Showing posts with label the sugar bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the sugar bowl. Show all posts

Saturday, May 28, 2011

morgana's birthday party

we began the day with a tie dyeing craft.

i soaked t-shirts in soda ash overnight and then placed them in plastic bags; one for each child.

relaxing in the grass, under the trees is such a treat. over the years, the two trees we sit under have grown together more, and give us better shade.

in the background, you can see a large section of the grass is cordoned off. it was being re-seeded. the fencing served to keep away the many ball and frisbee game groups that usually congregate (we have been hit in the head by flying frisbees in past years)! we didn't miss them this year.

the scarf grows longer every year . . !

the three-legged race team . .


the children like to play a lot of relay races . .

hmmmm . . i'm not even sure what this one was. morgana organized all the games with the help of her friends and her sisters.

i just had to make sure to retrieve the potato sacks from my friend's cellar . .



they're actually coffee sacks, and my friend brought a few extra this year so all the young people were able to race at the same time.

we had a lot of salads . . and sandwiches.

my favorite is the dilly brown rice salad from cynthia lair's feeding the whole family. we also had quinoa salad and tortellini salad.



there were many beautiful handmade gifts . .

and flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

the highlight of the day was capture the flag . .




it was really a very exciting day, and all the fresh air made for a good night's sleep!

Monday, May 31, 2010

at the sugar bowl on memorial day

we started having m's birthday parties at the sugar bowl in prospect park, brooklyn, when she was 5 or so. for a number of years after we moved back to manhattan, we didn't have a party in brooklyn. we had them in our building's lovely courtyard instead. however, the children outgrew the courtyard. when m turned 12, she insisted on renewing our brooklyn tradition. i didn't want to! . . i didn't want to traipse all the way to brooklyn . . with cake and salad and chips and blankets and jump ropes and water and . . no, thank you! but, as you can see, we did and we do. why? because there's magic that happens at the sugar bowl . . magic for children who become warriors and knights in search of a flag, or intrepid athletes struggling to be the first to cross the finish line in a sack race, or a fairy in the trees watching the others in a circle game . . and magic for the moms and dads who can finally lay on their backs and watch the clouds blowing over, but wonder how is it that we can be so tired and it all goes by so fast?

the birthday card

m's friend created a special birthday card for her this year. it has all their friends on it, and everyone had fun trying to find themselves. m is running after the blond haired figure, and her friend is with c (dressed in her party outfit, brown skort and coral seashell top) to her left, just past the tree.

the day


















the games