River View

The Hudson River has been providing us with wonderful entertainment.  We look out our front window and see huge cruise ships, tour boats, sailboats (large and small), yachts, kayaks, and even paddleboarders.  And of course, the ferries.  I love how the ferries always seem to be hustling along:  to Hoboken, to 39th Street, and to the World Financial Center, among other places. There's a ferry landing right in front of our building, and  Mark and I have a made a game of counting how many people get on and off.

The river is a mile wide at this point, and we love using our binoculars to watch the boats and to look at the buildings in Manhattan.  Google has been helpful to us in identifying some of the buildings.  We are directly across from Canal Street, but can see down to Battery Park to the south and up to the Empire State Building to the north.  Using one of the mirrors our landlord placed by the window, we are able to see all the way up to the George Washington Bridge.

Friday = Fun + Food

Today was our "day off" from babysitting Julia.  We decided to head over to Manhattan and ride the Hudson River Greenway up to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que (one of our favorite restaurants in NYC).  The weather was hot and humid, but we had a nice ride from the WTC PATH station up to 125th Street.  Our son, Dan, was able to take a break from the bike shop and join us for lunch.  Mark and Dan shared a rack of ribs.  At Dinosaur, you get a choice of "sides" with your meal, and that's always the most difficult part of my lunch selection:  They have about 15 sides from which to select; I've had about 10 of them over the years, and they're all good.  Some of the choices (in addition to the standard cole slaw and french fries) are:  barbeque baked beans, barbeque fried rice, carrot and raisin slaw, Syracuse salt potatoes, and macaroni and cheese.  They also have a vegetable of the day - today it was black-eyed peas with kale.

After eating our hearty lunch, we headed next door to Fairway Foods, a fabulous grocery store in Harlem.  Mark had the grocery-style saddle bags on his bike, so we stocked up on gluten-free items and other goodies (chocolate-covered pretzels for me), then headed back down the greenway.  Of course, the wind had shifted so that we ended up with a head wind both directions!  But it felt good to get out for a 20-mile ride.

Babies and Beer Gardens

Today began week two of taking care of Julia.  What a fun job!  We went out for a couple of walks.  In the afternoon, we walked to the Zeppelin Hall Beer Garden, which is about 1-1/2 miles from John and Nancy's apartment.  We got there at 4:00, and the Jersey City Mom's group was meeting up there for a networking opportunity.  There were probably 15 moms and 20 babies there.  And don't worry, while Mark had a gluten-free beer, I drank water.  (No drinking on the job!)

Bike/Wok to Work Day

Our furnished apartment lacked a wok, and I was already missing Mark's fabulous stir-fry creations.  We decided we couldn't live without a wok for the summer, so Mark ventured across the moat to Manhattan. He took his bike on the PATH, biked up to Mod Squad to change his fixed gear to a coaster.  (It's too crowded around here for a fixed gear -- always need to be stopping.)  Then he headed downtown in search of a wok. After searching several shops in Chinatown, he headed over to the Bowery, where there a large number of restaurant supply stores -- and success!  He put the wok in his messenger bag and brought it back to JC.  We seasoned the wok and plan to buy fresh vegetables tomorrow for stir fry -- yummmm.
p.s.  Mark had two flat tires on this trip.

Biking Jersey City

We went on the Jersey City Bike Tour today.  It was an organized ride, with about 500 riders, that rode through Jersey City, with motorcycle police stopping traffic to allow us to proceed.  The route was 16 miles, mostly flat, at a slow pace (took two hours).  It was a really nice way to see the area and get some riding in.   Without an organized ride, it's hard to ride very far without having to stop for stoplights, and traffic is pretty heavy.  

Adventures in Babysitting

Julia with Grandpa Brauer

Today we started taking care of our granddaughter, Julia, during the day while John and Nancy are working.  She is a sweet, easy-to-care-for child, but I had forgotten how taking care of a baby (4 months old) divides your life into small segments of time:  feed (1/2 hour), play (1.5 hour), nap (1 hour) walk (1/2 hour) and then repeat.  It sure makes the day go by quickly!  Julia makes us smile and laugh all the time.  She loves her grandpa -- she smiles when she sees him.  The Paulus Hook neighborhood of Jersey City (where John and Nancy live) should be called Baby City.  When we go out for our daily walks, there are strollers everywhere. We see lots of other grandparents taking care of young children.  Lots of Au Pairs, too.  We call ourselves the Grand Pair au Pairs.

BBQ in Brooklyn

Beer, Beans and Brauers

Today we rode our bikes (took them on the PATH to the World Trade Center Station in Manhattan and then rode) to Brooklyn for a backyard barbeque hosted by John and Nancy's friend, Tim.  We took a detour along the way to buy a vinyl tablecloth at K-Mart in Manhattan, then headed across the Manhattan bridge to Brooklyn.  It was hot and humid, so the cold beer (6-point, various flavors) tasted especially good.  We brought a tub of Captain Ken's Firehouse Baked Beans from Minnesota to share at the potluck.  John made delicious chicken skewers marinated in "shwarma" sauce.  Got a chance to visit with a lot of great people.