5 favorite kids friendly New York spots

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Our 5 favorite kids friendly New York spots

Our summer vacation in Denmark is a couple of days away, and both myself and the kids are very excited about going. With that said, we’ve had some great weeks since Eleanor was off school. Most of the time we have spent on adventures in this great city together, and we ended up finding some great kids friendly New York spots for playing, relaxing and having fun.

When we go on adventures, a few things are always important to me: First of all the places we’re going have to be kid friendly. I love taking them to museums and to see some of the great attractions the city has to offer, but I won’t take them anywhere that doesn’t welcome kids.

Secondly all places need to be accessible with a stroller. When you go adventuring in New York, you always end up walking a lot, and even though my youngest is close to 3 years old, it’ll take a good while before we can start leaving the stroller at home. For the last two weeks, our Mutsy-stroller has been more or less everywhere in New York. At Central Park, out sailing, across bridges, up in the air on a gondola and at the beach. When we go on trips together with my husband we’ll carry the stroller up and down stairs to the subway, but when I’m alone with two kids, I’ll normally go for the subway stations that have an elevator (it says on the subway map).

Here’s a list of our 5 favorite kids friendly New York spots:

Central Park. This is probably my favorite park in the whole world. Try the old carousel, visit the zoo, have a picnic on one of the many beautiful lawns, go sailing on the lake, sit on a bench and look at the roller skaters and bubble makers, or visit one of the great playgrounds.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden. We love to go and play in this beautiful garden and look at the amazing flowers and trees. In spring the whole garden lights up in pink tones because of the cherry blossoms trees and magnolias, and in the summer you can enjoy the many roses and wild orchids.

The Beaches. When you say New York, you normally think of a big city with busy street and a ton of people. But there’s a lot of different beaches not far away from the city. So far we’ve been to Coney Island and Rockaway beach which are both easy accessible with subway, and even though the areas surroundings the beaches are nothing to write home about, the sand is clean, the lifeguards are plenty and you can easily spend a day both places.

Governor’s Island. This is a small island situated just south of Manhattan and reached by ferry from Brooklyn Pier 6 or Manhattan Battery Martime Building. The Island used to be a military area, but has now been transformed into an amazing space for relaxation, art and play. You’ll find lots of food trucks, small galleries, play areas and outdoor art pieces.

Brookyn Bridge Park / Pier 6. During the past few years, the Brooklyn Bridge Park has been rebuilt into a great recreative space with one of the cities best playgrounds situated at pier 6. Closer to the Brooklyn Bridge you’ll find basketball courts, barbecue areas and small nature spots. From spring 2015 to spring 2016 the Danish artist Jeppe Hein has a fun exhibition on view called Please, Touch the Art scattered over the park area, and during summer you’ll also find a pop-up pool at this park.

Kids-friendly kale chips

My kids are not the type of children, who’ll eat anything I put in front of them. Not that they’re picky, but my youngest doesn’t like anything sweet, and my eldest has always preferred not to eat meat. One thing they both love is vegetables, and even though they prefer the more kids-friendly versions like carrots, cucumber, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, belled peppers and potatoes they’ll happily eat other ones as well, as long as they are prepared in a delicate way.

A favorite at the moment is baked kale chips, which they’ll eat just as a snack or as a side dish together with small organic chicken sausages.

Here’s my quick and easy recipe for kids-friendly kale chips.

You’ll need:

1 bunch kale

1/2 – 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Remove the stems and tear the leaves into large pieces.

Wash and dry the leaves really well before beginning.

Spread the kale into a single layer on the baking sheet.

Drizzle the olive oil over the leaves and toss the leaves around to make sure all leaves are covered. Be aware not to use too much oil, as this will prevent the chips from getting crispy.

Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake at 375 degrees F (175 degrees C) until the edges of the leaves turn slightly brown.

Let the kale chips cool down for a few minutes before serving.

ENJOY!

A look back at June in pictures and words

June, you were hot, humid and dressed in pretty flowers. You brought us summer, evenings full of soft light, sweet strawberries and glasses of cold rosé. I can’t believe you’re gone already.

We love you June because for my little family you were the month where …

… We have to admit that New York summers can be a bit too hot, so we got ourselves an air conditioner.

… Eleanor graduated kindergarten, and will be a first grader.

… Alma realized that swimming is great in this heat.

… We spent hours at our local splash pools.

… We experienced this years’ first heavy summer thunder showers.

