New Years

We went to the Berkshires for New Years -- to Doug and Carrie's house in the mountains. The Fredo's joined too. It was great to see the three sons interact (minimal at first, more as they gained comfort).

For a while, Nate and Cole just ran around and dove into a mound of pillows. They did this again and again and we all watched and laughed. We watched Toy Story 2. Twice. After the kids went to bed, the adults made a fantastic dinner and watched the scene in Times Square. It's 2012, a year that surely will be tumultuous.

Umbrellas

The Gessers headed up north for gift exchange the day before New Years. In addition to way too many toys (Nanna!!), the kids got funky umbrellas.

Guitar

Shana and Nate have a pattern, usually on Monday mornings: they go to Fairway together and do some quality food shopping. They have a blast. Mostly. On this Tuesday morning, however, what with school closed, Shana and Nate headed over. Nate wanted to bring his guitar. Ridiculousness ensued.

Pizza!

On this cold-ass Saturday, Nate and I had an afternoon together. We went to the handball wall and worked on our throwing form ("step and throw"). Nate isn't that much of a pleaser; he does not derive joy by making you feel joy. He more or less derives joy from telling others what to do. We then started feeling pizza, and headed to Driggs Pizza on N7th and Driggs, where we climbed into the booth in the back and each had a slice. It's thrilling to sit across from Nate and eat pizza and chat. It's kind of insane actually.

Canarsie Pizza Trip

Nate and I hopped the subway to Canarsie, Brooklyn on this chilly Saturday to check out what the last stop on the L train looks like. Let's just say it's rough over there, not much to take in aside from the Canarsie Pier (we hopped on the Rockaway Parkway bus loop to get there), which overlooks Jamaica Bay (and on the other side of that, Far Rockaway where my parents grew up). The Pier was all stark and battered, with only 4 fishermen giving it a go. Nate couldn't get over the word "seaweed", laughing his ass of each time he or I said it. I didn't get the joke but I laughed when he laughed.

After that, Nate and I went to Original Pizza, a morose and cavernous pizza joint that's stood its ground since the 70's. Nate kept eating the paper plate that sat below the slice. But I gotta say, that slice was tasty. When I asked Nate if he was done with his slice (so I could finish it up), he smiled his big smile and said, "Noooooo..."

Funny moment of the trip was at 10:30am, waiting in the cold at the bus top on Rockaway Parkway near the Canarsie Pier and the entrance to the Belt Parkway, when Nate tells me he wants to go "night night". "You aint CLOSE to goin' night night my man," I laugh. Night night?? Anyway, he rallied, had a delicious old school slice of pizza, and gazed out of the L train window as we bounded home, westward towards our Williamsburg. Back at the apartment, Nate napped for 3 hours...