Halloween!

So Sienna announced pretty early on that she wanted to be Bubbles (Powerpuff Girl) for Halloween. I attempted to make a wig for her out of yellow yarn. Evidence:
BubblesWig

I didn’t like how it came out and knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it on so convinced her to be Buttercup instead. Much better!
Buttercup-tester500 This was just a tester for the outfit and the make up. I had planned to do a better make up job on Halloween. Turns out that on Halloween, she didn’t want me to do her eyes at all! Sad face! She was afraid her classmates would laugh at her. Double sad face! I did get to do her “bangs.” Her school has a Halloween parade every year but since it was a bit drizzly, they had it in the auditorium. Not as much fun but whatever!
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They managed to hit up 2 houses on the way back from school! Emma was a Monster High character (Franken stein)

They managed to hit up 2 houses on the way back from school! Emma was a Monster High character (Franken stein)


Then off to Owl’s Head park for Halloween festivities!Gang
The guy manning this ride let them go on multiple times!

The guy manning this ride let them go on multiple times!


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Masayo and Julian

Masayo and Julian

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Then trick or treating!
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Then to cap the night off, we had dinner at Longbow Pub in Bay Ridge! Sienna made out pretty good with the candy!

Apple Picking and Hiking!

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We inadvertently stumbled upon hiking when we went apple picking at Ochs Orchard in Warwick, NY. I had read on their website that there was an area to have a picnic lunch so I packed some food for our day. After having a fun time picking (the apples were delicious!!), we went down to the main store to get some apple cider and donuts. I asked the cashier where it was that we could picnic. She kind of gave me a funny look and said there were tables at the side of the building. Huh. Didn’t remember reading that there were actual tables. So we went and took a look. It was a lone picnic table on the side of the building in front of the parking lot! Uh, fumes! No thank you! I was baffled and I knew I read that there was a place to picnic so figured there must be a park nearby. After driving for about 20-30 minutes, we found Sterling Forest park. It’s a National park and not your typical regular neighborhood park. We were really hungry by that point so parked in a lot across from the visitor’s center. We sorta tailgated and then ate on a rock.
EatonRock
After we ate, we went and took a look in the visitor’s center. That’s how we discovered there was hiking! There was a big display inside of the park and different trails you can go on. This is the hike we ended up doing.
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It was fun! Sienna wanted to do more but we were afraid if we did, she would get tired right in the middle of another hike. We didn’t want to deal with that! So we promised to come back the next weekend. And we did! We did a different hike, the Lakeville Ironworks Trail. We also did part of the Sterling Lake loop but that got a little boring. It was mostly flat ground, the beginning was anyway, as we didn’t finish it so don’t know if it got more exciting.
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LakeView

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The last four photos was from the Sterling Lake loop.

Yves got all gung-ho about hiking and bought 2 hiking poles and a cooler backpack! We wanted to try it out so went again the next weekend! We decided to try Long Island and went to West Hills County park. It’s very close to White Post Farms, so about an hour out. We got spoiled with the other park where there were trail markers that showed the beginning. We couldn’t find where it started! We had to ask next door at the horse stables. Once we found our start, we headed out.
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We didn’t finish the hike as we weren’t sure how long it was so after going about 1.5 hours in, we turned around. There was also a playground at the beginning to the trail so Sienna was excited for that.

Family Visits

With the birth of her grandchild, Aunt Natalie planned a month long visit to help the new parents. She arrived early in October and stayed almost the whole month. Yves’ brother, JP, happened to visit for about a week during that time as well!
This was the perfect opportunity to check out the Tango show where David works, at Malbec House. We couldn’t take photos during the show but it was filled with wonderful live music and Tango dancing.

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JP comes with me to pick up Sienna one day after school.

JP comes with me to pick up Sienna one day after school.

The furry boys bombard JP one morning.

The furry boys bombard JP one morning.

a quick photo of us when we dropped him off at the airport. The trip was too quick!

a quick photo of us when we dropped him off at the airport. The trip was too quick!

The strangest thing had happened when me and Sienna went to pick up Aunt Natalie for a 2 night stay at our house. It was near the end of her trip and Sienna knew that she was in town from the beginning. Obviously, Aunt Natalie had planned on staying the most with her son and daughter in law to help. She came to our house for 2 nights when Amy’s mom came to visit from Ireland. On the way to go pick her up, Sienna started getting upset that she wouldn’t get much of a visit with Aunt Natalie. Natalie and I were planning on seeing a play the next day and she knew that. She started crying and thinking that Aunt Natalie didn’t like her! Can you imagine?! I told her that I didn’t know she would be this upset about it and she said she didn’t know she would either. I am actually amazed that she realized she didn’t know she would be upset. Anyway, I told Aunt Natalie about this when we got to David and Amy’s, on the sly, of course. So she knew and planned on spending special quality time with her later that evening.

Meeting Atlas for the first time!

Meeting Atlas for the first time!


No photos inside the venue so we made due with one outside!

No photos inside the venue so we made due with one outside!

Extra snuggle time with Aunt Natalie. Love this shot!

Extra snuggle time with Aunt Natalie. Love this shot!

Bear Mountain

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Fall is my favorite time of year so we decided to go view some pretty foliage upstate and have a picnic. We had only been to Bear Mountain once before, a very long time ago when me and Yves first started dating. So, yeah, it’s been awhile! We made sandwiches and packed a lunch. They were also having Oktoberfest while we were there and thought it would be something fun to check out. It took about 1.5-2 hours to drive up there and we weren’t really sure which entrance to use. We ended up going into the parking area where they were catering to the Oktoberfest people. We didn’t know where else to go so found a picnic table to have our lunch. After we ate, we went exploring. We found a carousel!
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After the carousel ride, we walked along the beautiful lake. The Oktoberfest was held along the lake. Lots of people holding big steins for their beer! There were also vendors selling stuff but we kept away from all of that. Too many people! While walking, we discovered that they had a zoo! And it was free!

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We also came across another beautiful view!
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We came across a statue of Walt Whitman, the other WW.
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Sienna posing on a rock herself!
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Our first taste of the hiking bug. Sienna was very excited to do this! I liked the name!

Our first taste of the hiking bug. Sienna was very excited to do this! I liked the name!

A little of what the trail looked like.

A little of what the trail looked like. We didn’t do a lot of the trail as it was the end of the day and we were getting tired.