“Se exhorta a los puertorriqueños para que hondeen la bandera puertorriqueña libre de símbolos.”
Yea ok.. that’s so not going to happen. If I had a penny for every flag with a frog on it waving at the parade, I’d be able to send Natalie and Luke to pre-school through college without a problem. But for those of you who are wondering, I’ll proudly wave a Coqui-free flag this year.
Standing on line for anything unnecessary stopped when my days at Great Adventure ended. Of course now that I’m “Mama Victoria Pericon” (as Natalie calls me) I have to wait online with her to meet her favorite characters at today’s Children’s Day event at the South Street Seaport sponsored by Target.
The day started out pretty good… found a 3 hour parking spot (two blocks away!) and that was beyond exciting since I was determined to not pay the $20 an hour “special event” parking rate all of the nearby lots were offering.. Nat went in the Volo (armed with her Dora backpack) and Lukie in the Sidekick and we were off to find Dora. The schedule said Dora wouldn’t be there for a few hours so we stood on line to meet Bert and Ernie. And then to take photos with Zee and Moose A. Moose from Noggin. Only Luke has a photo with the Noggin scene because after waiting a half hour to take her Noggin scene photo, Natalie decided she didn’t want to take that photo. Yeah. I know. Life as a two year old.
Everywhere Luke and Natalie turned they were handed some sort of promotional giveaway — Target kites, Noggin crayons and CDs, Bob the Builder and Barney VHS tapes, coloring books and all these other random items.
Saw a few celebrity moms with their kids ….
It got to be overwhelmingly crowded so we left … wasn’t really planning to see Teddy Geiger and the fireworks because it would have ended way past their bedtime.
So we got back in the car, picked up my mother and headed to City Island for some seafood… a little tradition we’ve had for close to 10 years.
Totally not expecting to find one on City Island, I spotted an Alice’s Tea Cup. It looks like they are getting ready to open it sometime soon. I love Alice’s Tea Cup, I just really hope they don’t turn into Duane Reade. Every other corner. It’d really take away from it’s charm.
Today was the scheduled date for Laurie Berkner’s concert at Carl Shurz Park over on the East Side. Luke and Natalie were on the list so we were going to cross town literally and dance to Victor Vito and tell the world we had songs in our tummies. And probably sometime into the concert, Laurie would talk about her boots and Natalie would stomp, stomp.
That was the plan. Then it rained, well drizzled. And the concert was cancelled. Natalie was dressed so adorably that my mother and I decided to take Natalie to the diner for some french fries so she didn’t get disappointed. And then I received news that the Laurie Berkner concert would be rescheduled on a day that I would be out of town. What are the odds. So Natalie missed out. But we won’t tell her that.
Anyway, the concert was to celebrate the Peter Marino designed family friendly building going up at 170 East End Avenue and to be honest, it’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t live there but it’s cool for all the parents who are going to flock there based on the fact the developers got the Laurie Berkner Band to perform and publicize the place. lol There’s a little toddler arts and crafts room in the play room and an arcade and also a bunch of amentities adult kids will enjoy like a squash court — didn’t say I was going to play — billiards, 40 seat screening room, golf simulator, library and gym.
I can’t wait until the day I no longer hear the phrase “potty training”.
Today I attended the Divalysscious Moms potty training event held at FAO Schwarz for potty training pro Teri Crane, author of Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day : Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro.
Luckily Natalie had already started the whole potty training fiasco… I mean ordeal… I mean process.. because of her summer camp requirements for three year olds but its great to see if I didn’t attempt this before I could have done it all 1-2-3.
