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Sunday we took Sienna to the Atlantic Antic. We went last year as well but she was confined to her car seat stroller. She was running around loose this time and quite enjoyed herself! She got a balloon and was a dancing fool!

Yves took this cute series of photos:

We didn’t find the yummy empanadas we got last year tho. Sienna gobbled up the spinach pie from Sahadi‘s and then we ended up getting those mozzarella on corn bread sandwiches that you always see at street fairs (which I never got before!) It’s a bit sweet but good and Sienna really liked it. Here is one of her dancing sequences on video (e-mail or comment for the password!). This one is my favorite!

Dancing Fool from Lisa on Vimeo.

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I am sick. blah. I felt something coming on Sunday and 2 reasons I seriously wanted to nip it in the bud! 1. I didn’t want Sienna to get sick 2. Davíd‘s last Monday night Living Room show was the next night! So I took a nyquil and actually didn’t feel bad on Monday. Then Sienna sneezed. And sneezed some more. And her nose was running. Groan. She’s sick! So I gave her tylenol before her nap. Her nose was still stuffy and runny when I was leaving and it was so hard to leave her. She kept calling for me. But I knew she was going to be ok with yves. So off to see Davíd! I got there a little before 8 and I’m glad I did! He started early! So I got about a full hour of him! I really enjoyed the show (the place was packed!) but honestly, I liked last week’s set better as they were mostly his songs. This time he played a lot of covers (Dreaming by Blondie and Burning Down the House by TH) and they were great but I really wanted to hear his stuff. Well, he promised to be back again. I did bring my camera but since I was sitting near the back, I knew it would be a waste to take any photos especially after he told them to dim the lights. I know other people took photos and did a google search but only found one here. I was sitting right behind this person! While searching with google, I found this cool blog post about davíd that gives some background in case you are interested here.

After the show I headed over to meet Nuno, Brenda, Alison and Josh for the delayed September mixer at Stanton Public. It was good to have Josh back! He shaved his beard! And it was a nice time and Brenda baked brownies (not from a mix!).

Anyway, I am feeling a bit better today and the worst of it was yesterday where I kept sneezing and blowing my nose. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for my throat so I don’t pass it on to Sienna. Of course, she is all better now. She seems to get over sickness pretty quickly. Thank goodness! Now I just wish someone can take care of me all day! Now I have to wait to pick up my parents from the airport after 11 (a 2 hour delay!) Groan!

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Saturday we checked out the newly opened Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. Last weekend was the grand opening and they were still having a special where families arriving before 11 get in for free. No problem there! Not that I wouldn’t mind paying but the time works well for us and we were there waiting to get in at 10 am when the doors open. Such a very cool place! There’s a section called Totally Tots (for the under 5 crowd) and there was a slide, an art area, water area, sand, ‘theatre’, book nook, dolls and a noise making area. So cool!! It got quite crowded in there by 11 with mostly parents hovering over their kids. It got to be a little much for Sienna so we went to check out the other areas. They had a mini Brooklyn neighborhood with a bus and a bunch of stores (grocery, chinese store, caribbean store and L&B Spumoni gardens where you can make your own ‘pizza’). There was a bunch of different nature areas and we also checked out the cafe (not much of an eatery.) Membership is really cheap too but the times don’t work out for us. They close Mondays and Tuesdays, open from 1-6 the rest of the week and only Saturday and Sunday are they open 10-6. I’m hoping since it’s because they just re-opened that they just have short hours. Hopefully they will add more hours as they work out the kinks because this is a perfect place to take Sienna during the winter on a weekday!

Playing with the blue sand with daddy.

Playing with the sand next to other kids

Of course the slide is one of the first things she goes to!

Imitating the python?

Pointing out the parakeet

She’s always on the move!

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We finally headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park so I can check out the waterfalls art exhibit. There has been some controversy surrounding it. It seems the salt water splashing up from the ocean is killing all the greenery and turning it brown. I still wanted to check it out before they shut it down. What can I say, I have a thing for waterfalls. Well, it wasn’t on! I was a little bummed as I just wanted to see it even though Yves thinks it’s a farce. Oh well. We headed over to the playground! We don’t come down this way too often as it is a little bit of a trek but I do love this area. The Brooklyn Bridge is my favorite bridge so any shot with it in the background, I love! Like this one!

And to be fair, here’s a shot with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. I think Sienna liked the sounds of the train as she kept looking up and pointing to it whenever the trains came by and saying some semblance of the word ‘train’.

We decided to go to Bubby’s for lunch. The good thing about having lunch at around 11ish, there isn’t a wait! By the time we came out, there was a little bit of a wait for a table. I give it a A+ for the super kid friendly atmosphere (they even gave Sienna water in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw! This was given with our water for the table!) and the fact that the men’s room also had a diaper changing station! And they get another A+ for great food! I got a turkey blt and Yves got a grilled ham and cheese. My turkey blt was awesome! Yves’ was good but a little bit on the salty side (from the mustard and the pickles, not from the ham!) But the fries were fabulous! Needs no ketchup fabulous! And for Sienna we got a side of french toast and apple cider. She ate more than I thought she would!

