Summer looks a little different for us. Rob’s schedule fluctuates from daily afterschool groups to weeklong full day camps and clinics both in the City and on Long Island. There’s a lot of planning around those weeks, so when we have downtime, if we aren’t intentional, it can slip right by. One of my goals was to create intentional times for us to spend together. We got creative. I took a a day off from work during one of the weeks that Rob didn’t have camp, so we could have a date day. And I took another day off when Lucie had a break from school, so we could have a Family Day.
Brunch at Clinton Street Baking Co. to kick off our Family Day. This is the first place we ate when we moved to the City, we had breakfast here with friends from FL (Jim + Peggy) the day after we moved here. We’ve been there a handful of times since, but it was fun getting to be there almost nine years later to the day!
Splashing around the Washington Square Park fountain.
I’m so grateful that we have been able to thouroughly revel in these last several weeks of summer. It’s been wonderful. We’ve been able to spend time together, with friends, and with family visitors. We’ve really done a lot since the end of June, take a look through all the pictures in this post (there are dozens) if you’d like to see more of what we’ve been up to. Also, I took a chance to reflect on some things I’ve been encouraged by lately. Hope you enjoy!
During Lucie’s break at the end of June she got to go on a ton of adventures with Rob, like the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty followed by lunch together by my job!
Bike rides through Central Park
Family walks around the neighborhood
Over the past year and a half, I have started to accumulate a little plant collection. For my birthday this year, I made a wishlist on Amazon, and more than half of the items I added were either plants, or pots and planter sets to use to decorate our apartment. Give me all the plants!
Earlier this year my friend and I read Cultivate by Lara Casey. She used gardening as a metaphor throughout the book to share how we can aim to grow an intentional life. So, needless to say, she wrote about plants and gardening. A LOT. Sometimes the examples were lost on me, but overall I was encouraged and convicted, which I’ve shared about some already... and I’ve slowly turned into a plant lady as well, an unexpected and welcome development. I got a workbook after I read the book to help me flesh out some goals for myself. It has been really helpful to have things written out in front of me, and to see how my goals can be dynamic. Just because they’re written down doesn’t mean that they can’t be updated or changed altogether. It’s revealed some tendencies I have, like putting up walls, which I have written about before. Understanding that has been really helpful for me in taking some significant steps forward. I thought most of my goals would be practical and would relate to things I wanted to accomplish outwardly, but it was cool to see a lot of them take shape and see how the goals focused on ways I wanted to transform inwardly. It’s a process, and I’m a work in progress. I highlighted a ton of passages throughout this book, and wanted to share a few below.
As you think about your cultivated life vision, here’s a little grace and truth: we have permission to change our minds and change course if that’s what God says to do. Just because you set a goal at the beginning of the year doesn’t mean you have to take that path forever.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12: 34). We choose God as our treasure, no matter how many times we mess up along the way, and by His grace, the desires of our hearts will transform. By His grace, we don’t have to transform our own hearts; we just have to surrender them. We cultivate what we pay attention to. We grow what we sow. And we aren’t growing this life alone.”
“Trust and be patient as you wait in the dry times or periods of slow growth. God is always at work. In every season He is at work.”
“What I do know is this: if you are in a season of doubt or fear or worry or feeling lost, lean in. God is growing you, even when you can’t see it—and especially when your circumstances don’t feel comfortable or familiar.”
Maybe some of these quotes can be an encouragement to you too. In the next month we’re looking forward to time on Long Island while Rob coaches, and then swapping around our entire apartment! More pics below.
Love,
Los Hicksons
Chelsea Piers Driving Range for our Date Day
Strolling along the Brooklyn Bridge Park Promenade to get ice cream at Ample Hills after a delicious lunch at Seamore’s
On the Fourth of July we ran a 5K on Governor’s Island. The air was hot, humid and still, but we did it, and have already signed up for another one in September!
Lucie cheered us on!
And was totally wiped out on the way back home.
Later that evening we hung out on the Thomases rooftop and cooled off with water and buckets!
