Unfortunately, the ferry was not running on schedule — I think because of the fog. Leif was getting impatient, so we took a walk out on the balcony. Here’s what we saw.

We decided to go to the playground across the street at Battery Park. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Leif like the puddles more than anything else there.

I succeeded in getting him to climb a little bit, but he quickly returned to the puddles.

Leif and I jumped on the F-train for an adventure down to Coney Island.

After a 30 minute ride, we got off the train and onto the beach.

Leaf acknowledged the presence of the ocean…

… surveyed his surroundings …

… and got to work.

After a while, he decided to explore.

He soon discovered a bird. “Bird!” He exclaimed! (It sounds like “Dah!” In fact most of his words sound like “Dah!” It’s sort of like his sound for *.* in DOS … or “.*” if you’re into regular expressions)

He gave chase for a while and soon bored of the futile pursuit.

He was happy to get back into the stroller.

We had a couple hot dogs (Hot Dog = “At Ga” in Leivish) and fries, and then hopped on the subway home.

It was a really fun day.

While you don’t take a jet, getting there is almost like flying — you take a cable-car over the east river.

That’s the 59th street bridge right next to the cable-car. The climactic fight scene in Spiderman was filmed here. Scott, Leif and I, were just feelin’ groovy though.

There are ruins of an old asylum on the south end of the island. Just beyond that is a nice grassy area where Leif walked around.

He likes helicopters and airplanes. If you go to the flickr site (click any of the images) and view the images after this at full resolution, you can see the helicopter he was watching.

Behind us is the UN, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler building, the erstwhile Pan Am (not MetLife) building, and a the Green Goblin’s building.

Other than Leif’s runny nose in the cold, we all had a great adventure.

Here is Evan, the composer, on accordion; Zach on violin, Rolf on guitar (me on ears…)…

…and Matt on bass

Leif was very curious and impressed…

“Look at THOSE cool toys!!!”

The wonderful Rolf; the wonderful snack on the coffee table…not that I needed to bribe these guys to play amazingly!

Matt in action…a photo cannot adequately capture his “game face.” It’s great.

Zach and Rolf, and the illustrious composition.

Some break time entertainment, courtesy of the littlest musician.

Evan, Herr Direktor.

I just couldn’t resist this one…

And Daddy just couldn’t resist THIS one!

I, with some vestiges of mommy hormones still coursing through my veins, am indignant. I’m a New Yorker now. It’s okay, nay, it is good to yell your mind at someone who’s just not paying attention in one of the world’s busiest locations. So I take a deep breath and let it fly:

“hey!” (insert a high-pitched, shrill, very female voice)

(point emphatically to the stroller) “there’s a baby!!!”

Not exactly the most intimidating or even cathartic ejaculation. I kind of surprised myself at the thinnish whinny I produced when my very child was faced with mortal danger (not to mention our dog…). But the LOOK I gave him, boy I tell ya. Well, that must not have been very forceful either because he responded merely with a “Sorry, lady!” Kind of exasperated and condescending-like, as if I were overreacting.

I was able to save a bit of face by emitting a swift huff-and-eye-roll (you know the one) at a couple who had witnessed the incident and were as appalled as I, pretending (very convincingly, I might add…) that I was an impotent whiny girl, instead of the fierce lioness that, inside, we all know I am. I’ll be sure to clear my throat first next time…

Nobody K-turns in front of me—NOBODY!!

These are dogs looking for squirrels to eat.

This is a squirrel.

This is a dog chasing the uncatchable squirrel.

This is our street about 3 weeks ago … no leaves anymore!

The block north of our house is the “Parade Grounds” where troops once mustered, and now athletes of all ages congregate.

The block north of the Parade Grounds is Prospect Park. It was looking fabulous, even after the “peak” of fall colors.

I thought that this grandmother and kid were funny because the grandmother was running in the park and the kid was trying to keep up!

One of my favorite trees looks haunted. It’s reaching out to gobble up any puppies and small children. Wouldn’t it look scary in the dark, silhouetted by flashes of lightning?

Following the path …

… to the lake …

My favorite tree of the fall was yellow.

… than for this …

That really hurts.

• In the buyer’s corner: Elizabeth, me and our lawyer.
• In the seller’s corner: An older gentleman (whose photo ID was from the People’s Republic of China) who spoke no english, his son Francis, and their attorney. Their real estate agent didn’t show.
• In the bank’s corner: An attorney
• In the building’s corner: The president and treasurer of the coop board, an attorney, and the coop manager

The day before, my lawyer contacted me with the figures. We put down 10% and had a 95% mortgage, so we were expecting to get some cash back. Everything went just about as I expected it … except that I had to plunk down $850 for the coop’s attorney. In this coop, the buyers pay for the attorney. It’s different in every building. I just wish I’d known about it in advance.

Did I say that everything went as I expected? Oh yes, just like I expected … it was a 3-ring circus.

People were coming in and out of the conference room, the bank’s attorney having to re-cut checks and have a courier run them over from 3rd avenue, the sellers having to sign an affadavit about their lost stock certificate, the seller’s real estate agent calling and saying he couldn’t make it, could they pick up his check for them, the coop attorney and manager passing around leases to sign, to void, stock certificiates, etc. At the very end, the bank’s attorney made a hand-written HUD-1 form and we all agreed to it. I think that’s commonplace here since there are so many players involved.

When the business was all through, the older Chinese gentleman stood up, handed me the keys and tried to say, "Congratulations," in english. It was sweet.

Tomorrow at 9:00 am, I’m meeting our contractors at the place with checks and contracts and they’ll start work! IKEA delivers the cabinets tomorrow, Home Depot delivers the appliances on Thursday. Lord willing, we’ll be able to move in in 4 weeks!

For those who want a rough tour of the place, look here. There are lots of big photos so it’ll take a long time to download.