Wave Hill

Jay was away for Spring Break, at the Bologna Book Fair, and Ro's preschool was closed for 10 days for Passover, so my Dad came out to assist me and spend time with the boys.  Every night my Dad and I made plans for the following day, what my Dad would do with the kids while I was at work.  I wrote incredibly detailed directions, because it's not easy to drive in New York or find a place to park.  I  knew Roan wanted to show Popi Grand Central, and my directions on how to take the subway there and come home again filled an entire page, front and back.  Somehow, they still got lost, and took 3 or 4 more trains than was really necessary, but they still made it home in time for dinner.

My dad took Roan to the Brooklyn Central Library, where they spent a few hours reading books about trains.  They drove around Bush Terminal, an old freight yard in our neighborhood that is just now being put back into service, and watched some work diesels loading a brand new Long Island Railroad train onto the rails.  They went to Bounce U, a playroom full of bouncy houses and insanely huge slides.  They went to the Children's Museum.

Then my mom came to town, which was very good because for all my father's adventures, he never was all that interested in the banalities of childcare, like figuring out when to give Ilan a bottle.  On Friday, we took the subway to Grand Central, and rode the Metro North up to Wave Hill, a rambling garden that overlooks the New Jersey Palisades.  We were a bit early in the year to enjoy the garden - it will be gorgeous in another month, but it wasn't really about the destination.  We just needed a reason to ride the Metro North.