Have Passport, Will Travel - Part 2

One of the things that Everett likes to do during the day is fly. Well, he's not really flying all by himself. Daddy's helping him out a little bit but he likes the vantage point from up there. Plus, he gets to practice holding his head up by himself, which we all know is a very important skill. Holding his cheeks up by himself...well, that's another matter.

But since Everett likes to fly so much, Mommy and Daddy decided to get him his very own passport. It just arrived in the mail. Remember how back in April I got my first passport? That means we all can go on lots of adventures together.

I know, the picture isn't so flattering. But from what Everett told me, he was sleeping nicely when Mommy came around and woke him up from a deep sleep and tried to get him to smile nicely for the camera. As you can see, he wasn't too happy. Alas, he can get a new passport photo in five years.

"Another Choo-Choo"

You'll never believe this, but recently I've felt like maybe I've been riding the New York City Subway a little too much. After all, there are only so many times I can get Daddy to take the F choo choo out to Coney Island with me, before I have to yawn a bit and say, been there, done that.

Now mind you, I'm *not* saying that I've grown tired of riding choo-choos. Not at all. I just feel like it's time to expand my horizons a bit, and since Dziadek is in town, I decided to do just that. You see, a few months ago, when I was staying and Dziadek and Babcia's house in New Jersey, they took me on the PATH train than runs from near their house to Philadelphia. I've always remembered that trip, and have been referring to it as "another choo choo", to distinguish it from "this subway choo choo."

So I reminded Dziadek about "another choo choo" and guess what? It turns out there is ANOTHER "another choo choo" right near our house here in Brooklyn. It's called the Long Island Rail Road, or LIRR for short - and yesterday Dziadek took me for a ride!

Oh what fun. The train cars are different from the subway...


And the seats are different...

And the views are different...

And as if that wasn't enough, we took the LIRR choo choo all the way from the Flatbush Avenue station near our house to the Jamaica station in Queens, and then we switched to ANOTHER choo choo - the AirTrain! The AirTrain connects the LIRR station to JFK airport, so we decided to visit one of the terminals to get a drink and check some ticket prices. Are you planning to take me on a trip to Poland, Dziadek?

By this point, all the choo choo riding and running around the airport terminal made me very, very tired, and as I've told you all time and time again, you know what happens when Jasper gets tired...

By the way, some of you may be wondering where Everett has been during all the adventures I've been having with Dziadek. Unfortunately, he has been feeling a bit under the weather - it seems my little brother has caught his first cold, so he has been staying at home with Mommy, where she can keep him nice and bundled up and warm.

The cold sure doesn't seem to be slowing down the alarming growth of Everett's cheeks, though, does it?

Island Adventure

Wow - what an adventure - Daddy and Dziadek took me on a trip to Governor's Island! You see, Governor's Island is an island located in New York Harbor, right between Brooklyn and Manhattan. It is only about 800 yards from Manhattan, but even closer than that to Brooklyn. So close, in fact, that whenever Mommy and Daddy take me grocery shopping, I feel like I can almost reach out and touch the island from the Fairway supermarket waterside promenade.

Governor's Island was actually a US military base for almost two hundred years, used by both the Army and the Coast Guard to protect New York City. But the military left the island years ago, and recently the island was given to and became a part of NYC. While everyone is trying to figure out what to do with all this free land, the island has been left as it was when the Coast Guard last used it - very well maintained, full of green lawns and great walking paths - and opened to the public to be used as a park. How great is that?

And do you want to know the best part? To get there, we took a ferry ride from near our home in Brooklyn!
I was so excited - I had never been on such a big boat before, and it definitely lived up to my expectations and then-some. Look at the views!

Once we arrived on the island, there was so much to see and to do. We toured all the soldiers' barracks and officers' quarters that still populate the island, and visited some of the forts and other fortifications scattered around.

I loved the cannonballs, as you can see.

I took advantage of all the island's open green space to roll around on the grass, which I don't get to do so often back in Brooklyn.

Of course there were great views of Manhattan to be enjoyed...

But look what else we discovered - a small temporary beach set up for all the summer visitors, or to be more accurate, a giant sandbox apparently set up just for me!

Thanks Daddy and Dziadek for taking me to Governor's Island - what a great adventure we had!

