our first day back in nyc.

our first day back was long and crazy and perfect! it was a beaming 93 degrees, but we didn't let stop our fun. we met up with a group of friends {and by group, i mean an army of mommies with strollers} and walked 2 by 2 across the brooklyn bridge. it was so funny seeing peoples' faces when they moved out of the way for one mom but quickly realized there were many more following.

once across, we did one of my favorite activities in the city—eat grimalidi's pizza at the park, followed by peach ice cream at brooklyn ice cream factory and a spin on the beautiful and historic jane's carousel. when we moved, all of the kids were babies, but now it's so fun seeing them run around and interact like friends. it was such a perfect day and a great welcome back into the city.

walks, bridges, and baby naps.

the past two days have been ridiculously warm and beautiful,

so we've been doing a whole lot of walking outside. 

plus we're guaranteed a deliciously long nap by harper if we're

outside, so walks are a common occurrence these days!

this appears to be our weekend ritual now.

 call me ridiculous, but i never realized that brooklyn 

is just one stop from my new apartment. one stop!

do you know how many doors that just opened?

brooklyn flea

peter pan donuts

my secret flea market

bk botanic gardens

hipsters

and....

freakin' brooklyn ice cream factory!!

so now that i've figured out that little fact, 

we seem to be craving brooklyn ice cream a whole lot more.

can you blame me?

it's creamy, chocolatey and closer than {insert any restaurant name here}.

the botanic gardens.

 

 it was raining just about the whole time we were in the gardens, 

but i swear it was more beautiful because of that. 

this place was so beautiful!

i'd been longing to go for a while now, but hubs was never

too keen on the idea. thankfully, the numbers were in my favor

with landry and joan on my side!

yee haw!

i love being able to go out with friends. especially if a birthday is involved! {happy bday pat} we met at a very cool restaurant in brooklyn called viva toro. despite there being horrible train traffic {no surprise there}, everyone made it—all twenty of us! dinner was great, friends were great, and there was a mechanical bull in the middle of it all. being from texas, i had an obligation to ride that bull, and ride it i did!

bedknobs and broomsticks

natalie happy with her new purse and food!

what a lovely morning!

i've been in the city a whole year and had never ventured
across the bridge to visit the highly talked about brooklyn flea. 

so this morning, natalie and i hopped on the train to see what the buzz was about.

my personal analysis?

it was amazing!!!

there were so many good {and cheap} finds!

i simply didn't have enough pockets to bring everything home in.

next time i'm bringing a truck. a big one.

brooklyn bridge.

We had a fun time walking the Brooklyn Bridge with Klane, Angie, 

and Carly on our way to delicious pizza at Grimaldi's

After walking the bridge, we had a few more hours(!) to stand

until we actually got to eat (2 to be exact)

Tired of standing

It's such a quirky restaurant run by a bunch of funny Italian men 

(mafia you might ask? quite possibly, but you didn't hear it from me)

Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory afterwards

light up the bridge.

After all the rain cleared, we took a lovely walk

 to the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge,

walking the whole way would have been asking too much.

The lights were so beautiful, and the boys had fun doing "boy"

things off the Brooklyn Bridge...

Syd. Spinning. Falling.

target. la la la.

Anyone who's said Target around me knows,

my ears perk up and I'm as giddy as Todd on our wedding night. 

I LOVE TARGET

And all my dreams came true when Hubs and I 

took the subway over to the Brooklyn gem.

We stocked up on all the necessities...

Popcorn

Peanut Butter

Swim Suits

Bubble Gum...

*the works*

And I made sure we had more than enough bags to haul it home.