I also want to document something that happened last Friday, the 12th.  Something I call the ‘poop incident.’  Normally Yves does the bathing duties during the week but he was working late that night (as well as Wednesday and on Saturday!) So I’m bathing Sienna, everything is going as it usually does when I smell a foul odor. Sienna farts. No biggie, not the first time. I joked with her that I didn’t see any bubbles! Then next thing I know, I hear a plop. Then another plop and Sienna is standing there looking back toward her butt. She’s taking a poop in the bath!! I was so dumbfounded I just did not know what to do! This has never happened before nor have I even read about something like this in all the motherhood stuff that I read! I was frozen in shock. I didn’t know whether to laugh or freak out (I did both!) I went with my first instinct and got some toilet tissue and scooped it up. Yes, I know, not a very smart move as the tissue fell apart once it hit the water. Oh well. I just proceeded to pick it all up with the tissue anyway and threw it in the toilet. Thankfully it wasn’t a mushy poop! I drained all the water out and basically re-bathed her. What a memory!

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Last Sunday, the 7th, we went to Coney Island. Not because it was Astroland’s official last day forever but because that was where the electronics recycling was being held. We had an old pc and a couple of printers to get rid of. We decided to take a walk along the boardwalk anyway since it was so nice out and I remembered today being the demise of Astroland. (Now there are talks about the city keeping it open, I’m not sure!) There was a few news crews there but we were gone before the crowd came and Astroland opened for the day.

I tried to get a group shot of us with the Cyclone in the back but she was getting cranky by that time. She’s still adjusting to the midday nap. This is the best one I got.

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On Wednesday Zack came over! Oh yeah and Tammy too! 😉 It was a beautiful fall like day in the 70’s so we hung out in the back area for a little bit. Then we went upstairs for some lunch. Tammy and Zack brought over some Hungarian apple strudel and turnovers. YUM! It was cute to see Sienna interacting with Zack. She would touch him real quick or poke him and once almost stepped on his head! Oops! It was nice and relaxing as sometimes when we meet at a restaurant, it feels a bit rushed. I hope they come over more often!

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I don’t want to forgot about writing about the lunch me and Sienna had with Joy a few Fridays ago (the 22nd actually). After me and Sienna were at the playground, we met Joy at Lioni’s Italian Heroes. She has heard that their sandwiches were awesome and had told me about the place at the beginning of summer.

Their menu of sandwiches is four pages long!! They are all named after Italians and Italian Americans. I finally decided on #65 the Danny Aiello (grilled chicken, broccoli rabe, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, salt & pepper) and Joy got #122 the Frank Capra (prosciutto di Parma, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella and sauteed peppers.) The heroes were huge and I only ate half of it. The condiment whore in me would have liked more olive oil or some mayonnaise (I put some mayo on when I ate the other half of the sandwich the next day-YUM!) It was pretty good! The broccoli rabe was nice and garlicy and the mozz was amazing! Sienna’s favorite part was the bread (of course) but she also liked the cheese.

Danny Aiello

Frank Capra

I also don’t want to forget about writing about the old man we encountered that day. When I told Joy and Pete this story at Five Guys, there was constant teasing and joking about it for the rest of the evening (and I’m sure in the future as well!)

Me and Sienna were walking Joy to the nail salon that I had told her about. On the way over, there was this old Italian man waving to us from his balcony on the 2nd floor.  How cute. The neighborhood old Italian guy. At the time, Joy was holding Sienna and was showing her how to throw kisses to the old man. Actually, she was making her throw kisses to the old man. Harmless fun. After leaving Joy at the nail salon, me and Sienna walked down the same block. This time the old man was on the street and stopped and said hello. He had a really thick Italian accent, he was very tan and was wearing a wife-beater. At first I couldn’t understand what he was asking but figured out that he was asking if my husband works and if I work. I told him, yes, he does and that I stay home and watch the baby. He asked if I lived around there. I said no, Sheepshead Bay. Bay Ridge? he says. Yeah, yeah I say. I didn’t feel like correcting him. Then he asked if he could have my phone number!!! HA! I didn’t expect that! Of course I said No and he was like Ok and put his hands on my face as he went in to give me a kiss on the cheek. I didn’t mind that, a harmless old man, I’d let him kiss me on the cheek. But then as he was sliding his hand away, it started going across my chest and seemed to be getting a little too low. So I lifted my hand to guide his hand up and away from my chest area! Unbelievable!! I can’t believe I got hit on by an old man AND he tried to cop a feel! Joy couldn’t believe that I didn’t call her right away to tell her this story. I told her it was all her fault as the guy probably got us confused since she was holding Sienna and making her blow kisses to him! HA!

