routine.

Reading Books with Dad

Watching the video I had just taken of them reading - they both love watching home videos of themselves :)

Happy Birthday, Marcus!