Pre-School, Finger Paints, and Coney Island

Finger painting is Madeline's number one hobby. But it is always such a mess.

So, I decided just to put her in the tub and let her knock herself out. Still a mess. But a quick clean up.

Madeline started her "Book Buddies" preschool this week. It's once a week for two hours. She loves it. She is always asking to go to "class".

No wonder she wants to go...there is a trampoline there!
Friday we got up early and went for a day at the beach. We went to Long Island in the morning and then to Coney Island for lunch. We had our first Nathan's famous hot dog (although Madi and I preferred the french fries and ketchup).
Madi really loved wearing her tutu bathing suit and playing in the sand. She built some sand castles (but had more fun knocking them down) and even ran up and down the beach playing soccer with daddy.
But her favorite thing to do was to sit and stand in the surf and let the waves splash over her. She sure didn't want to leave and would've had her dinner served at water's edge if possible. But the sun was getting low and we had to get back home..
Bye-bye Summer, we'll miss you!

The US Open

On the first night of the US Open, Charles and I took the 7 train from Manhattan...

...out to Flushing Meadows, Queens to see the opening night ceremony. Here we are at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The ceremony was really fun. The Navy here is holding the flags of all the countries that are being represented.Then the NYPD carried the flag while a cute little 12 year old boy from Harlem sang the national anthem.

We saw one of my favorite players, James Blake, being honored for being inspirational along with Martina Navratilova and others.

After some stunning fireworks...
...we had the pleasure of seeing Venus Williams play. We were amazed that the stadium full of more than 20,000 people could get so quiet during play.

But the highlight of the night was watching Roger Federer play. Seeing him live shows even more how talented he is. There are a lot of great tennis players but Federer makes the sport look effortless and graceful. No wonder he has the most Grand Slams of all time.

And look who was waiting to serenade us after the match....that's right...Spider Man. It was the same guy who was playing after the Yankee's won the world series. He really is everywhere!!

Because no blogging is complete without a photo of Madeline, here she is with her new favorite toy...a Costco box she calls a car.

But, baby Big Bird still gets some love.