Hanging by The Hudson

The moment I’ve been waiting for finally arrived yesterday — hot weather! An 87 degree day, to be exact. And while I know there are lots of New Yorkers who hate when the city gets hot, I absolutely love it. You hear me?! Love it. Summer is my favorite season (although, I did write about the fall making a go at it), and after the long run of unseasonably cool weather that we’ve had, I welcomed our warm day with open arms.

Late in the afternoon yesterday, a couple hours before Jameson’s bedtime, we took a short walk over to the West Harlem Piers to hang out by The Hudson River. I love being there on hot days, because the water makes it much cooler than it is in other parks, and there’s something about looking at water that’s really relaxing. 
As Jameson played with his cars and climbed all over us, we took in the views of the sun reflecting on the water and setting over the New Jersey horizon. Jameson also made every effort to snatch our sunglasses, and this expression of his shows he was pretty pleased with himself whenever he was successful. When he wasn’t successful, he did a great job of throwing some classic side-eye shade. I think this photo below is just hilarious. Like, “Dad, you really thought a kiss would make me want your sunglasses less?”But with a little distraction, he was back to his happy, exploring self again. He has this thing with holding onto our backs, which he finds really amusing. It’s our favorite game to play with him, because it requires that we only sit there as he pats our backs and cracks up. I think in his mind he might be thinking we don’t know it’s him behind us and touching us. And the thought of him tricking Mommy and Daddy brings him great joy.He also has a thing with grabbing our cell phones, sometimes to put them in his mouth, but more regularly, he’ll hold the phone up to his head (far behind his ear) and mimic a phone conversation. If you look closely, you’ll see the phone in his right hand.
I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to more warm weather and the simple, fun outings that the summer brings. If you’re in NYC and have some favorite summer activities, I’m making my wish list for summer 2016 and would love to hear your suggestions.