Preparing for Halloween

At 4 year-old F. loves to party and, just like me, he really enjoys the whole preparation (sometimes even more than the celebration itself). With Halloween around the corner, I can't tell you how excited he's getting about the whole thing. So this weekend we will start preparing for Halloween. Today I went online and bought some funny things at Pottery Barn Kids that should arrive next week. And as soon as the rain stopped in the afternoon, I took my two little guys, in their raining boots, to buy a (small) pumpkin each. This weekend we'll do some Jack 'O Lanterns! I should probably say "try", because last time I've done one I was 10 and if I remember correctly it didn't look very nice. We'll see...
Sorry for the bad image quality, but I took the pictures with my bberry in one hand, as I was holding an umbrella and the pumpkins in the other hand.

F and P coming back from our pumpkin shopping. They jumped into every puddle of water they saw on their way to the grocery store and again on their way back.

Our lobby

Cultural Thursdays - MOMA

Yesterday P. and I went to the Moma. We arrived a few minutes before the Museum opened and it was already full. We headed to the 4th floor, because I wanted to see Cy Twombly's sculptures. There are only a few of them, and I actually prefer his paintings. Then, we went up to the 6th floor to try to take a look at de Kooning's exhibit, the real objective of our visit (it is there until January 9). However, the rooms were packed and I was pushing P.'s patience a little too far, since we ended up spending more time that I would like on the 4th floor. I decided to leave and I'll try to come back at another time. As we were heading towards the exit, I saw that on the 2nd floor there was a special installation of a white fabric hanging from the ceiling. So we went to check it out. It is actually an installation from Brazilian artist Carlito Carvalhosa (there until November 14), consisting of this white, kind of translucent material hanging from the ceiling to the floor in an elliptic way. You have to walk in the middle and it is a very interesting feeling. In a way, the experience is very similar to the Richard Serra's elliptic sculptures, but with a completely different approach of textures and colors. And I have to say that taking a 2 year-old there is a lot of fun. He loved it! He ran around twice, touched the fabric, played with it. It was really cute. I'm sorry that I can't share any pictures with you, but I was myself running after my son. This is something that I actually love about taking my kids to more "serious" places. You end up doing things that you would never ever do if you were by yourself, surrounded only by adults. It's as if you were allowed (at least under my perspective) to be a child again. It was absolutely delightful to run around all those white drapes and hearing him laughing.

We ended our visit by going to the Material lab. We had already been there once and it's a fantastic place to take children of all ages. There you'll find different materials to explore, books about art, construction and wood blocks to play with, art supply and also some computers with a digital painting program that really gives you the feeling of painting with oil on a canvas (you paint on the screen with a digital brush). However, you can't print or send your picture once you're done, which I found a little disappointing. Anyway, if you are planning on going to the Moma with your kids, it is worth spending some time at the Material lab as well. The entrance is on 54th street, right next to the Museum entrance (but it's a different building) and you'll need to show your ticket to get in.

First post...

So, I've decided to start a blog. I've been having this idea for quite some time now. But I kept postponing it, mainly because of lack of time, some laziness and also because every time I thought about it, a lot of questions would pop up in my head. Today I've decided to give it a try and I'll start my first post by answering some of those questions.

1- what am I going to write about?

Good question... I could write about my kids, but I don't think you'll find this subject very interesting. Don't get me wrong, my sons are absolute geniuses and I could talk for hours about the amazing things they do and say at only 4 and 2 year-old. See, I've lost you already... I'm not one of those designer moms that could share their crafts or a fantastic cook that could post pictures of all the delicious meals prepared (I actually do like making crafts with the kids, but I'm afraid of the kitchen, particularly of the result whenever I decide to mix some ingredients together). I'm a mechanical engineer, with a masters degree in industrial engineering, who used the work in finance and is now a full time mother of two. However, yesterday morning as I was heading to the Moma with my 2 year-old, it struck me. Maybe I could write about my outings with the kids. I'm always trying to find new ways to entertain them, new places to visit and I've been doing this for a little more than 4 years now. So here's the answer to my first question: this blog will be about things I do with the kids wherever we are. And, since winter is approaching in New York, I'll probably have to write about our indoor activities (which means that I'll have to be much more creative to entertain them - any ideas are more than welcomed).

2 -Why starting a blog?

Well, nowadays, everybody seems to have one (especially the stay-at-home moms like myself), why shouldn't I? Actually, the main reason is mostly because I feel that I need some sort of motivation to find new things to do. I've realized that lately I've became quite lazy and our wanderings have been reduced to going to the park (we change locations, but they are all pretty much in the neighborhood). So, maybe, by having this blog and a commitment to share new experiences, I'll be more daring and creative.

3- In which language should I write?

This question may seem silly and the answer should be pretty straight forward. However, in my case, it's not that trivial. I'm bilingual in French and Spanish. But after living for years in Brazil, I'm also fluent in Portuguese. Therefore, I would be pretty comfortable writing in any of those 3 languages (definitely more comfortable than in English). But, since I couldn't decide which one to choose, I picked a neutral one. Hence my blog will be in English (at least for now). so you'll have to bare with me with eventual mistakes and bad phrasing. I actually find it quite challenging and a good intellectual exercise.

4- The title?

That one was very hard. Then I realized that for the past 4 years I have literally been "strolling" around, meaning that most of the time, I'm pushing a stroller.

I think this is it. I know that I had many more questions before I started to write. But I think it is time to publish this post and get started with the blog!