Riis Park Beach part 2

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Shuggy

Saturday was one of the best summer days i’ve had in a looooong time.

The original plan was to go and checkout The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Lisa has always wanted to go shoot it. I was up for it until we found out that there were going to be some pain in the ass parking restrictions. We decided to go to the Riis park beach instead.

The day started out with a cloudless sky and cool temperatures. We packed up the truck and left the house at 9 ish. The beach is 15minutes away so it didn’t take long to get there. We decided to park and enter the beach at another spot.

Just arrived

I like the new spot. It’s closer to the actual beach and there are showers for after we’re done.

The beach was almost deserted. The only others there were other parents of toddlers.

Sienna was so excited

playing with Mom

yellow bucket

I love how happy Sienna is to be at the beach. She always has such a great time. I only wish we could actually swim more. The water didn’t seem as cold as last time.

too cute

After the beach, we headed home and i barbecued up some hot dogs and burgers. Sienna then took a long nap. She was really really tired.

Later that day, Lisa made pizzas for dinner using her new pizza stone. We’re getting better at rolling the dough and figuring out the toppings. I’m sure Lisa will have more pictures.

I hope we have more days like this.

Aquarium

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Shuggy

Saturday was a beautiful day!! We decided to revisit the Aquarium in Coney island . The last time we were there, was about a year ago and Sienna was a bit underwhelmed by the experience. This time however, she was all over the place! it was so much fun to watch her get excited at all the fish. She would point and ask “what dat?” or her favorite question, “what ____ doonin?”

a little blurry but you get the idea

Sienna also got to check out the “petting” zoo. it’s more like touch the funny looking thing zoo. Here she touches a kind of crab.

petting zoo

While Sienna and Lisa were in the ladies rm, i spotted this group of people all excited about the scuba diver cleaning the large tank. He was getting into it too, by posing for pictures with the kids.

scuba exhibit

After the Aquarium, we stopped by Nathans for a hot dog.

Sienna at Nathans

Sienna is up to something here..

so tired

Once we got home, it was nap time for Sienna then out to the pool..

little pool

I attempted a burger from scratch. I was all excited to give it a try. I picked a recipe that i thought i could pull off. This is called “Dad’s Burgers”. It is a burger stuffed with bacon bits and blue cheese.

As soon as i put them on the grill, i realized my mistake. They were WAAY too big!! I screwed up the size of the patties. I couldn’t stop so i plowed ahead. I did the 10min pre heat, the salting of the patties and the 4minute flip for a total of 8min. That wasn’t long enough. UGH!!

my burgers

The other thing that happened was that the patties started to separate from each other!! It wasn’t all bad, the burger actually tasted good. it had potential. I am more motivated than ever to do it again. All we need are more nice weekends..

my first burger

BBQ update

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Shuggy

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.

Riis Park Beach

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Shuggy

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

lisa-and-sienna-at-riis-4

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.

BBQ Time

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Shuggy

Oh boy oh boy it’s soooooo BBQ time!!! Last year we had a couple of BBQ days. They were so much fun that i’m just excited to do it again. Sienna is a little older this time so that could make it even more interesting.

The first one of the season is always interesting. I never remember how to do it but it’s like riding a bike, you just need to do it once to remember.

charcoal

grill

I’ve already pulled down the grill. I have to clean everything though. I wonder if uncle Peter would like some BBQ?

Sienna Daddy walks

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Shuggy

Lately, since the weather has been kind of nice, Sienna and i have been going on little strolls. I started doing it just to get her outside and out of Lisa’s hair for a little bit. The fun part is that Sienna picks what direction to go in. The first time we did it, we ended up walking way more than i expected. We visited the pet store and looked at the cute puppies. I didn’t get pictures of that walk though. I’ll have to make more of an effort to capture them.

Our last walk, we checked out the avenue. We walked about 5 blocks. Sure it takes a long time but i’m not in a hurry.

Reflection

Here, she is enamored by her reflection at one of the banks.

Yum

We ended up at the best Donut shop in the city!! They make them on site. She ate that donut so fast. That’s my girl. Glazed are the best.

Donut Shop

Outside of the donut shop. Sienna still has a little bit of her donut left.

We then went to the fruit stand to pickup some grapes (Sienna’s favorite). Then went home. It was a very nice walk. I’m sure we’ll have more..

Grandma

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Shuggy

The grandma world tour made it’s last stop in New York this week to the delight of little Sienna and the other NY Menous. Grandma flew in late Tuesday night and stayed till mid afternoon on Friday. It was a short stay but we had a nice time anyway.

Wednesday

Sienna was so excited to have grandma back. She woke up and asked to go wake up grandma. Having done so, she reintroduced all her stuffed toys. They played a bit then we had breakfast. I wish grandpa was also visiting. it’s too bad he didn’t want to go on the trip..

Later that day, we went shopping..

