Family portrait

Family portrait

• Photograph: Imogen Brown54.fw.fp.1blackallfamily_10_0.jpg646941
• Photograph: Imogen Brown54.fw.fp.2blackallfamily_03_0.jpg646952
• Photograph: Imogen Brown54.fw.fp.3blackallfamily_05_0.jpg646963
• Photograph: Imogen Brown54.fw.fp.4blackallfamily_12_0.jpg646974
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.ted-and-honey_02_0.jpg646985
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.ted-and-honey_01_0.jpg646996
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.primemeats_01_0.jpg647007
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.primemeats_04_0.jpg647018
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.spa-castle_01_0.jpg647029
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.spa-castle_03_0.jpg6470310
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.economycandy_04_0.jpg6470411
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.economycandy_07_0.jpg6470512
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.chocolateroom_04_0.jpg6470613
• Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson54.fw.fp.chocolateroom_10_0.jpg6470714

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Photograph: Imogen Brown

Sophie Blackall, an illustrator whose work has been published in magazines, newspapers and children’s books (her latest, Big Red Lollipop, was published on March 4), and Nick Godlee, a costume maker responsible for the duds in Broadway hits like Wicked and The Lion King, are parents to Olive and Eggy Godlee, ages 13 and 10 respectively. Both native Australians, Blackall and Godlee are amicably separated and live several blocks from each other in Carroll Gardens.

Sophie, do you make art for the kids’ rooms?
SB When they were little and I wasn’t quite so busy, I made quilts, clothes and books. I still make full-on birthday cakes.
EG My first one was a clock.
NG And remember Olive’s “Tea for Two” one?
OG But the very, very best was a mermaid, and the tail was cake and she was sitting on marzipan rocks with blue Jell-O water.

Does your dad design your Halloween getups?
EG He made me a Mad Hatter costume last year. The year before that was Charlie Chaplin, and before that he made me a bat costume.
NG Olive was once Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd.
OG And last year, I was Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess.

What’s the best thing about having such creative parents?
EG Probably that nearly everything you have is made by them.

What’s your parenting setup?
SB We split the week. Wednesday night is always our family dinner, and it’s also the changeover night. And then we have dinner together again once on the weekend.
NG It works out really well.
SB When we separated, Olive put together the calendar. She’s very methodical, and she realized that there were an uneven number of days in the week. So she figured out that because Nick has more regular hours for work and the kids spend more time with me after school, that he would get the extra night.

What do you love about Carroll Gardens?
SB I love our friends. About once a month, we have these drawing nights with a lot of my artist friends who also happen to be Olive’s friends’ parents.
OG And we all love to draw.
SB So we get together at different people’s apartments. Recently, we arrived at our friends’ house and they were creating handmade orecchiette pasta. As families arrived they all just sat down around the table and started helping. I feel so lucky that we landed here. I mean, we could have landed anywhere.
NG We could have landed in New Jersey.
SB [Laughing] We wouldn’t have landed in New Jersey.—Amy Sirot

Their favorite...

NEIGHBORHOOD HANGOUT
“We love Ted & Honey (64 Clinton St between Baltic and Congress Sts, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; 718-852-2212) for their really, really good sandwiches, local produce and handmade pop tarts. The adjacent park is full of dogs and babies and is the perfect place to sit in the sun on a nice day with a sandwich. Eggy is addicted to the Caprese panini: mozzarella, slow-roasted tomatoes, Parmesan and basil.”

BRUNCH RESTAURANT
“Prime Meats (465 Court St between 4th Pl and Luquer St, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn; 718-254-0327). We like the name as much as anything. The kids usually have the French toast. Olive will order a latte if we let her—they make decorative flourishes in the foam.”

DINNER EATERY
“The owner of Noodle Pudding (38 Henry St between Cranberry and Middagh Sts, Brooklyn Heights; 718-625-3737) was our first landlord in New York and one of the kindest men to walk this earth. His warmth and generosity, combined with the best handmade pasta in the city, makes the restaurant a weekend staple. Plus the waiters always sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the kids in baritone and falsetto.”

SPECIAL OCCASION DESTINATION
“It’s quite a trek on the subway from Brooklyn, but Spa Castle (131-10 11th Ave at 131st St, College Point, Queens; 718- 939-6300, nyspacastle.com) is worth every minute. Five floors of Korean baths and pools and saunas and massage rooms and noodle restaurants…it’s heaven for the entire family.”

SPOT FOR A SWEET DESSERT
“Not exactly dessert, but a visit to Economy Candy (108 Rivington St between Essex and Ludlow Sts, 212-254-1531) on the Lower East Side is always popular. And the children have, on separate occasions, saved up their own money to go to The Chocolate Room (•269 Court St between Butler and Douglass Sts, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; 718-246-2600; • 86 Fifth Ave between St. Marks and Prospect Pls, Park Slope, Brooklyn; 718-783-2900). They go on their own with friends and apparently remember to use napkins and leave a tip, although this cannot be confirmed!”

TOY STORE
“Exit 9 (•127 Smith St between Dean and Pacific Sts, Brooklyn Heights; 718-422-7720; • 64 Ave A between 4th and 5th Sts, 212-228-0145) is full of dinky little gadgets and lots of novelty knickknacks. The kids have to be dragged out of there.”

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