Governors Island

Deep thoughts on the port.



Waiting for the ferry. Lucia is in a very weird stage (I hope that's what it is) where she likes to pull hair and just touch people. It was a very crowded ferry ride and she could not keep her hands off of the other passengers. There was this woman with long dreads sitting right there and Lulu kept tugging at (pulling) her hair and touching a few women with fanny packs and other children who were trying to shoo her away. Our efforts to reign her in were not working. One of the women turns around with kind of a mean face and says: "Your child is very tactile." Yes, that's right, she is tactile. I hope she gets out of this very "tactile" phase before we board a plane in a few days.



The Baradarans, plus Jared and the kids, minus Shima and add that little girl in the hat. And yes, I cut my hair.









On the left is a pirate ship and on the right is the statue of liberty.







Trying to feed dad flowers.







Rolling down the hill. Lucia is under Jared.



A two-kid roll.



Walking along the castle wall.

Then we went to battery park and enjoyed some dancing to Irish music:







There goes my tactile dog-lover.





And that was her wounded face after the dog jumped up at her.

Dogs

One of my earliest memories of a dog was when a stray one came into my neighborhood in Tehran and my uncle and my dad went out and shot it. I was relieved. I can't say my feelings for dogs has improved over time. I was not a child who ever wanted a dog (not that my parents would have ever considered it). It grosses me out when people kiss their dogs or even co-habitate with them. In fact, I would vote for legislation that made them illegal in the city so I wouldn't have to see and occasionally step in all the dog excrement on the sidewalks.

So, how did I end up with two little girls who absolutely adore "puppies"?! They go crazy when they see them and will chase them around the park or sidewalk until their owner has to politely make up an excuse for why they have to leave.







Whenever Cyra sees a puppy, she marches up to the owner and asks the same 4 questions:
1. Is he friendly?
2. What does he eat?
3. Does he like bones?
4. Where does he sleep?

All of Cyra's toys are puppies and we are constantly playing "puppy puppy" (tangent: Cyra's games always involve two words like this: puppy puppy; princess princess; camping camping; run run kill kill; wrestle wrestle).

So as I have spent countless hours on the floor barking like a puppy, I have come a little closer to understanding the appeal of dogs. Now, when I see them, I no longer cringe or roll my eyes, I point with the girls and say "puppy"! (another tangent: the girls (and I) call all dogs puppies. One day, we were passing by a gentleman walking his two very small dogs and we yelled "puppies" in unison and he turned to us, and sternly said: they are full-grown dogs. NOT puppies).

Boats

We raced Sunny and Marc around the lake and Cyra got very competitive. She would get mad when we were behind them and then she wouldn't let me row because I would slow us down.



She made Jared do it.

And then we saw these ominous clouds:



So we (Jared) booked it back to the dock and we ran inside the boat house and a second later, there was a massive downpour. Then our friends, Jeff and Emily, who happened to be driving through Central Park saved us from the rain and gave us a ride home. The End.

Clean feet

Cyra walked home from the car, which was one block from the house and this is what happened. And to think that I let them eat food they drop on the sidewalk all the time....

4th of July

The above was made by Marc and not at all ironically. It was delicious. We camped in Goshen in the backyard and by "we," I mean the Smylies and the Wilsons and Jared and Cyra. I slept inside the house because it was 40 feet away, there was a bathroom, we only have a two-man tent, and because Lucia needs her space (as do I).



Then, we went to West Point to watch the fireworks.





And the kids fought over this chair, which was not ours, the whole night.





And if I have not documented it before, this is how Lucia eats. She puts as much of whatever she is eating in her mouth and then tries to figure out how to chew and digest it. Sometimes she has to take it out and put it back in several times before it goes down completely.











The kids were really into the fireworks. Lucia was a bit terrified (why wouldn't you be?), but also interested.

Happy belated Independence Day everyone!

Beach

Two Saturdays at the beach:


I think they are doing some beach yoga here.





Practicing her breathing.





It was cold this day, but it did not stop Jared, Ajay, and Angie from surfing. And the kids from playing in the water. Everyone had purple lips by the end of the day. Except for Rebecca and I, who had salty lips from eating all the pita chips and hummus.

Another day at the beach (much warmer this time):


Cyra and Harper are good friends now because they have discovered that they are a lot alike. Harper is like the sister Cyra wishes she had. She's organized, listens to her, lets her hold her hand and follows her directions. They also like their lunch neat, on a plate, and in the shade. As opposed to:





















And this is Lucia's new face:


I am sure the picture doesn't come close to capturing the whole look. Whenever Lucia is embarrassed or in a slightly uncomfortable position, she does this pursed lip, downward glance, head-tilt sort of look and just walks away. For example, if she grabs someone else's legs thinking it's me or Jared and she realized that it's not, she does this little prideful look and walks away as though she is above the whole situation and just would rather not look you in the eye.



And then, she's over it.





This plane flew by with this message: "Free Iran." Amen.