Bronx Zoo with grandma

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Shuggy

Last weekend while grandma was visiting, we took a trip back to the Bronx Zoo. We figured that since we have a membership, we might as well use it.

It was a nice day, a bit overcast and not too humid.

Aren’t they cute!! This is in the Children’s zoo area which is an additional cost normally but since we were members, we get in free. I don’t get the additional cost thing, i mean, whats the point of charging an entrance fee at the door to the zoo then you try and charge people extra to see some of the animals!! Whatever, its a shitty practice.

Sienna couldn’t wait to go on the merrygoround. She remembered it from our last visit and wouldn’t stop asking if we were going there now..

i hope grandma had fun. i think she did.

Sienna has zoo ADD. Some animals, she couldn’t give a shit about.

i got the ladybug.

Chicago Trip 2011

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Shuggy

As i mentioned in a previous post, on July 14th we started our road trip to Chicago. I had a doctors appointment early that morning so we left right after (around 10ish). Jenny (the GPS) said that it would take 13hours to compleet. Jenny is a little strange sometimes. She tends to send us the weirdest directions. Whenever we use her services, we need to double check her path with google. Anyway, we decided to do the trip it in 2 hops. That way we could stop at a hotel (Sienna loves hotels) and swim in the pool.

Lisa Driving

Sienna didn’t nap nearly as much as i thought she would. She is a good traveler though so i’m not complaining.

iPad entertainment rules!!

This iPad so rules!! We were able to look at maps, find restaurants, find hotels as well as provide entertainment for Sienna. Here, she is watching word girl.

The next day, we arrived after hanging out in rush hour traffic. Jenny (our stupid GPS) had us going through downtown instead of around the city. Big surprise, i should have known. Normally it would have been ok but at 4pm on a Friday, good luck. We got there around 5pm.

Rich and Theresa

Elvis

Dexter

Rich cooking pizzas on the grill

Rich rocked the gril as he always does!! The pizza was so good! i need to try it out sometime. I kinda forgot the steps though..Sienna and Dexter played a lot that weekend. Its so cool to have so much space for Sienna to run around.The hot dogs from this place (Superdog) wer sooo friggin good!! Lisa had requested this one. She read something online about it. I’d love to go back next time i’m in town. A bit pricey but well worth it. The entire lunch for 4 adults and one 4yo came in at about $40 not including the tip..We had to go visit the Bean. The last time Sienna was here, she was so little. It was cool to bring her back and watch her excitement.

The water falls were fun for her too. It was starting to get very hot and humid so it was a little crowded. She didn’t stay as long as i thought she would though.

Superman ice cream

Even though our trip was very short, we had a wonderful time with Rich, Theresa, Dexter and Elvis. We ended up driving back on Monday after an awesome breakfast. We did stop halfway only this time we didn’t go to our favorite Hampton Inn. Instead, we went to a Best Western UGH, huge mistake!! the water in the pool was murky which creeped me out. We didn’t stay long. At least the room was clean.

New rule, its got to be a Hampton Inn!!

Rogowski Farm Trip

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Shuggy

Back in September, we visited the Rogowski farm where our (CSA) fruit and vegetables are grown. It’s up in upstate NY and took us 2 hours to get there. Sienna was a good little traveler but we had an emergency pee situation to deal with. It was also the first time we used Jenny the GPS. She failed but it was my fault.

So we get there thinking we were going to get a day in the country side eating good fresh food. It was ok. Not what i was expecting. We arrived in time for brunch. it was really more like breakfast than lunch. The food was edible but nothing to write home about.

farm-enter

This is where the restaurant is. it wasn’t what i expected.

lisa-waits Lisa waits for some food. You can see the chef just over Lisa’s shoulder.

boots They prepare to go in the field for the “tour”. The earth is black and gets into everything. They warned us to bring boots. They weren’t kidding.

Um, oh yea, the tour. Well the tour consisted of a nice girl standing in the field telling us what they planted. we didn’t actually tour anything. That wasn’t what i expected.

The Field

It’s actually a nice little operation. Its quiet, the food is fresh and there are lots of variety of fruit and vegetables.

sienna-in-field Sienna isn’t sure what to do.

We left right after the tour. It was an ok day in the country after all..

sucky blogger

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Shuggy

Yes yes yes i know, i suck at blogging. bite me.. i’ll post shit when i’m good and ready!!

Since i’m so far behind, i’m going to try to just post random pictures and videos. I’ll explain as i go along though.

Back in early May, we were invited to a cinco de Mayo BBQ at Selinas place. Selina is one of the Santos sisters from Chicago who recently moved to Connecticut because of work. She has 2 kids and a nice big back yard.. We had a good time with them. The Mexican food was great too..

As i look through the pics i took, i realize i didn’t get a picture of her or her kids. Great job Shuggy.. i suck!!

Backyard fun

fussy

I love this picture of Lisa and Sienna..

Lisa and Sienna

From time to time Sienna and i go exploring in the “scary jungle”. The Scary jungle could be anywhere as long as there are trees and some kind of trail. This one was on the side of the belt parkway. Its a bike trail/beach. i’m not sure if you can swim there (i wouldn’t).

When we got there, we encountered a troop of boy scouts cleaning up the beach. Sienna and i started exploring the area and found some trails.

I guess she really loves that Jamaica shirt.

sienna and her binocutars

funny face

scary jungle

picking flowers for mom

We visited the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in (duh) Brooklyn. It was a beautiful day and Sienna got to run around and smell EVERYTHING!! We did have to keep telling her not to pick the flowers..

i sooooo need to take more pictures!!

bg-5

Sienna looking for the fish

Snack time

little photographer

she loves to run

Halloween 2009

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Shuggy

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

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Shuggy

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

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Shuggy

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

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Shuggy

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..

Last weekend

Posted on September 5, 2009 by Shuggy

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.

yummy burgers and corn on the cob

mmmmmmmmmm!

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.