Some friendly advice...

Everytime I ask another mom at the playground about Bay Ridge, they all tell me the same three things:


1. "Enroll your kids in the "Music Together" classes."

2. "The story time at the library is really good, but one of the libraries in town is closed for renovations."

3. "There's a farmer's market in the Walgreen's parking lot on Saturdays."


Music Together: Basically the same classes we were doing in FL. The difference? In FL it was called "Music with Mar" and it was 82% cheaper.

Story time: Seriously? Seriously? There's a library every 10 blocks and you're complaining that one is closed?!?!? We did the storytime last week. The kids had a great time and we definitely plan on going back.

Farmer's Market: All I could think about the past 2 days was the farmer's market. Today was THE DAY. I couldn't wait to see the organic beef, freshly caught seafood, and bountiful harvest of fruits and veggies I'd heard so much about waiting for me this morning. We got the kids up, had breakfast, got dressed, and headed down the stairs to walk over to the "feastavil."

*** Ok, so I have this problem of getting something stuck in my head, and letting my brain just run wild, until there are not only mountains built from mole hills, but whole mountain ranges. ***

I was really expecting a big deal. If everyone was talking about this farmer's market, it HAD to be cool (and at least mountainous if not a whole range), right? There were five booths. Yes, five. Not 500. Not 50. Just five. There was a booth to sign up for the local food co-op, a booth for seafood (it was hidden in a cooler- the seafood, not the booth), another for beef (no meat, just order forms), and a couple larger ones with fruits and veggies.

We looked at the sunflowers and smelled the fresh eucalyptus (before today, I had only seen eucalyptus at Jo-Anne's & Micheal's). Then, we did what everybody else was doing: we ate copious amounts of free fruit samples. What?!?! You would've done it too! They don't have a Sam's Club here so we're no longer able to take part in the "free lunch if you stuff yourself full of samples" plan. When we realized that they had started monitoring our fruit intake, we decided we better put some things into bags and actually buy something with real money before we got kicked out. Peaches & Nectarines- $2.99/pound. Done. We left with two peaches, three nectarines, and our hands happily patting ourselves on the back for supporting the local Saturday morning market.

FOUR HOURS LATER...

Brian was told earlier this week about a place that's supposed to have the freshest produce and the best deals in Brooklyn. When the kids got up from their naps, we headed over there to scope things out. This place is like the Holy Grail of produce stands. As soon as we walked up, we saw the mountains of peaches... and the $0.49/pound price tag. This morning's pat on the back turned into this afternoon's smack on the forehead. I hate overpaying for things and definitely needed some retail therapy to make myself feel better. So, I filled the buggy. :)

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6 peaches
3 apples
3 oranges
2 limes
3 pounds of cherries
1 cucumber
2 beefstake tomatoes
2 huge onions (really, really huge)
2 heads of leafy lettuce (it looked cool, but I don't know the name)
1 giant spaghetti squash (diet pasta)
6 cloves of garlic (no vampires here!)
1 gallon of milk (we woke up to chunkiness in the fridge)
2 dozen eggs (I'm a sucker for a good deal)
2 hoagie rolls (for the homemade meatball subs I made tonight)
1 softball-sized portion of fresh mozzeralla cheese (also for the subs)
2 cups of freshly grated parmesan (for the meatballs)
4 pickles (the yummy half-sour ones that you can only get in NY)
1 bunch of celery (everybody needs celery)
1 bunch of bananas (for my monkeys... so much for that "drop the -Y and add -IES rule")
2 cartons of orange juice (from FL, of course)
1 package of mushrooms (the regular ones, but they did have portabella's the size of your head... if you have a small head)
6 "real" artichokes (ummm.... yeah I'll be googling how to prepare these)
2 red bell peppers ('cause they're pretty)
3 bunches of green onions (for swordfights)
1 box of apple cinnamon cereal bars (I've tricked the kids into thinking they're cookies)
1 ginormous bunch of basil (can you smell it in my kitchen?)

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TOTAL: $54

This totally made up for getting hosed this morning. If anyone asks me about Bay Ridge, I'll tell them these three things:

1. "Enroll your kids in the "Music Together" classes."
2. "The story time at the library on 73rd is really good."
3. "There's a farmer's market in the Walgreen's parking lot on Saturdays. It's a good place to go for a free breakfast, but don't take too much or they'll give you a dirty look. Oh, and if you actually plan on buying produce, head to 3 Guys over on 65th."

