Wonderful weekend

Our little gentleman conducts science experiments with his straw set

We’ve ended a wonderful week run up to that (depressing) American tradition of the ‘end’ of summer, Labour Day. (I was equally dismayed to see chrysanthemums on sale at the whole food market. Really guys?) But these were about the only downers in the last 10 days.

Grammy brought joy and fun, and a date night too, as she stayed with us for part of the week before heading to Manhattan for Broadway and Flushing for the US Open. We enjoyed a final hurrah dinner at Marseilles in our old neighbourhood. Calvin happened to wear his navy jacket and paired the appearance with gentlemanly behaviour, like opening and holding the door for me and making liberal use of his pleases and thank you.

We decided that going to Governor’s Island would be a fun thing to do this weekend. We also thought that so many New Yorkers would be out of the city. That may have been the case, but at least 20,000 of them were standing in front of us in a long line stretching from the ferry terminal to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Thanks to amazing patience on the part of our little guy — and for us, some well positioned hot dog vendors — we survived the wait. That meant we got to Governor’s island to… wait in more lines.

C and I on the crazy cycle.

Jay and I at Picnic Point

Our overall patience was rewarded as we rented this crazy bicycle contraption and rode around the island with Calvin perched in front making impromptu “Beep, beeps!” to warn fellow road users of our approach. Called the “surrey,” it’s basically a pair of bikes harnessed side-by-side  inside a frame that looks like a vintage motorcar. We picnicked at Picnic Point, sharing Calvin’s snack selection among us as we never got to buy any food because… you guessed it, the lines were too long.

Topping off our long weekend, we returned to the fabulous playground at Union Square. This time, Calvin had a special key on a lanyard around his neck. Why? Because that’s what it takes to get the fountain in the sand pit flowing. When we arrived, no one in the playground realized there was any water to the feature. A brief key application later and the sandpit was revolutionized, and Mr C the gracious key man.