… We fell in love with the rose garden at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

… Eleanor went through 2 weeks of crazy theme days at school ( including pink hair, funny socks, ice cream day and going to school dressed in a night gown ).

… We visited Governor’s Island for the first time ( but definitely not for the last ).

… We welcomed our first summer holiday as New Yorkers.

… Some of our favorite people from Denmark stopped by New York and paid us a visit.

… the kids had bare & grazed summer knees from running and falling.

… We saw a day of rainbow coloured celebrations because in the end, love wins.

… We expanded our household with the most amazing basil plant, that treats us to tasty green herb leaves every day.

… We bought our first piece of Scandinavian design for our New York-home. A Trip-Trap chair for Alma, we missed our old one too much.

… I realized that Eleanor can now read text messages, notes, letters and books. Nothing is secret any more!

Our summer holiday to-do list

Friday was E’s last day at school as a kindergartener, and before her life as a first grader begins, we have two and a half months of summer holiday to enjoy. We’ll spend a month and a half in Denmark, visiting family and friends and relaxing at our countryside cottage. But before going to Denmark we have two weeks in New York, and to make sure we spend the time in the best way possible, E and I started the day by making a summer holiday to-do list.

E, A and K’s summer holiday to-do list:

– Make and eat a lot of pancakes. ( This is actually how we started the morning. You can see our favorite recipe here. )

– Go to the beach. So far we have only visited Coney Island, but Rockaway Beach is next on the list, and just under and hours train ride away.

– Playtime at home. Sometimes this can be the best idea especially on really warm and sunny days.

– See the Basquiat exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. I’m sure both kids will love his colorful paintings. We’ll go on a Tuesday so we can enjoy a free entrance at the Botanical gardens afterwards.

– Make homemade popsicles full of fresh fruit.

– Visit Governors Island. The best place for a relaxing day outdoors.

– Have picnics in Central Park and then take a ride on the carousel after lunch.

– Make our own homemade play dough. I just learned that the pre made stuff is full of really bad things and I can’t wait to try to make a homemade version.

– Pick pretty flowers and save them for winter.

– Go swimming in the Pier 2 pop-up pool.

– Sail by the Statue of Liberty.

– Read a lot of books.

– Make a cardboard house inspired by the amazing DIY book Playtime. ( See it right here.)

– Eat a lot of strawberries.

– Sew a big unicorn-doll.

Both girls are wearing grey outfits in organic cotton by ByClaRa.

Inside Out

“Sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re sad. You’re not always in the same mood. When you’re sad you might be afraid to tell a grown up, but if you tell a grown up, you’ll feel better.” That’s what my 6-year old daughter answered, when I asked her, what the film Inside Out was about.

Yesterday afternoon Eleanor and I went on a cinema-date to see the new Pixar film Inside Out. The film is about Riley, who has to leave her friends, home and beloved ice hockey team behind, to move to a new city because of her dad’s new job. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions; Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger and Disgust. These individual emotions live in the control centre of Riley’s brain and they help guide her through the day. As Riley gets more and more upset about the move, chaos is let loose in her brain, and her emotions end up on a dangerous and heartbreaking journey in an attempt to restore order and make Riley happy again.

Through most parts of the film, the emotion Joy thinks she’s the only one who can make Riley happy. But by looking back at Riley’s most important memories Joy realizes that sometimes you need to accept sadness.

Eleanor and I both found that is was a really good, funny though also a very sad film. New York Times critic A.O. Scott describes the film like “ a defense of sorrow, an argument for the necessity of melancholy dressed in the bright colors of entertainment”, and for me, that’s exactly what the film is about. It’s so sad, that you feel like crying (a young man sitting right behind us made loud sobbing sounds more than one time throughout the film) but because the sadness is wrapped up in funny characters, bright colors and an imaginary animal-friend who cries candy tears, it’s digestible for a 6-year-old.

For my daughter and I, the film was a great opener for a conversation about emotions, how you cannot always be happy and that it often helps to talk about things with a grownup. It also started a conversation about how emotions work, and how our brains are built.

Go see Inside Out, and make sure you have time for those important conversations afterwards if you child feels like it.

Pink girls’ clothes

My eldest daughter doesn’t wear a lot of pink (she says, her favorite color is black). The one day she did wear pink, we walked down a road where we’ve never been before, and suddenly we saw a wall the exact same color as my daughters top. That of course called for a few pictures.

for me, the most important thing about pink clothes is, to find the perfect shade of the color (not too neon and not too bright). Right now there’s a lot of beautiful pink girls’ clothes on sale and so I thought I would put my favorite pink sales items together in a quick collage.

