Here Comes A New Shelmet

For her sixth birthday party, Harlie had a bunch of friends and family meet her at a local shop where they direct the group to paint a picture. Before the art got started, all of the girls were asked on stage to sing a song. The birthday girl got the microphone. When the song was over, Zoe and I found a basket with some signs they have for other events. These were the most appropriate ones we could find for a sixth birthday. After that, the painting began. All of the girls were given a canvas that had the outline of the picture they were going to paint. The leader at the front of the room then talked them through all of the different steps to make their painting. Zoe took her artwork very seriously. When they were all done, the paintings looked amazing. Zoe was proud of her finished product. Once the painting was finished it was time for food and cake. There were delicious cupcakes with purple icing. I didn't have one, but I did get a chance to sit with Brooklyn

In looking for something to do over the weekend, Cheryl found a gym nearby that has Ninja Warrior equipment and allows children Zoe's age. They had an open drop in time on Sunday from 4:45pm to 7:15pm. To prepare for her day, Zoe put on her exercise outfit, added some body glitter on her shoulders and then used markers to make some tattoos. She looked especially cute and tough. Once we got in, she was all over the place: running up the wrapped wall, swinging on the ropes and rings, jumping on the trampoline. She tried so many times to get up that wall. As soon as the boy in front of her got up it, she was up on her next run. That's a 10 foot wall. Two and a half times her height, and was right up it. She was so excited to get up that thing. Cheryl and I even got in on the action, trying out the different equipment. Here she is, looking amazing at the apex of a bounce on the big trampoline. Zoe was also all over the gymnastics equipment. She really enjoyed sw

After celebrating Cheryl's birthday, we made our way out to Coney Island in the morning to attend the annual Mermaid Parade. As is our custom, we decided to dress up for the occasion. Nothing to fancy for me, but Cheryl and Zoe were rocking full mermaid gear. We took some pictures in front of one of the  murals when we arrived. Since there was a lot of time before the parade began, we made our way on to the beach. Again, we took a few pictures and had someone take a nice group shot of us, sans feet. If you know Zoe, then you know as soon as she got her feet wet, she wanted to get into the water. In order to save her custom we did a quick swap and she was out in the chilly water really enjoying herself. This kid loves the water! Once she spent enough time in the ocean, she wanted to dry off, warm up, and get back in her costume. Before we made our way off the beach, we wanted to take some pictures on rocks, which we had to do before the life guards spotted us. Ther

We made our annual trip up to New York for Mermaid Parade and to celebrate Cheryl's birthday. As is custom, the first stop was to Brooklyn Bridge Park where we took the annual picture of Zoe on my shoulders in front of the buildings. After that there was a quick wardrobe change and it was on to the spray ground. It was not very warm out, but that didn't stop Zoe from getting in to the water, filling up her bucket, and climbing the slippery rocks. Once she dried off and changed her outfit we made our way over to the sand and the swings. She likes playing in the sand, but she loves swinging on all of the different swings. It is pretty awesome to see her face while she swings. When that was done we were quite hungry, so we made our way down along the piers so we could get some pizza. We stopped along the way to enjoy the water and interact with the few geese that were kind enough to tolerate a six year old. This, of course, was followed by a little walking wit