Stardate 62395.22 - MoMA Little Members

Saturday morning we went to MoMA to an event they call, "Little Members." We were permitted into the museum for 2.5 hours before they officially opened, so our children could look at works of art and complete some educational material. Loren found a couple of paintings she liked, including one by Paul Klee called Cat and Bird. But she was too young to complete the learning packet, so after looking around for 30 minutes she was ready to leave.

We then strolled up to Central Park, and tried to get Loren to go on the Merry-Go-Round. She had been on one before at the Bronx Zoo back in February, but these horses were high and the ride was fast so before it even started she wanted off. Oh, well--guess that $4 was just a donation.


We then went to one of the playgrounds where Loren demonstrated her climbing ability.


She also briefly enjoyed the swings.

We then stopped at Mon Petit Cafe for lunch, but the coffee and food were disappointing. After failing to get Loren to nap, we played in the apartment for a while and then took a brief trip out to the playground across the street. As I'm writing this we're back in the apartment, it is getting overcast, and we're trying to decide if we want to venture out for a little shoe shopping for Loren before we get too settled in to leave.

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Stardate 60903.54 - Getting Out of the City

On Saturday we got the car out again and drove out of Manhattan to do a little hiking and touring on a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the upper 50s.

The first thing we did was to stop at one of the scenic view points along the Palisades Parkway.

We are always in a hurry or on some type of schedule when we drive up the parkway, but Saturday we were not so we stopped for a short time.

Loren enjoyed running around in the grass for a bit, and the stop we were at had quite a nice facility with a place to get diner-style food and clean restrooms.

Second, we went to Manitou Point Nature Preserve to do a small hike.

This hike was on a narrow trail right on the edge of the Hudson River. Could this be a Numen spotting below?

We had the place to ourselves, and Loren fell asleep in the backpack about half-way through the hike. The National Headquarters for Outward Bound is located here in a gorgeous home with stunning river views. If I had all the money in the world I might like to buy a place like this to get away from it all (as long as it had a deep-water dock for my sailboat, which is high up on the list of purchases for when I win the lottery!).

After the short hike, we continued on to Beacon to go to the Dia:Beacon modern art museum. They have taken a large manufacturing plant and turned it into a huge modern art museum, capable of displaying immense works of art. Loren did alright in the place to start, but then started getting loud and complaining so we had to cut the visit a little short. Cheryl thought that the red berries on the trees in the parking lot, contrasted with the blue sky, made for an interesting look so I snapped a couple of pictures.


The trip back was easy (except for the normal backup transitioning from the Harlem River Drive to the FDR), and we were happy to be back home after a great day out!

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