Weekending it - Back in Brooklyn

This past weekend we took the kids along for a day back in Brooklyn! 

A friend reached out to me last week to see if we could get together. Dan and I attended her wedding this past summer and she is moving to Arizona in October. We thought it would be fun to meet up with her at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Saturday afternoon and bring the kids.

Meanwhile, another friend reached out to me a few days later, and as we were catching-up via text, I realized this weekend might be the perfect time to see their family as well, since we would already be in Brooklyn. We stopped in Bay Ridge first for brunch with them. It was delightful. The adults caught-up and the kids played.

We grabbed a bunch of bagels in Bay Ridge to bring home and Dan and I snagged our favorite sandwich from the deli we used to go to all the time (it's nothing exciting, just ham and cheese but we missed it). The kids fell asleep in the car while Dan drove through horrendous traffic to downtown Brooklyn. Parking was even worse than we remembered and we ultimately paid $40 for a valet garage. I've decided I've lost my tolerance for crowds and city chaos. 

Ultimately, we made it to the park and found my friend. We jumped around the playground areas while the kids played and we caught-up. 

We all grabbed some ice cream and then said goodbye.

I had hoped we'd be able to swing by one more stop to say hi to an old friend from our Crossroads days and buy some pie from her shop. But, it was nearing dinner/bath/bedtime, the kids had lost steam, and Dan and I didn't want to deal with more parking issues. So, we headed back to New Jersey. It was a long day but it felt good to reconnect with some friends and take the kids some place "new." It's funny to call it new but Ivy has no memories of Brooklyn and Kip's are few and fading. 

But now that we've ripped the anti-social pandemic band-aid off, I think it will be easier to make the trip a more semi-regular thing. There will always be people and places we love in that Borough and truthfully, we really aren't that far away.