brooklyn!

small spring garden in park slope

this sign is awesome! replicating this will be one of siri's first tasks when she masters writing

the friendly kitty who kinda looks like evie

siri petting friendly kitty

park slope -- yes, those are gas lampposts

walking on low wall at poly prep (a school we can't afford, but i would love for siri to attend). prospect park across the street.

learning how to be a brooklyn-ite (is that what they're called?)

park slope

matador daddy

grand army plaza (for those in the know, where trixie and sonja exchange knuffle bunnies in the second book)

we just came home from our trip to brooklyn, and siri is fast asleep. it was a successful trip, and we learned a few things:

1. park slope is the equivalent of one giant san francisco neighborhood (e.g. noe valley). the streets are surprisingly quiet, perhaps because each block is so long and far from main streets.

2. as sf food snobs, we weren't sure the food would be acceptable, but our sampling far exceeded expectations! restaurants we tried include: zaytoon's, milk bar, broken english, moo burger, blue ribbon, faros, and sweet melissa's (google them if you're interested). we probably each gained 10 lbs. from this trip.

3. sf is truly not child-friendly. children were present everywhere in brooklyn, eating in nice restaurants, on subways, walking on sidewalks. we hadn't realized how much of a grown up city sf truly is until this trip. but, it makes sense. new york is huge, and there are still a sizable working and middle-class families with children. plus, manhattan expats move to brooklyn. never once did we feel evil glares when we walked into nice restaurants with our child.

4. parts of brooklyn really suck. we will not be living in those neighborhoods.

5. car service is awesome! contrary to what one may see in the movies, yellow cabs aren't all over in a borough like brooklyn. so, while we took a cab from jfk to our vacation rental, we arranged for a car service to bring us back to jfk this morning. it was an enjoyable ride. the car was clean. the driver didn't drive crazily, and we weren't subjected to music of the driver's choice. and, the best part -- it cost the same as taking a cab. we love car service!

6. prospect park is pretty awesome. can't wait to explore more of it, especially the zoo and the botanical garden.

7. corner store cats are not friendly. if a three-year-0ld attempts to pet one (after chasing after it and shrieking at it), it will swat, scratch and break skin.