Shopping with Sienna

Leaving Target

We ended up having lunch at Olive Garden. My mom really likes it there. The food was good. We had the best pink lemonade. Sienna didn’t make too much of a mess.

Lunch at Olive Garden

Next stop Home Depot. This isn’t a good place for toddlers to run around in. Too much crap all over the place. People just aren’t paying attention. Who can blame them. It’s a friggin hardware store!!! She did find something to do though….

Home Depot

Thursday

Sienna had her usual gym class. I don’t get a chance to go because of work but since i had taken a couple of days off for my moms visit, we both went to gym class with Sienna.

the gym

I can see how this place would be so much fun for kids. There is stuff to climb on, stuff to jump off and scamper across. there is padding all over the place too! Sienna only participates in class when she feels like it. Most of the time, she just running around with that little Italian kid following her, GRRRRRR.

Later, we met up with Lisa’s parents to have Dim Sum.

Mom and Dad Chin at Dim Sum

Lisa and Sienna

Grandma eating Dim Sum

Grandpa Chin

The food wasn’t terrible but i’ve had better..

Standing around after Dim Sum

Friday

This was the day that grandma had to go back home. Her flight wasn’t till 2 so she had some time to make us a nice Jamaican breakfast of fish fritters and johnny cakes. They turned out great!!

Grandma cooking

fritters

After that, grandma did some last minute shopping on the avenue then i took her to JFK. Thanks for the visit grandma, i wish you could have spent a little longer time with us. Next time..

Summer!!

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Shuggy

Summer has arrived!! No joke, it’s friggin hot here!! It’s official, there are only two seasons, Winter and Summer. We had to go into emergency clean mode. The Fans had to be scrubbed and the portable fans dug out of the garage and cleaned.

Daddy horse

Walking Skippy that morning turned into daddy horse time. She used to walk the entire block but lately, she wants to be picked up. I think she is dealing with her teething.

driver

On our way to the park..

Notice how fuzzy the pictures are? Yea well it’s the remnants of the mashed potato incident.

gicoocoo

The good thing is that it’s playground weather!! Sienna, Lisa and i went over to Marine park Brooklyn. It is a dog friendly park so Skippy came along too. That didn’t last too long and lisa eventually had to take him home while Sienna and i visited the playground.

gicoocoo

There were lots of dogs out that day so she kept pointing at them and getting distracted. She hasn’t gotten into the pedaling and steering thing yet but i am confident she’ll pick it up soon.. i hope..

playground

We ended up at the playground running and running around. I must have really wore her out because when we got home that day she was out for a while!!

the password is babylove
Later that day we were out playing in the garage..
BBQ time coming soon!!

Sunset Park

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Shuggy

I was so happy to get to play outside with Sienna. It’s been a cold and wet Spring so far.

On Saturday it was finally a really really nice day!! so nice in fact, that we decided to go on a little picnic.. Sunset Park was our destination. Sunset Park is a neighborhood that is a mixture of Jewish, Hispanic and Asian people. There’s a very nice clean park and playground. It wasn’t as crowded as i thought it would be. As we got there, Sienna just wanted to bolt from the stroller..

it scares me when she does this

constantly moving

at the bottom of the twerly slide

apple juice

the password is babylove

While Sienna and i were playing, Lisa ran over to grab some Vietnamese sandwiches. This was the real reason we came to Sunset Park. The sandwiches are really good and not super expensive.

Lisas sammich

my sammich

nice view of the city in the background

Lisa and her yummy sammich

me and my baby

After all the fun and games of the morning, you’d think that sienna would fall asleep as soon as we get in the car. Well, you’d be wrong. This is what happened about a couple of blocks from the house. I tried to put her down when we got home but that did not work at all either. She was up for the rest of the day..

so sleepy

I hope we get to have many many more days like this..

i’m soooooooo looking forward to BBQ season…

Date night

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Shuggy

It was Friday night date night again. Grandpa happily volunteered to keep an eye on Sienna. They get along great and he is getting the hang of watching her.

We ventured out a little bit further this time all the way to Bay Ridge!! I miss Bay Ridge, have i said that already? Anyway, we visited one of my favorite Mediterranean restaurants called Tanoreen. The food is soooooo gooooood!!

Tanoreen, Bay Ridge

I had the Kafta which is Finely ground lamb, onions and parsley combined with Tanoreen spices, cooked with tahini sauce, topped with caramelized onions and sliced potatoes and baked to perfection.

i didn’t write that, i got it from thier website.. This is what it looks like below..

my dinner

Lisa got the Baked Mediterranean Eggplant which is thinly sliced eggplant, layered with ground lamb, onions, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes and Tanoreen spices, baked and served with rice pilaf.

I didn’t write that either. i got it from thier website. Here is what it looks like below…

Lisa dinner

Lisa eating her dinner

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Random Crap

a blog about random crap that happens in my life

Category Archives: Brooklyn