I got Lisa and Sienna making banana bread..
Banana Bread
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Category Archives: New York
Christmas 2009
I’m so far behind on my posts.. I’ll do Christmas first then backup to vacation pix.. To just go strait to the pictures, chick here.
This year, Sienna was so much more aware of Christmas. She helped me put up the tree and decorate it. All the ornaments ended up being at the bottom of the tree but thats ok, i just moved them around. I don’t think she minded at all.. I wish i had the video camera going when we first turned the lights on. She loved it!! Every day she would ask me to put on the Christmas tree.. I wonder what next year will be like..
Anyway…
On Christmas morning, she was ready to go!! Her first words after seeing the tree full of presents was “WOW” then she went to wake up mommy.. Here’s what happened when mommy got up..
Halloween 2009
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.
Pumpkin pickuping
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..
Atlantic Antic Brooklyn 2009
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.
Staten Island Children’s Museum visit
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..
Riis Park Beach part 2
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.
BBQ update
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
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.
Tommy and Maureen get Married!!
Tommy and Maureen got married yesterday. I didn’t shoot a lot of pictures but i did get some. The service started at 2pm in a church in Brooklyn.
The Church
inside the church
I was holding Sienna on and off during the service. She was such a good girl!! She can’t quite get the hang of shhhhhhhh yet but it all worked out fine.
cute dress
All 3 of us
I think Sienna got a kick out of the church. She kept looking around and asking “whats dat?”
Mr and Mrs Gunn
In all, we had a wonderful time at the Gunns wedding. We’d like to wish them luck on their new journey..