Month: July 2011

“Oh, what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?”

In Lexington, lots of things are all about horses, and we happened to find out about a polo game not far from us. We went to watch and learned a lot about the sport while we were there. Did you know players do not actually dismount—they just hop from one horse to the replacement horse—for substitutions. Also, teams travel and some of the players on our favorite team were from Australia and Argentina. The wives of the players seemed to be taking care of the horses throughout the game, so we also got to watch one woman braid, fold under, and triple-loop the horse’s tail after she sprayed him with cool water and took him out for a rest. Merayla loves to have me do her hair in “polo hair” now.

Did you know you can make it a long weekend and visit New York City from Lexington in just over 12 hours? We added a stop-over in Philadelphia to catch up with Mai and made it in time for Oana’s wedding celebration in Manhattan the next day. Check out the adventures:

Philadelphia

Mai’s family prepared a street BBQ when we arrived, which was so sweet of them, and the kids had fun making friends with Kelvin and his cousins. Vongphakdy, ‘til we meet again!

Manhattan

Cristian was able to attend his cousin’s wedding reception with his mom and sister. Oana looked beautiful, and everyone had a fun time.

Queens

Gogu and Gina (friends of the Icleanus) live in New York City. They were such generous hosts, and the kids had a lot of fun at their apartment as well. Gina is an excellent cook, so we enjoyed some good Romanian food and were close enough to take the metro the following day.

Battery Park

Merayla was excited to see the Statue of Liberty, so we got as close as we could get without the 2 hour wait in line for the ferry. The kids had their first trip on the “train” (metro) to get there, and it was tons of fun for them. It was also a bright, sunny day so they got into the fountain at the park immediately. Well, Merayla did and Oliver tried to throw dirt in it.

Central Park

We met up with relatives that came for the wedding at Central Park in the afternoon. There was a great place to row boats at the center of the park, and Maddy, Cris, and I had a fun time learning to navigate. 

Long Beach

On our last day in New York, we got to go to the beach on the Atlantic! It was a perfect day, and the waves were warm and big enough to have fun in but small enough that it wasn’t dangerous. Gogu and Gina accompanied us, and Cristian dug his traditional hole in the sand. Merayla chased birds, and Oliver filled our shoes with sand. I carted the stroller through the sand in true pioneer style. We had a great time.