The first week...

We moved from Tampa, FL to Bay Ridge (Brooklyn, NY) a week ago today. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I have 2 toddlers? Mackenzie is 2 1/2 and Jackson is 18 months. Ok, so maybe the second floor of a two-family home wasn't the best idea, especially when my son's legs are shorter than the rise of the stairs. We're managing, though. We were able to cram most of our 2,800sqft house into our less-than 1,200sqft apartment. The couch was too large to fit through the door, but the rest made it up the stairs. We're almost completely unpacked and even have a small pile of I-don't-really-want-to-toss-it-but-we-have-nowhere-to-stick-it. Most people would call it trash, however, we opted for the more artsy approach. Brian's old surround sound stereo equipment was stacked in the corner, so I threw a tablecloth over it and a statue of the Virgin Mary on top. Nice! The rest of it is probably just waiting for one of us to walk it down with next bag of trash, but we're too busy enjoying the good things here.

Between our house and the house next door (both are two-family homes), there are eight kids under the age of three. We hear babies crying all the time and wonder if it's one of ours, one of theirs, or that whole seashell ("my house always sounds like crying babies, even when everyone is asleep") phenomenon that happens when you have kids. It's not that all the kids are loud, it's that the weather has been AMAZING this week and everyone's windows have been open.

In the first week, we've managed to:

Make it into the city...

• The kids rode the subway and bus for the first time.
• We had a picnic in Central Park.
• We realized that the horse-drawn carraige rides through CP are $50/20 minutes. That left us wondering if they give you the option of paying through the nose to get back to the starting point, or just handing you a map and a rabbit's foot and drop you off wherever you are when the time runs out.
• The kids danced on the big piano at FAO Schwarz (next time, I'm joining them).

Find out about schools/other education...

• The public elementary school that's a 1/2 a block away teaches the kindergartners how to play the violin. We keep hearing, "Don't waste your money on the private schools if you're kids are zoned for PS185." I still need to do some more research, but I like the sound of the ching-ching in my pocket better than than ching-ching falling into someone else's.
• The kids start music classes next month.
• The library gives you a free book through some federal grant for every 3rd story time you attend. We went today. A guy in a bright red shirt, skinny jeans, and black converse sang silly songs. It was good.
• Fine art classes are offered down the street for kids 3 and up.

Take lots of walks

• To the park
• To the other park
• To the other, other park
• To the other, other, other park that has a water feature during the summer. My kids were the ones in regular clothes, sneakers, and socks. "I'm from out of town, I didn't know." <--- That was typed in my new Brooklyn accent.
• To the local botanical gardens to see the butterflies and turtles. We never found the turtles, and I made the mistake of mentioning cupcakes while we were there, so Mackenzie was "over it" faster than she would have been had I kept my mouth shut
• To the cupcake shop. OH. MY. GOD. Homemade oatmeal cream pies with homemade marshmallow goopie. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Can't you just hear the angels singing? Plus, they have Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite in glass bottles. How cool.
• To the deli.
• To the deli again.
• To the library.
• Down Shore Road just to walk along the water. By the way, those signs are real.
• To the house from the car repair shop.

Get used to living in an old house... sort of.

• I've blown the fuse in the kitchen four times this week. Or, is it five? It wouldn't be that big of a deal except that the landlord lives below us and we have to ask him to go down to his basement and flip the breaker.
• I'm only allowed to run ONE of the following devices at the same time: washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwave, toaster, George Forman grill, electric skillet, coffee pot. If I fail to follow this rule, Mr. Landlord has to go visit Mr. Basement... again. Oh, and Mr. Brian gives me that look... again.
• We have no stove. Ok, not forever, just not right now. It's supposed to be here tomorrow. It was also supposed to be here on Monday, and Saturday before that. I'm not complaining. The landlord let us move in 4 days early and didn't charge us for them. So, the way I look at it, if my stove arrives 4 days after we were supposed to move in, we're even.

So far, life in the not-so-big city is good. The neighborhood seems homey, and the real big city is just a 30-minute train ride away. Plus, pushing the stroller up and down these hills for a few miles each day guarantees that I get to forgo the gym membership... for now. I'm sure that marshmallow goopie and all the Italian restaurants will even things out.