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I met up with Joy and Pete for dinner Tuesday night. I don’t want to call it a band meeting since Tammy could not join us as they are on their first family vacation to Cape Cod. After throwing around some ideas about what to eat, we settled on Five Guys Burger & Fries. Was told it was similiar to In & Out/Fatburger although I was disappointed there wasn’t any onion ring offerings. I guess they can’t call it Five Guys Burger and Fries and Onion Rings? Well, I was quite pleased with my greasy burger and satisfied with my fries (I say satisfied because I did not eat them all and if they were fantastic, they would all be gone, no matter how big the portion was!)

(Pete prepares his area so neatly compared to me and Joy!)
We picked the Five Guys location on Bleeker and 7th because it was close to Grom, a gelato place from Italy that is supposedly fantastic. I was so excited to try it as I have never had any standout gelato since coming back from Italy in 2003. We sampled several different flavors including the mint, pistachio, Torrontino (italian nougat) and Stracciatella. We were all not impressed. I did enjoy the mint but not enough to spend almost $5 for a cup. Very disappointed! We were having a mini conference on what to do when Joy mentioned Otto‘s, on 8th Street and 5th Avenue. At first I did not recall the place but as we were walking over, I remembered! One of Mario Batali’s places and did remember reading that their gelato was really good. Excitement!

It seemed pretty crowded when we got there but noticed a sort of bar area with tables to stand up at. Pete asked the host if we could just get dessert and he said we can get served pretty fast at the bar area. Excitement! They had some insteresting gelato flavors and Joy heard the Olive Oil was pretty good. Can you imagine she was just going to get the one flavor? We convinced her to get at least another flavor and she let me pick the Balsamic Strawberry (it just seemed to be the right match.) I got the Peppermint Chocolate Chip, Pistachio and Dark Chocolate and Pete got the OLIVE OIL COPPETTA (OLIVE OIL GELATO, PASSIONFRUIT GRANITA, STRAWBERRIES, BASIL SYRUP, MALDON SEA SALT). It was delicious! Still not as good as I remembered in Italy but that can also be due to the fact that, hey, I was in freaking Italy! Joy and Pete got coffee as well and man, did it smell good! As much as I wanted to get a cup after smelling theirs, I was good! I had to sleep that night!

My three flavors!

Joy’s 2 flavors

Pete’s dolci
It’s funny how the dessert ending up costing the same amount as my dinner! Totally worth it! It’s times like these that will make me miss New York if we do decide to leave. But I’ll have to try their pizza before leaving!

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Monday I went to craft night again at Etsy Labs. They were doing glass etching and thought it would be fun to do. I’m really glad Etsy Labs are doing these craft nights. It gives you a chance to try out crafts that you might have an interest in but am not sure you want to buy a whole bunch of supplies for! So I took one of my plain pint glasses and headed on over!

You use contact paper to make your design. I was too lazy to cut out a design in the middle of the contact paper so I cut out elements of a design so I had to cover the whole glass with the etching cream. I made a heart with a cut out M (the M wasn’t too bad to cut out) and then 3 bunny heads and some hearts. You plop on a thick layer of cream for 5 minutes and then rinse it off. Since I was doing my whole glass, I had to do each side separately. If you stand there too long, you really start to smell the cream and it stinks!!


The finished project! It only took an hour. The longest process was probably thinking of a design! If you look closely you can see the cream wasn’t put on very evenly. But I’m fine with that, it adds character! I tried to rush home in hopes to catching Sienna before she went to bed. I would have made it if I didn’t forget that I was on the B train (express) and missed my stop to transfer to the Q (local). DOH!

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Saturday we took Sienna to the New York Aquarium. This was her first visit so we weren’t sure what her reaction would be. We were hoping she would get excited and amazed seeing all the fish and underwater life. She was more like ‘yeah, that’s cool. What’s next?’ or ‘I wanna run around!’ I guess she won’t be a marine biologist! HA! But she is still young. I can’t remember the last time I was there or if I ever even went there but it was relatively small. I actually got excited by the fish and seals and walrus sightings. I could have stayed a little longer than the hour and 20 minutes but I’m sure we’ll go back once Sienna is a little older. We wanted to get tacos for lunch but the taco stand I had in mind didn’t open for another 30 minutes when we got there. Sienna had fallen asleep so we didn’t really want to wait around. Instead we headed over to Golden Krust bakery for patties. She woke up when we got on the subway and tried hard dough bread for the first time. I’m not surprised that she liked it!

Sienna touching a big hermit crab!

We got Sienna a super soft stuffed turtle

Asleep at Golden Krust!

Enjoying Hard Dough bread

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