Row, Row, Row Your Boat

How does that tune go again?

Row, row, row your boat gently past the skylineeeeeee...

No, no, that isn't it.

Ah well - I'm sure it will come to me.

Sometimes you forget Manhattan is an island. With all the skyscrapers and cars, it's hard to imagine beaches, and sand, and water sports. But they exist!!!!!

Well, not so much the beaches and sand part. But the water sports are here! and they are FREE!

The Downtown Boathouse is run entirely by volunteers committed to promoting public access to the water for all. They are best known for their incredibly popular Free Kayaking program on the Hudson River.

Given 80 degrees and a free Sunday, the crew headed west to Pier 26 to check kayaking the Hudson off our collective bucket list.

The lovely folks at the Downtown Boathouse provide sunscreen and safety guidelines to anyone who happens to stumble into a kayak.

We suited up, confirmed that we could all swim, promised to stay within the buoy perimeter, and jumped in line to wait our turn!

You can choose between a 1-person or a 2-person kayak...

But of course we all love each other so opted to share.

Guests can take kayaks out for 30 minutes at a time and test their skills against the waves of the Hudson.

Just be careful not to play bumper cars with any of the other paddlers!

Tip: Sitting in the front seat of the boat means you can sit back and relax, while the kaboose does most of the leg work....

A great time to gather your thoughts while floating past the Freedom Tower.

And a GREAT time to ponder your next meal!

There's no official whistle to bring you back in but after a while we slowly trudged back to the dock to surrender our boats.

Teamwork makes the dream work, #amirite???

We left with big smiles and wet butts and went off to stuff ourselves with pasta for a job well done.

And what better restaurant to reward ourselves than Frank in the East Village? Frank is a teensy little restaurant that you might miss if it weren't for the seating spilling out into the sidewalk. The restaurant buzzes to life in the nighttime but we snagged an open table and were the only ones there at 5pm! Frank is known for the homemade pastas so we checked the specials and ordered away!

Starting with the largest, creamiest burrata I've ever been privileged enough to lay eyes on

Followed by handmade tortelloni

and an incredible Squid Ink Linguine with Frutti di Mare.

A great day had by all.

Let's try that tune again...
Row, row, row your boat gently past the skylineeeee
Merrily merrily merrily merrily NY life is so divineeeee

WOOHOO!

Ballin' Out in SoHo!

I'm still kinda getting the hang of this whole blogging thing. I take a million pictures, but half the time I put off actually writing the post.

When I come home and immediately open my computer, you know it's gotta be something worth writing home about.

I came home and had to JUMP into it, one might say!

"Jump In" was brought to life by creative design and branding agency Pearlfisher as an interactive art installation that "promotes the transformative power of play."

Armed with selfie sticks and a half hour to kill, TT and I headed into the Soho Pearlfisher offices one Thursday morning, and balled out.

 There are only a few rules.

But who hasn't heard, "No diving in the shallow end" one too many times?! Get in there and have some fun!

Lay back. Relax....

But be careful - it's quite easy to start drowning once you get stuck in!

Gothamist alerted me that Jump In would be hopping across the pond from its original home in London into our own backyard this summer and I obviously JUMPED at the occasion. I signed up for four different time slots in the span of 5 minutes.

What's better than a giant ball pit for adults??

We passed the time swimming, lounging, and frolicking....under the watch of our very own lifeguard!

Too often we lose ourselves in work and responsibilities. "Jump In" lets you go back to a simpler time, when the biggest thing you had to think about was how many balls you could throw up in the air at once.

Kids live the life, man.

It's quite a workout. And if you're not careful, you could lose some valuables to the pit forever. We saw one girl lose her iPhone AND her mom's ring in one go!

Unfortunately, JumpIn is only allowing people to ball out until September 21. So check out the website here and see if you can snag a quick rezzy before it moves on to its new home!

Check out Rosie's post on The Londoner here.

We had an absolute ball!

P.S.A. - the selfie sticks were provided by Pearlfisher! While we do sometimes walk around with selfie sticks on hand, this was not one of those times :)