1. Shirt / Caramel Baby and Child 2. Tunic / Marmar 3. Knitted dress / Oeuf Nyc 4. Bag / Louis Louise 5. Dress / MarMar 6. Moccs / ByClara 7. Top / Stella McCartney 8. Shorts / Stella McCartney 9. Slippers / Petit Nord 10. Top / Marmar 11. Boots / Angulus 12. Baby pants / Oeuf NYC

10 things we love right now

Here’s my list of 10 things we love right now:

– Peonies. I’m not sure if it’s the color or the fact that each single flower is so big and looks like a ball. But Eleanor is in love with the these amazing flowers, and picks up the vase several times a day.

– The luxury of staying inside even when it’s really nice weather outside. In Denmark, summer seems to last less than a quick nap, and if the weather is nice and the sun is shining, there’s no doubt that you’ll go outside. And if not, you end up feeling guilty, because there’s a good chance tomorrow will be cold and rainy.

– Picnics. But the again, who doesn’t?

– Homemade popsicles with frozen berries. They are SO delicious and look amazing.

– Our fan. I’ve never been a big fan of fans or aircondition, but when you move to a place where the summer is extremely warm and humid, you get to love both really quickly.

– Governors Island. A small island without cars and with loads of small galleries and outdoor activities only a short ferry ride away from Brooklyn and Manhattan. This is the most amazing place to spend a relaxing saturday. If you ever visit New York during summer, this is a place you should go see.

– My homemade iced coffee (okay, that’s mostly me). But it tastes delicious and is a good substitute for a normal cup of coffee when the temperature reaches higher than high.

– Playground sprinklers. When the weather gets hot, most New York playgrounds turn on the sprinklers, it’s a convenient opportunity for the kids to cool down.

– Salt Water Sandals. Before moving here, I had never heard about these sandals that come both in kids and adult sizes. They’re fairly cheap, very light weight and the greatest thing about them it that they can be used in water / playground sprinklers.

– Elton John’s Tiny Dancer. Both kids think the song is about a mouse.

Beautiful dress in Liberty print from Christina Rohde.

DIY simple girls dress

In celebration of the upcoming end of the school year, Eleanor’s school has dedicated each day of the remaining 2 weeks to a crazy-day theme. Monday was backwards shirts day, Tuesday was bring you favorite teddy, and Wednesday was PJ day. Before moving here, I had never heard about a PJ day (at least not one, where you leave your house) and at pick-up on Tuesday afternoon, I had to check twice that the kids were supposed to turn up to school the next day wearing their PJ’s.
Eleanor doesn’t use a pyjama. She’s the sleep in an old t-shirt type, but this wouldn’t work for school. Instead she remembered that I once promised to make her a night gown similar to one that she saw in an old swedish children’s film. Not even the promise of a new Frozen or My Little Pony pyjama could change her mind.

Luckily I recently discovered that we live close to one of the nicest fabric stores I’ve ever been to. The selection is small, but they stock the most amazing selection of Japanese cottons, Liberty fabrics and organic linens. Eleanor fell in love with a light Japanese cotton with a thin red line, perfect for warm summer nights and slow sunday mornings.
Since I had less than a few hours to make the dress, and my sewing skills are really basic, I had to go for the most simple version of a night gown. It turned out really nice, and if you’re in possession of a sewing machine you can easily make a similar dress in less than 2 hours. I have plans to make a few more for both girls, as they also look and feel great for hot summer days.
Here’s how I did the simple girls dress:
Find an old dress or even an oversized t-shirt that fits loosely over your child and lay it on top of your choice of fabric. It will be the base for your pattern. Draw around one side of the dress, avoiding the neckline. This dress is made from two pieces (one back and one front). Make the sleeves wide and keep them quite short. Add extra width to the neckline.
Fold the fabric around the middle of the dress (to make the left and right side similar). Cut out one front part and one back part.
Cut the neckline on the front part a bit deeper than the neckline on the back part, pin the shoulders together and make sure the child’s head will fit through the hole.
Cut out 2 pieces of bias tape for the neckline. This could be a small piece of fabric the same shape as your neckline, but slightly longer (see picture)
Sew the dress together (shoulders + sides) and fold over the bottom of the dress and the end of the sleeves, iron out and use a straight stitch to attach the folded edge, to make a nice hem.
Attach the bias tape to the neckline to create a drawstring to pull the elastic through. This is the most tricky part. The bias tape will be on the inside of the night gown. Start by attaching the front side of the bias tape to the front side of the dress. Fold the bias tape inside the dress, fold in the end and attached the bias tape to the dress using a straight stitch. Make sure it’s nice and straight as this stitch will be visible.
All there’s left to do, is to iron the dress, run an elastic through the drawstring and maybe add a trim to the sleeves and the bottom of the dress. We chose to add a simple lace trim to add a feel of a night gown, but this is not necessary.
Et voila, a simple girls dress made in less than 2 hours.

