Saturday was Halloween. Lisa asked Sienna a while ago what she wanted to be for Halloween. At that time, she was into Curious George so guess what she wanted to be? She was such a cute little monkey. Lisa made a kind of a hood with ears like Georges ears. Somehow i became TMWTYH (the man with the yellow hat). Lisa covered one of my hats in yellow felt.. Lisa was a cute bunny. She only had the bunny ears though..
We went to Owl’s Head park in Bay Ridge. I didn’t expect it to be such a big deal and so well attended. By the time we left, it got a little crowded. They had horse and pony rides, a haunted walk, inflatable bouncy rides and lots of spooky crap for sale. it was cute to see all the kids dressed up. I think we ended up staying for 2 hours or so.
On Saturday we made the trek to Lawrence Farms in upstate New York. It took us over 2 hours to get there. Im sure we could have found a closer farm but this is where Tammy, Zack and Mark were going to be picking pumpkins. We got there around 10:30 and got right into it. I think we probably would have stayed longer but it was cooler than we thought it would be. At least it didn’t rain.
Pumpkin Picking is fun with a toddler. Sienna was so excited to be able to run around and get into things and taste things and pick things.. The Farm is nice. They have a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables than i expected. They made fresh doughnuts and apple pie on site. I’m sure they made other stuff but i didn’t notice.. The pumpkin “patch” however was just pumpkins strewn all over the place. I guess an actual pumpkin patch would be a pain in the ass for the kiddies though. The Farm also had some animals and a play village for the kids to run around in. I think Sienna liked the whole place.
After pumpkin picking, we drove out to Zacks house for some chili. It was sooo goooood!!! Tammy also made banana bread and fresh bread. We met some very nice couples and their children too..
A funny thing happens when i shoot video. I don’t shoot stills!! i need to practice doing both but its a mental block. It’s one or the other but not both. Anyway, this movie is almost 7 minutes long. By far my longest one yet. There was just too much going on for me to drop clips. I even split the movie in to 2 pieces. The first one is the pumpkin patch and the second one is the visit to Tammys place..
This weekend, we hopped on the subway and headed out to the Atlantic Antic street fair.We had to take the F because our local line is undergoing major work and has been very unreliable.
The Atlantic Antic is a yearly street fair on Atlantic avenue in Brooklyn. The route covers 1.5 miles of food, drink, art, clothes and local organization booths.There are also bands setup every couple of blocks.
It was an absolutely beautiful day for a street fair. We got there at about 10:30 and started waking around. Sienna had a lot of questions that day but her main question was “where are we going?”
On the street
Sienna saw other kids with balloons so, she wanted one too. By the way, she calls them “baboons”. Here, Lisa ties the baboon to Sienna’s arm so it doesn’t fly away.
YAY a Baboon!!
One of the attractions every year is old MTA buses. You can go in them and look around.
Old Bus
Sienna wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. This was the next best thing.
Lunch
We all sat on the sidewalk to have lunch.
On the sidewalk
Well, the inevitable happened, the baboon flew away..
OH NO baboon gone!
I shot a little bit of video with my flip. I’m starting to get the hang of it. I also discovered the basic editing software that comes with the flip. I still need to play around with it a little bit more to get it right but it’s starting to come together. I have to be careful not to shoot the same way i would at work. The pace is so different and i am the audience.
On Saturday the 26th we visited the Staten Island Children’s Museum in, you guessed it, Staten Island. We don’t usually ever venture out to Staten Island. Lisa has this thing about it being a dump. Yes, a dump does exist in Staten Island but the entire burro isn’t one huge dump. We decided to check it out anyway. Lisa had heard a lot of good things about it.
Here’s the video..
The video is about 4 and a half minutes long. It’s way too long but it’s very cute. And yes there is a typo…
a little Chess
juice break.
Sienna and i nap after a fun day.
We really had a nice time. As you can see, Sienna was all over the place. I’m sure we’ll be going back..
I’m a little behind on my posting. Work has been hectic lately so i haven’t had time to post much.
Here is a sequence of pictures from last Saturday when we went out for patties. I’m holding Siennas froggy umbrella. it’s cute but she still has a hard time keeping it up.
it was raining
going for patties
The next day we had Uncle Peter over for BBQ.. Below is a clip of Sienna filling up the kiddie pool. I love this clip, it shows the gradual escalation of naughtyness.
back "yard"
It was a bit hot so ijumped into the pool with Sienna. Before long, she was dousing me with water.
playing with Sienna
all wrapped up
All wet in the kiddie pool. I love weekends like this. i think we should get a bigger pool though.
all wet
Sienna was so happy that uncle peter was coming over. Here, she crawled onto his lap and fell asleep. It’s a really cute picture.
Uncle Peter
Here’s lunch. Burgers mixed with bits of bacon and stuffed with blue cheese. They came out ok. I still haven’t mastered the stuffed burger. I think i need to try other burger combinations too.
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.
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..
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.
