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What a great month March was for Sienna! Besides turning 7, she found out she made student of the month for February and her science project got into the fair! And that’s not all! After the fair was over, she came in 3rd place for her grade! She was very happy about that. Also in March was the show her class did for assembly (which she very much enjoyed doing, future on stage, perhaps?). It was called “Adventures in the Land of Video Games.” You can guess what it was about. It was really cute. I was able to get a really good copy of a video of the whole play from another parent.

Here’s a video of the family singing to Sienna. I love the big, huge smile on her face! Password is birthday.

Happy Birthday Sienna Family from Lisa on Vimeo.

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During mid-Winter break, we managed to get away for a night. We kept it a secret from Sienna until the night before we left but we didn’t tell her who we were meeting up there! What a big surprise to have Sylvie and her family pull into the parking lot after us (timing was a mere coincidence!) She was extra excited when she found out they were also staying at the same hotel as us and we were having dinner together too! I don’t know why having dinner all together is extra exciting. LOL.

Anyway, we left Brooklyn at the insanely early hour of 6 am. I was in the minority about the time so I had no choice but to go with it! We picked the perfect day to go! It wasn’t snowing and the sun was out! None of us have been to the Mystic Aquarium before and it was nice to get there early. The price is hefty compared to the New York Aquarium but there is more stuff there AND there are people stationed by each exhibit to spew out facts about the animals! I loved the Beluga Whale exhibit. I’m sure I could have stayed there all day or at least go between them and the jellyfish and seahorses.

We brought lunch with us and ate at the picnic tables outside surrounded by snow. Yves has a photo on his instagram. After some pool time at the hotel (Hampton Inn), we headed to dinner. Dinner was at the Dog Watch Cafe, a real cute place. I got some New England Clam Chowder (it was ok, the best one is still the one I had in New Hampshire!) and a fish sandwich.

The next day was rainy. After checking out of the hotel (photo here just so you know Nico was there too!), we stopped by the Mystic Seaport but didn’t stay because of the rain. We’ll have to go back there because it sounds like fun. We did a quick stop at a nearby cemetery for some photos and then headed to New Haven to have pizza for lunch! MMMM!

We went to Modern Apizza and it was delicious!! It was then time to part ways although the girls were begging to go over to each other’s houses. LOL.

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Snow day from school in early January! Password is snow

Mini snow hill from Lisa on Vimeo.

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Sienna got a few more gifts but I didn’t want to overdo the post with photos of her and her presents! LOL! As usual, a wonderful day filled with family, friends and great food and wine!

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Just a little sad that the holidays are over. Sometimes I do stress to get everything done but in the end, I always enjoy this time of year as everyone and everything is so festive. We ended up not doing the house lights this year OR seeing the Rockefeller Tree but that is ok. I am happy just being able to be with our friends and family.

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So on Black Friday, we went to a puppet show at Macy’s Santaland. Brian’s mom organized the whole thing as I didn’t even know they had a puppet show! We met them as well as Masayo and her kids, Julian and Maya, at Macy’s. The puppet show was Yes, Virginia and it was barely half full! (Probably because nobody knows about it! Or also because it was the 10:30 am showing!) It was only about 30 minutes long. It was cute!

After the show, we headed over toward Santaland. The wait said 1 hour. That didn’t seem so bad! Plus we were a bunch together so that should make the time go fast. We went through the arch and we walked through what seems like a very long and winding hallway that seemed endless. When we finally got to the end of the line, it was like the employees only behind the scenes area. And the line seemed really long. And we totally didn’t think it was going to be an hour. The men folk were almost whining about it but kept each other company. The kids seemed fine although Nico was mimicking Brian a little bit about the wait. Us woman stayed strong! We were waiting! And I was glad we did because when else would we have this opportunity with the kids together? And it really was an hour! The walk through Santaland was very cool and pretty (my very first time there!)

We got separated into 3 different groups trying to get out of Macy’s! Once we finally got together again, it was off to lunch in Koreatown! Yay! I believe we went to Seoul Garden. Half the table got BBQ, which is what Sienna ended up liking! I got bibimbop and Yves got a pork dish that was tasty but a little spicy for Sienna.

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I think this is the third year in a row that we attend Thanksgiving festivities at the Bald residence. Not a lot of photos, too busy enjoying myself!

A great Thanksgiving and lots to be thankful for! Looking forward to having them over for Christmas!

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We went on another hike! This time with our favorite family (now I worry that Sienna will find hiking with just me and Yves to be boring! LOL). My friend Ingrid, an avid hiker, suggested Sandy Hook, NJ because it opens up onto the beach. We met our friends there. It was really nice, although cold! I found lots of pretty rocks and there were lots of photo ops. The photos say a lot so there probably won’t be a lot of words.

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Yves was {half} joking about how we did not go to Waffle House once during our vacation in Florida. And vacation is the only time we can get to a Waffle House. So, always looking for a reason to go away, I suggested an overnight trip! The closest Waffle House is in Bethlehem, PA. The closest kid friendly thing to do by Bethlehem is the Crayola Factory (now called the Crayola Experience.) We had gone there a few years ago and had a good time but remember thinking it wasn’t something to go back to regularly as I can imagine some of the activities would get too repetitive. We decided to have a go at it and set off. It was a fun time and there were a few new things added since the last time we went.

Afterwards, we went to have pizza at Antonio’s Pizzeria, where reviewers on yelp claimed it was the most authentic NY style pizza in the area. Well, the other pizzeria’s must be terrible because this was nothing like NY style pizza! (Well, now that I have gone back to check out the link, realized that I confused this place’s review with another places! Oops! Oh well!)

We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn in Allentown. It was ok. The pool was really small (just like the other hotel we stayed at last time we went to Crayola, must be a Bethlehem thing!) but there was also a jacuzzi! And the hotel happens to be right next to the Waffle House! We ended up going to dinner next door as well, to Red Robin. We are not fans of chain restaurants (for the most part) but I remembered that their burgers were decent. Plus it was right next door! We decided to order potato skins for appetizers. Bad move, they were terrible! The burgers were really good tho!

After breakfast at Waffle House, of course! I was able to convince everyone to go check out the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. Sienna had off on Monday for Veteran’s day and Yves had taken off so there was no rush to get home. It was a windy day so didn’t stay as long as we might have but Sienna was pretty good about it!

All in all, a very fun trip! I got to have some fun with the Canon 5D!

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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:

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!
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!

Then off to Owl’s Head park for Halloween festivities!

Then trick or treating!

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

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