We have been BBQ-ing for a while now. It’s a lot of fun to hang outside with friends. However, I started to get annoyed at using the coal burning BBQ. It takes up to 40min for them to get up to temperature and the heat is uneven. For the past two weeks, I have been going back and forth on getting a gas grill. I spoke to my buddy RichieO from Chicago. He pointed me in the right direction.
Monday i swung by LOWES and picked up this rocking grill !! What i didn’t count on was “some assembly required”. There were LOTS of pieces. It took about 3hours over 2 days to put it together but it was so worth it.
loving the new grill
Here i am grinning like an idiot while bubba burgers sizzle. They cooked a lot faster than on the coal BBQ so i kinda burned the hot dogs. I think that kinda adds flavor though..
bubba burgers
the master griller
waiting to eat
Now i need to look into grilling other things besides just burgers and hotdogs.
We decided to have a vacation where we drove somewhere this year. This was partly because of the economy and partly because i wanted to drive the new car on a road trip. We went to Sesame Place and Lancaster, PA and had a great time!!
Getting there took all of one hour and a half. Not much traffic. Sienna wasn’t bad at all. She got a little tired of being strapped in but that’s understandable. We left after her nap so that might have had something to do with it too..
arrived
The Marriot
Day 2
This is the first day of Sesame Place and i think i was more excited than Sienna!! She doesn’t really know what’s going on, or does she?
Froggy made the trip
Breakfast at iHop
Sienna got accustomed to getting crayons at restaurants. It’s a good distraction.
The entrance
There were a LOT more people than i was expecting for a Monday morning. This is what it looked like before the gates opened up. They have a very slow system that includes finger scanning all the adults that enter the park. That was a little creepy..
Where do we start
weeeeeeee!!
Meeting Elmo and Abby was the highlight of the trip for sure!!
Dinner at Uno
Day 3
The second day of Sesame Place we decided to ride the water rides. Lisa was under the weather so i was the designated escort. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little too chilly that morning for the water rides. We did do one ride however that i thought Sienna would be scared of but she loved it!!
what to do?
Scary ride
Lisa wanted to go on this one with Sienna. i didn’t think Sienna would like but yet again, she LOVED it!!
Not so scary ride after all
Day 4
We drove out to Lancaster and stayed at the Steam Boat hotel. It’s a hotel shaped like a Steam boat. At first, i was making fun of it but i have to say that it was one of the better hotels that i have ever been in. It was clean and all the amenities were updated..
Steamboat hotel
Amish clothing
Amish buggy
Animals
Kate the horse
Buggy ride
We got a buggy ride from an actual Amish person!! I don’t remember his name but it was fun. We wanted to have our own buggy but that didn’t work out.
Day 5
One of the things we did in Lancaster was to take a train ride. The pamphlet advertises a 45 minute ride through the countryside. Sounds cool so we went to check it out. I thought it was going to be a circular trip through the countryside ending up back at the station. Well, it turned out to be a strait line and back. They toot the whistle a couple of times too. It was ok.
The Train
In the Train
Family picture on the Train
Day 6
Waffle House rules!!!
This was our last breakfast at the Waffle House. I LOVE THE WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! They are friendly, fast and the food is good.
Wafflehouse
My little driver
Ready to go back home. The trip back took two hours and fifty minutes. Sienna slept for some of it.
We had a wonderful time on our summer vacation. Maybe next year we could go back with Sienna. She’ll probably be old enough to ride some of the rides by herself.
On my last day before vacation, Sienna and Lisa visited me at the office. It was very cute. She was excited to see me and immediately asked “Daddy, what you doonin?”. She also kept introducing me to people everywhere we went.
At my desk
She liked looking out the window
After the visit, we went and got sandwiches and ate them in Bryant Park. It turned out that Carousel was working. You guessed it, Sienna wanted to ride.
Weeeeeeeeee!!
She wanted to go again but it was time to go home…
On the 4th of July, we headed out to Tammy’s place for a BBQ. It took us an hour and a half to get there. We left a little early thinking there was going to be lots of traffic but of coarse we had none at all so we got there way too early. I felt bad because they were still trying to get things ready when we invaded the place. At least we could give them a hand.
Tammy made a yummy pizza roll thing
This was in Kitchen number 2.
Lisa and Sienna help Tammy
Toy room
I spent most of the BBQ chasing Sienna around. That’s why it looks like we were the only guests. At least 40 adults and about 8 to 10 kids showed up. I’m sure Lisa got shots of the other BBQers on her blog.
Front door
Kids eating
Mark mixes the drinks
The back yard
Sienna and i play in the back yard
BBQ area
Sienna on the swing
Sienna was asleep within 5minutes of sitting in her carseat..
Since I had Friday off for the 4th of July weekend, we decided to visit Riis park beach (a local beach). It wasn’t as bad as i thought. I was expecting a mess but was surprised to find it clean and well maintained.
Just arriving
This beach is literally maybe 10 minutes away. We got there around 10ish and the only other people that were there, were other parents of small children who were also forced to be up by 6:30 am.
Trying to figure out where to setup
Empty beach
Sienna loves the water
The water was friggin cold but not as cold as the water last year at the Jersey shore. I’m a huge beach snob. Beaches should have turquoise water!!!
Sienna shows me the sand in her hand
Huge beach
Sooo tired
We had a great time. I would do it again. I also think that i would go in the water only if it was really really really hot day.
