A Happy Monday in Manhattan

My friend Pete was in town this weekend for his annual drinking and bowling binge with his high school buddies. Today was allotted as my day with him (he lives in Miami), so bright and early this morning we all headed to Manhattan. Robert and the kids got off the train at Central Park and I went on to pick Pete up and get him fed and caffeinated. Then we walked to the park and met up with Robert and the kids. We headed to the Lower East Side for Vietnamese lunch, and then on to Il Laboratorio del Gelato (best. gelato. ever.). Pete got green apple sorbet and milk chocolate gelato and we got toasted coconut gelato, lime-mint sorbet and olive oil gelato. Yep- olive oil gelato. It rocked my world. In fact, it rocked it so hard I think I'm still feeling the aftershocks. That was one delicious ice cream.

The kids wanted to play so we walked to their favorite LES park. When we got there we discovered a bike polo tournament in progress! It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, and we just hung out and watched them play for over an hour. Here are me and Pete, Zion, and assorted shots of bike polo players.










There were teams from NY, DC, Boston, Richmond and Ottawa playing (probably more, but those are the only ones we saw play. We wouldn't have even known that, but a guy from one of the Boston teams was standing next to us an filled us in a bit on game play and how the tournament was going). Zion enjoyed picking a team for each game (they lasted 8 minutes or until one team scored 5 points, whichever came first) and shouting "Gooooaaaaallll!" with his hands up in the air when they scored.

Eventually the kids tired out and Pete had a plane to catch so we had to say good bye. Liel fell asleep in the mei tai on the train- possibly the last time she'll ever sleep in a mei tai given her age, increased walking, and size. It was very bittersweet for me, and I loved up every second of it. A beautiful way to end a lovely day :)