Bubble man & waffles of mass destruction

Our friend Rick (from Tracks) had invited us up to his place on the Upper West Side for breakfast with his family then for a bike ride round Central Park. The boys disappeared immediately with his 2 kids and all we heard from them was giggles and chatter. Their apartment has the most spectacular views of central park and we were treated to a breakfast of bagels, smoked salmon and cream cheese. We rented bikes and all head off on an adventure round the park. The park is closed to traffic on the weekends but being a sunny, sparkling, fall day it was buzzing with pedestrians, picnickers, roller bladders, bike riders, baseball players, joggers. As we've found before riding bikes makes you feel like you're really part of a city and we ducked, weaves, chatted and cruised through the park being guided by our local friends. Rick's kids led the tour by veering off the road at certain points where they wanted to show us something. First stop was the carousel where the kids had two rides, giggling and standing up on their horses when the guards weren't looking. Next stop was to see the "bubble man" but on the way we were distracted by a hip hop acrobatic group who had both Pheobe and Jed in their show at various stages. The bubble man was a guy making enormous bubbles from a contraption cobbled together with ropes and magnets and dipped into suds. Waffles was next on the agenda where the boys were advised by Jesse and Pheobe to order the "waffles of mass destruction". All in all it was an unforgettable New York day.