Happy Halloween!

Attempting to paint her fairy face!

Attempting to paint her fairy face!

On parade at school!

On parade at school!

Fairy and biker vampire

Fairy and biker vampire

Bay Ridge house

Bay Ridge house

Oh no!

Oh no!

At Owl's Head

At Owl’s Head

Theloot

Apple Picking Hike

Went to Wilken’s Fruit & Fir farm for some apple picking!
Family02Pick04Bite

03Eat

05Pull

06High

07Peace

Then we went to Teatown for a little hike!
08Hike

09Trees

10Lake

11Bridge

And then we made a quick stop at the craziness of Stew Leonard’s!
12StewCow

The League Premiere

TheLeaguePremiere
My friend Ingrid got tickets to The League premiere at the Gramercy Theatre and I got to go! Yes, it’s a terrible photo of the cast!
LeagueCast
From the left are the 2 creators of the show, Kevin, Andre, Ruxin, Taco (!), and Rafi (!) The cast was really funny and it was cool to be able to watch the first 2 episodes of season 6 on a big screen. I was hoping we were going to get some swag but we didn’t. Probably better off!

Summer ends

Some miscellaneous happenings from the summer!

First family bike ride!

First family bike ride!

Birthday outing with S and S

Birthday outing with S and S

My birthday flowers

My birthday flowers

My birthday cake!

My birthday cake!

Rockaway

Rockaway


Swimming at Vinny's house

Swimming at Vinny’s house


The kids at Manhattan Beach

The kids at Manhattan Beach

Beach hair with Jess at Manhattan Beach

Beach hair with Jess at Manhattan Beach

Last hurrah at Coney Island

Last hurrah at Coney Island

Last Day at Lake

LakeTown
01GemMining
02MedCinBun

It was the last day in Lake Lure so we hung around town. We did some “gem mining” in town, which was fun but didn’t really last very long. We ate lunch at Medina‘s and they are known for their cinnamon bun. Everything is homemade so you know I really love that! It was all delicious and the people were very nice. I wish we discovered this place sooner on our trip!

04FloweringBridge105FloweringBridge206FloweringBridge307FloweringBridge4
We stopped by the Flowering Bridge, gardens along a 150 foot bridge that is no longer used for cars. It was beautiful and so many butterflies! I tried so hard to capture some on my camera but wasn’t very successful. It was a real hot day so we decided to go in the lake. I was a little hesitant since it was kinda all gross and spider webby when we checked it out the other day. I’m glad we did! We spent about 2 hours in the lake when we saw the clouds descend. We made it back to the cabin in time before the downpour.
08JumpLake

password is secret

The Lake from Lisa on Vimeo.

09BearDog10SiennaBear
I’m not sure how long the downpour lasted but soon the sun came out! We wanted to go check out the town of Hendersonville, the woman at the Visitor’s Center told us it was similar to Asheville but not as spread out. By the time we got there, after a stop into Wal-Mart, most of the stores were closed so we couldn’t browse. They did have a bunch of painted bears along the street. We had dinner at Flat Rock Wood Fired Pizza. We got a little confused at first because the sign actually said West First Wood Fired Pizza. Oh my gosh, it was DELICIOUS!! We started off with this awesome spinach, goat cheese and artichoke dip. I filled up too much on that as they gave bread with the dip. I know bread makes sense since it is a pizza place. Sienna got a regular cheese pizza from the kid’s menu that was the same size as our pizza! I got a campari (roasted garlic olive oil base, tomato slices, garlic and fresh mozzarella-with balsamic vinegar reduction and fresh basil) and Yves got a prosciutto (aged parma ham, fresh mozzarella, & fresh arugula on crushed tomato sauce.) We were stuffed but Sienna had room for dessert! Homemade ice cream sandwich, which was actually ice cream between 2 brownies! Oh my!

My pizza!

My pizza!


So we headed back to the cabin with full bellies to get our things together to start the 2nd half of our vacation tomorrow! Myrtle Beach!

Lake Lure and Asheville

Here are some shots we took while enjoying the boat ride around the Lake.
01Lake

Did you know part of Dirty Dancing was filmed at Lake Lure? These stairs is where Baby was carrying the big watermelon. Do you remember that scene?

Did you know part of Dirty Dancing was filmed at Lake Lure? These stairs is where Baby was carrying the big watermelon. Do you remember that scene?

Lots of mansions!

Lots of mansions!

Tourist Sienna

Tourist Sienna

Interesting house!

Interesting house!

After the tour, we drove over to Asheville. The ride was a bit curvy and although Asheville wasn’t very far, it took longer because of that. During our stay, we have come to drive a bit on the same road. There is a town called Batcave and I kept meaning to take a photo of the sign but never did. Drat! Anyway, Asheville is a cute little college type, hippie like town. Very similar to Berkeley and Austin.

I like their cans

I like their cans

Do people actually donate to this?

Do people actually donate to this?

