For a couple of years now, we have been entertaining in the driveway/garage area and calling it the “back yard”. We’ve done a bunch of BBQs and birthdays. During that time, we had the shitty folding chairs and tables. Well, no more!! I finally pulled the trigger and bought outdoor patio furniture.

On Friday, Dad Chin and i went out to Lowes and picked up the set. Its a good thing i asked him to come with me as i couldn’t fit everything in my car. It took us about an hour and a half to put everything together and wouldn’t you know it, it fucking rained the next day and the temperature dtopped.. Any way, all i need now is a mini fridge. Still working on that one..

Ever since i got an iPhone, i have been shooting exclusively with it. Its fun to use and always on me! I do need more practice with my street photography though. The iPhone is kinda hard to covertly shoot pix. I’m working on a couple of ways around that.

So far i have the “i’m looking at my BlackBerry” technique. This one is very successful, i just have to practice holding the iPhone level.

Sienna takes a break. On Saturday we had another Sienna Daddy day!! This time we went to the Long Island Children’s museum instead of our usual Staten island place. We arrived right as they opened at 10am. We have been there before but it was when she was a baby. Obviously she has no memory of it. We spent 2 solid hours going from exhibit to exhibit but the best one was the climbing exhibit. It consisted of little platforms suspended over a walkway in a maze.. Sienna LOVED it!! She did the circuit 3 times in a row.I didn’t take a picture of that one because of all the other kids around.

After the museum, was lunch. The weather has warmed up considerably so after lunch, we found a local playground to play outside for a while. It was a clean nice safe local neighborhood playground with a bunch of kids playing but not at all as many as our own neighborhood.

The last thing we did that day is go to the local Lowes to pick out some patio furniture and to get stuff for our upcoming project. We are going to plant a little garden. Sienna picked corn, lettuce, radishes and cilantro. Its not important what we plant. The point is that we have an activity that we can do together and maybe teach her a little responsibility. Pictures to come eventually..

She was so excited for the party. This was a couple of hours before the start..

Sienna couldn’t wait for her school buddies to show up. Here she is with Emma, one of the two monkeys she hangs out with in the playground after school..

Sienna at the head of the table eating pizza..

On Sunday Grandpa and Grandma came over with another cake. Sienna LOVES cake! She’s about to dig in..

I just still can’t believe that 5 years has gone by so fast. She growing up to be such a wonderful little person.

A couple of weeks ago, Sienna and i had a Sienna/Daddy day. She loves Sienna/Daddy days and can’t stop telling me that.

We went to the Staten island Children’s Museum. Its a great place to go in the winter. Here, we hung out in the theater room first. They have a lot of costumes for the kids as well as lighting and sound effects for them to play with.

We stayed at the museum for about two and a half hours then off to the Diner for lunch. I think we need to pick another diner, the one we go to stinks. Every time we go, i get something different in the hopes of finding something good. in about 3 or 4 visits, i have found nothing good.

Samy and Sabine visited us from France last week. It was Sabines first visit to the States. We met up with them a couple of times for lunch and dinner. They did the super tourist visit, seeing almost everything!! On Saturday, we took them to the Brooklyn Bridge park and Coney Island. It was so fucking cold!! We did have a good time though..

I guess i was expecting more mess. It wasn’t too bad. I had to shovel a couple of times. Snow does suck monkey balls though. i’d be thrilled with a snowless winter..