Greene Ice Cream

No no no, it's not what you think. It's not some sort of environmentally friendly ice cream (although it is locally made right here in Brooklyn). Greene Ice Cream is small batch, Philadelphia-style ice cream which means that it's EGG-FREE!!! That's right people, no eggs means that Jasper can eat REAL ice cream, not just the sorbet and fruit gelato I've had in the past. The only other times that I've had real ice cream is when Auntie Tracy made homemade ice cream for me in Milwaukee and Beverly Pau-Pau made homemade ice cream for me on the Cape. So, we made the trek over to Fort Greene for a treat. But first, I had to work up an appetite so we went to the playground and met up with my friend Naomi and Eli who live in the neighborhood.

After goofing around for a while, we headed off for my special treat. But, the ice cream cart was out of commission!! It was being used for a special school event. Since I had been looking forward to my ice cream all day, Mommy took me inside the restaurant The General Greene (where the ice cream is made) and we sat down to have a proper treat. I had vanilla and Mommy had salted caramel. Yum. I couldn't wait to dig in.

It's delicious!! Don't even think about trying to take a bite of my ice cream Mommy.

Earlier in the day, Everett and I got a special visit from Auntie Aviva, Mommy's friend from college and graduate school. She's moving down to Baltimore soon and she wanted to get some quality time in with me as well as to meet Everett and pinch his cheeks. It was so nice to see her but I'm sad that she's moving away. Good luck Auntie Aviva! We'll miss you!!

No Cry Sleep Solution

Mommy and Daddy will try to help Everett develop healthy sleep habits. However, when it comes down to it, they will do just about anything to get Everett to sleep. Of course, his favorite place to sleep is in someone's arms...

But he also likes to sleep outside...

on the changing table... (of course Mommy or Daddy is standing nearby to make sure he doesn't roll off the table)...

In the bassinet of the stroller...

And near the dryer - white noise works wonders to calm him down when he's fussy.

How come Everett gets to sleep all over the house and I have to stay in my crib??

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Everett has been having some fun on his activity mat lately. This is what he had to say this afternoon: "Wow, my face looks kind of funny in this mirror on my activity mat. Or does my face really look like an eggplant? And how come I have so many chins?"

Just call me Maverick

So besides picking up our new double stroller, the other highlight for me and Everett this weekend was our first visit to the Intrepid. You see, the Intrepid is an aircraft carrier moored right here in New York City, off the West side of Manhattan.

Before becoming a museum, the Intrepid was one of the most successful ships in US history. It was commissioned in 1943 and served in World War II, off the coast of Vietnam, as a NASA recovery ship and for submarine surveillance throughout the Cold War. Wow - that's a lot of history.

And the best part is, it has been turned into a museum where they let little kids like us get on the flight deck, and the hangar deck and all over the ship to see all the airplanes and helicopters and other exhibits - what fun!

Look at all the things I got to do on board - like man an anti-aircraft gun...

Try out landing an Intruder plane on deck (with Mommy's help)...
And get a feel for the flight controls of a rescue helicopter...

And where was my wingman, Everett, while I was having all this fun, you ask? Well, let's just say that after Mommy fed him, he settled in for a long nap, which lasted pretty much our entire time on board the ship...


Don't worry, Everett, I'll take you back to the Intrepid to show you around when you're older and can enjoy it!

New ride

Everett and I have a new ride! You see, when Mommy and Daddy's friend Nicole heard that they were shopping for a new stroller that could fit both me and Everett, she immediately offered us her family stroller, which until recently carted around her two fun kids, Lucy and Charlie. So yesterday we all packed up into our car in Brooklyn and headed over to Auntie Nicole and Uncle Rob's house in Montclair, NJ for lunch, some play time and of course, for the stroller.

Here is Uncle Rob and Lucy getting to know Everett during our leisurely outdoor lunch -

And here I am getting to know their very friendly dog, Buckaroo -

After lunch it was time to check out our new stroller - a super Urban Mountain Buggy.

As you might be able to notice in the picture, we got a lot more than just a stroller - three whole bags more, each full of books and clothes. I have so many new books for Mommy and Daddy to read to me, not to mention a great rain jacket, lots of new pants and even Lands End snow boots for the winter!

But of course our favorite - mine and Everett's that is - is the stroller. It's so comfy, and we both fit in it at the same time - how great is that?

Just in case you can't see him, let me point out Everett in his fully reclined seat -

What do you think, Everett, isn't this great?

We can't wait to go for a ride together! Though I'm not sure that Mommy and Daddy feel the same way - since they're the ones that are going to have to push us...