Uncle Greg pushing the girls in the buckets
Lucie has gotten more and more comfortable in the pool because of her swimming lessons. It was fun getting to have pool time together on Saturday mornings.
Picnic in the Park with the Beltrez Crew
Splash Pad next to the American Museum of Natural History
Doing things like this is why parenting in NYC is my favorite
After the splash pad we decided to have an impromptu picnic in the park for dinner. We got a Black and White cookie for dessert and it was as BIG AS LUCIE’S FACE.
Thanks to our babysitting rotation that is still going strong, Rob and I had a date night where we went to The Met to see The Heavenly Bodies Exhibit.
And then to Felice for dinner. SO GOOD.
The next day was my birthday (33!) and my family came up from Florida to spend the week with us while Rob coached on Long Island.
Swinging!
Love this pic!
This one is another fave. Stephan reading to Lucie.
Experimenting with dry ice. Andrew would shake the ballon and it would expand because of the small amount of dry ice inside. SCIENCE!
And yet another fave. Abuela reading the Selena book from Titi Eli to Lucie.
TWINSIES!
The following weekend, we had a picnic in Central Park with most of Lucie’s original Early Intervention Therapy team. It was so great to catch up with them after a year!
Super Hero Day at Lucie’s school - she was Super Lucie! And she was a super trooper because that morning we had a follow up appointment at the ENT to check on her ear tubes and to have a hearing test performed. One ear tube was removed since it was no longer needed and we’ll go back in September to see if the other one can be removed.
Momma and Super Lucie!
Lucie has decided that she wants to be a firefighter when she grows up!
Rob got to pick Lucie up from school one day, which he doesn’ normally get to do. They went by our neighborhood fire house and she got to meet real fire fighters and sit in the truck!
She has gotten SO BIG this year.
At the end of July we got to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway! It was amazing, and the theater was decorated completely in theme. The ceiling looked like the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
⚡️
Lucie swinging ON HER OWN. Reaching and pulling with her legs like such a big girl.
On a ferry our way to Red Hook in Brooklyn. I forget what Lucie was saying in this shot, I think she was saying “poopy”! It’s one of her favorite things to say, she thinks it’s hilarious.
Love these people
At Brooklyn Crab
Same spot - two years ago!
Felt like we were on a vacation away from the City for the day.
<3
Aunt Erin (Ah-Ah) stayed with us one night for a sleepover, and read Curious George for Lucie before bedtime. It was so fun catching up with her, and hearing about how Brett and Hudson are settling in to their new home in Michigan.
Shakespeare in the Park, one of my favorite Summer Traditions. We got to see a musical rendition of Twelfth Night, it was really fun! It was like a perfect blend of Hamilton and Sesame Street, because it kept original language but incorporated new music and even sign language. That may sound strange, but trust me, it was really well done.
Ready for the show to start!
Lucie had her “moving up” ceremony at school, she was given the Improvement Award because of how much she has thrived and come out of her shell this year. Oh my heart! The theme of the ceremony was “Honey Bears in the Community”. Her class was the Honey Bear class. Of course, since Lucie wants to be a firefighter, she was able to wear a uniform for the ceremony. Other kids dressed as Doctors, Chefs, and Police Officers.
So proud of my little love and so thankful for her great teachers this year. (Look at the awesome fire truck over her shoulder and the cut out of her driving it!) SO FUN!
Mom came back to help out with the Goose during another week of Rob coaching on Long Island. She came down to FiDi to have lunch with me one day that week. =)
Momma Boo!
When Rob got back from Long Island, we turned around as quickly as possible and headed down to Times Square for a special surprise!
FROZEN!
Abuela, thank you so much for taking not one, but TWO weeks off from work and using up your vacation time to come up and help us out with Lucie this summer. We love you so much!
Boonches even got to enjoy the show! It was such a great performance, Lucie loved every minute of it. (We did too!)
Heading out to Long Island for two weeks. The first week, I’ll be working while Rob coaches and Lucie attends summer camp! In the second week, Lucie and I will have some time off together. Can’t wait!