Exploring New York with a toddler

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As a mother in a new city, one of the things me and my kids like doing the most, is to explore our surroundings and all the things this city has to offer. Exploring is often equal to days spent outside, long walks and hungry stomachs, and after having to deal with blistered feet and a child screaming because she’s still hungry and doesn’t want to take a nap because I forgot to bring her favourite blanket, I have learned that there are somethings that you just don’t leave the house without.
Here’s my list of 9 things that I don’t leave my home without when I’m exploring New York with a toddler:

1. A good pair of walking shoes. The first few months I walked around in a pair of not so comfortable but very pretty shoes. That wasn’t the right decision. Now I wear my Birkenstock sandals on warm days and my running shoes when it’s colder. Less fancy but so much more comfortable.

2. A good stroller. I have tried a few different strollers in my six years as a mother, and one thing I’ve learned is that this is not good to go for the cheapest solution. If you know you will end up walking a lot, you need a stroller that can be adjusted to fit your height (to avoid getting a really soar back), maneuvers easily, is comfortable for you child, can decline for nap time and can carry all of your stuff in the shopping basket. My Mutsy stroller comes pretty close to being perfect and on top of all the things mentioned above it has a small storage room for the rain cover and it looks great with the leather look-a-like details and a simple design.

3. Water bottle(s). I’m always surprised how much water my children can drink when we’re out walking. Running out of water on a hot New York day is not fun.

4. A good book. My toddler loves to sleep in her stroller, and while she does, I find a bench with some shade and catch up on some reading (preferably with an iced coffee in my hand).

5. Nap time essentials like a snuggly blanket and pacifier.

6. Packed lunch and a lot of snacks. For some reason my kids always get hungry the second we’ve left the house, and since I can’t always be sure to buy something they like whereever we end up, I always bring food from home.
7. Sunblock. You often don’t realize that you’re getting a really bad sunburn before it’s too late, and even though it was cloudy when you left the house, there’s a good chance that the sun will come out during the day.

8. All the stuff you need to handle a change of diapers.
9. Patience. Exploring a big city with small kids is definitely not the same as exploring it with a friend or your husband. You might have to stop every 3 minutes to serve a drink, eat a snack, smell a flower, jump over a puddle or look at a fire engine.

(Do you want a few more tips on exploring New York with a toddler? I wrote about it earlier right here )

11 things about being a mother to a toddler

11 things I really want to remember about being a mother to a toddler:

~ The bittersweet feeling of being woken up way too early on a Sunday morning by a tiny voice whispering, Mum, are you awake? and how the whispering quickly turns to yelling if I ignore her question and keep on sleeping.

~ How greasy hands can be so loving and caring and non-disgusting when they quietly slip into yours and drag you off into a little world of unicorns, snuggly blankets and teddy bears.

~ How the word mummy, mama, mor and mimmi can be repeated indefinitely throughout the day.

~ The warm feeling of tiny kisses on your cheeks.

~ How feelings or states of mind are felt and expressed at one hundred percent, like being hungry, sleepy, really mad or very happy. Have you ever met a toddler who was just a little bit hungry or a tiny bit mad?

~ How strong-willed a toddler can be when it comes to staying awake, watching Netflix on the iPad or not eating her dinner.

~ The enthusiasm and excitement small things like making a painting, eating a bun or listening to a favorite song can bring. I wish I could appreciate these things the same way as her.

~ The amount of sandcastles you can build and tear down in less than an hour.

~ The amount of stress a toddler can cause when she decides to do the opposite of what you have asked… and how you can only convince her to do what you have asked by outsmarting them (How long will that last?)

~ How you keep on getting the best answers to your requests like:

– Go to sleep.

– No thank you.

– Give back the bucket you just took from your sister.

– No, sharing is caring.

~ The unconditional love and the fact that someone thinks that you are the best thing in the whole world.

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