08Woolworth09SiennaBench
head shop!

head shop!

The aluminum on this piece is soda and beer cans!

The aluminum on this piece is soda and beer cans!

At the Thai restaurant, where we had dinner.

At the Thai restaurant, where we had dinner.

A cute mural!

A cute mural!

Luna Park July 2014

Coney Island fun!
WonderWheelSelfie
Thunderbolt
Swing

RollerCoasterFront Sienna scored the front row and I told her it was the best seat. No one wanted to sit up front with her so she sat alone. After the ride, they all ran to get in line again and they all wanted to ride the front row! They ran back on line about 3 times, each taking turns sitting in front.

HighSwing I wouldn’t let Sienna ride on this but she certainly wanted to!

Airplane Sylvie and Nico did not want to ride this because it turned upside down. Sienna wanted to ride it and was surprised that she was willing to ride it on her own. I was so proud of her! It was funny that she ended up in the same car as a couple where the guy was terrified of the ride. His girlfriend and Sienna were laughing at him.

Tickler
The Tickler!

Governors Island 2014

Went back to visit Governors Island and they added a whole new section. It was beautiful!
01LeafFan

02PuppyLove

03EbbetsField

04HammockInvade

05MiniGolf

06GiraffeArt

07TelephoneArt

08HammockInvade2

09SignMimic

10SurreyRental

11RopeStructure

I didn’t take a photo but for lunch we ate from one of the food trucks. Fried fish from a Jamaican truck. So delish!

Happy July 4th!

Look who came to visit us!
AtlasIndependence

Later on, we had some sparkler fun on the balcony!
SparklerFun1

Then it got dark!
AppFun

And I was having fun with this open shutter app on my iphone! Set 1
AppSpark1
AppSpark2
AppSpark3
AppSpark4

Set 2
BappSpark1
BappSpark2
BappSpark3

My week of solitude

During spring break, Yves and Sienna went to Jamaica for a week. This has been the first time I have ever been alone in my own house for that long! I was giddy and nervous about it. Mostly giddy! For reasons I’m sure you can figure out. I was nervous only because Sienna has been back and forth with the separation anxiety. It wasn’t as constant as it was when it first started but did still rear it’s head occasionally. Even the morning that they were leaving, she woke me up by saying that she wasn’t looking forward to going on the trip because I wasn’t going. I told her it was okay to be sad and it was okay to miss me because I was going to miss her too. But know that when she comes back, I will be here waiting for her.

Well, things were smooth sailing as soon as I dropped them off at the airport! Amazingly there were absolutely no issues, at least that is what Yves told me but I believe him. We made sure we didn’t Skype because I’m sure that would have set her off. Since Skippy had just passed, I was a little sad and out of it. I was still looking for him at his spot whenever I walked into a room. I busied myself with cleaning and a bit of purging. I took some photos of some items I wanted to sell. The first thing to sell was my beloved Nintendo DS and all the games. Honestly, I thought that wouldn’t sell at all! Then I had seller’s remorse especially after the woman who bought it told me how much it was going for. Boy, she got a steal for it! But I keep reminding myself that I haven’t played it in years and at least now it is getting some use (from a 4 year old boy!! WHAT?!) Anyhow, during this week besides cleaning, I went to the Museum of the City of New York, met up with Joy and Pete for dinner, finally went to Mistuwa in NJ and went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel with Starr.

SprayCansGraffitSubwayHaringHaring2CrashPeacockFan

The museum had a graffiti art exhibit, which I really enjoyed. The peacock fan was in the Gilded Age exhibit and Gay Bob was in the Activist New York exhibit.

The museum had a graffiti art exhibit, which I really enjoyed. The peacock fan was in the Gilded Age exhibit and Gay Box was in the Activist New York exhibit.

Met Joy and Pete for dinner at a Japanese place on 14th Street for dinner. I forgot the name and I forgot to take photos! Boo!

I finally went to the Crochet/Knit meetup in Bay Ridge. They meet every Saturday afternoon. Before I went, I had lunch at Paneatico, a place I've been meaning to go to. I had the best salad ever!!

I finally went to the Crochet/Knit meetup in Bay Ridge. They meet every Saturday afternoon. Before I went, I had lunch at Paneatico, a place I’ve been meaning to go to. I had the best salad ever!!


BeefCurry

mackerel

This is what we ate at Mitsuwa. The food was delicious (marketplace I was not impressed with) and the soft serve! I would go back for that alone! Macha Tea, Madagascar Vanilla and the surprising delicious black sesame!

This is what we ate at Mitsuwa. The food was delicious (marketplace I was not impressed with) and the soft serve! I would go back for that alone! Macha Tea, Madagascar Vanilla and the surprising delicious black sesame!


We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel at BAM (first time there-really cool!) and ate dinner at Chuko. Delish!

We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel at BAM (first time there-really cool!) and ate dinner at Chuko. Delish!

Next Page »