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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.

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.


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.

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.


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.

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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.

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.

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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!

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!

We also came across another beautiful view!

We came across a statue of Walt Whitman, the other WW.

Sienna posing on a rock herself!

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The last weekend of September, we finally made it to Governor’s Island. It was the last weekend it was going to be open. It was a beautiful day! We just made the ferry from Pier 6 and took the 5 minute ride over to the island. We hadn’t been there since it first opened, before Sienna was born.

Smilebooth was there, a photobooth, so me and Sienna, the hams that we are, tried it out. I’m bummed that our photos cannot be seen online. For some reason, the date we were there is not online. So here is a screen capture of our hamminess.

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On September 25 at around 8pm, Yves gets a call from David saying that Amy has been having contractions all day! The baby’s due date was October 12th! So I rush over there to bring them to the Birthing Center, which is very close to our house. Get a text and photo the next morning at around 7:30. It’s a boy! Atlas Derrick John was born at 7:05 am. The procedures at the Birthing Center are different than at a hospital where you only stay about 5 (or7?) hours after giving birth. They were able to leave around 1pm. Amazing!! I picked them up and drove them home. I couldn’t believe Amy was up and moving so soon.

Aunt Natalie (Atlas’ grandma) wasn’t due to arrive until October 1st. I picked her up and brought her over there. She stayed with them for about 3 weeks to help out. I’ll have a more specific post about her visit later.

Because I got a letter home from Sienna’s school about someone having Chicken Pox, I wanted to wait 2 weeks (incubation period) to make sure she was ok. She was vaccinated for it but with the newborn, didn’t want to take a chance. Then she had a minor cold (mostly just stuffy nose) that I didn’t want to expose Atlas to so Sienna didn’t get to meet her cousin until almost a month after he was born.

Here is a bib and onesie I made for Atlas. I asked if he was named after the Greek God and they said it was partly that but also because they had traveled around the world a lot together. Plus they liked the sound of the name.

I look forward to watching Atlas grow and getting to know him more!

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Sienna’s best buddy outside of school is Sylvie and it was her 5th birthday. Her birthday is the day before Yves’. We celebrated with a BBQ and Hello Kitty ice cream cake at their house. Sienna also had her first sleep over at their house that night! Sylvie slept over our house a couple of weeks before and that was her first one too. Apparently, Sienna didn’t miss us at all!

Here we are singing! Password is secret.

Happy Birthday Sylvie from Lisa on Vimeo.

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Sienna returned to school on September 9. Sienna wasn’t looking forward to it but I was! Over a month has passed and I’m happy to report that she is very happy in school. She even told me she loves school! I don’t know what this girl did with Sienna but I’ll borrow her for now. LOL. Here are some photos from the first day!

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Last weekend, I went on a mini East Coast road trip with my friend Joy. This would be the first time I was every away from Sienna overnight. I don’t know why this was the first time, I guess I just never had (or made) the opportunity to do this.

We left Saturday morning and I had done some research on good places to eat. I’m on a never ending quest to find awesome homemade corned beef hash (the best being what I ate in New Orleans at Quarter Moon restaurant, pre Katrina so don’t even know if it is still around!) We made it to O’Rourke’s diner around 11:30. I eagerly ordered a side of hash and since I already had eggs that morning, decided to go for something sweet and got Babka French Toast. Honestly, I would not order something so sweet for breakfast but this was technically lunch.

The Babka French Toast was super yummy! They make the babka on site as well as some bread they put on the table for us. Their spicy chocolate banana bread was delicious! I was disappointed in their hash. It tasted dry but I wonder if it was because it was late in the morning. Joy got the casino omelet (no photo) that had crab meat and bacon inside. Tasty!

I liked this bridge we encountered as we left the diner. One of the few non food photos I took.

We made our way up to Seabrook, NH and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, which is actually the same one me and Sienna stayed on our way up to Maine last year! It was over 90 degrees so it was HOT! After checking in, we decided to head over to the Kittery Outlets 15 minutes away. I’m not an outlet person but figured hopping into air conditioning would be ok. I ended up buying a nice dress for a late July wedding!

For dinner, with Yelp’s help, we went to Robert’s Maine Grill. I had my first raw oysters and they are delicious!

We enjoyed everything! For entree, I got pan fried cod and little neck clams. Joy got grilled scallops and we shared a side of brussel sprouts with bacon. No room for dessert!

I took a quick dip in the pool after we got back to the hotel and then we just hung out in the room for the rest of the evening. The next morning we had the hotel breakfast before heading to Wal-mart (have to hit a Wal-mart when we are out of NY!) Yves will be proud to hear that there was a Joann’s fabric store in the same shopping complex that I DID NOT GO IN!!

So the main reason I chose Seabrook, NH was to hit either Markey’s Lobster Pound or Brown’s Lobster Pound. They are right across the street from one another and both have good reviews. I’m sure going to either one would be good so we chose Markey’s only because they were on the same side of the street we were driving down. MMMMMM!!!! This is what we shared; lobster roll, crab cake (ok, that was all me), fried oysters, fried calamari and steamers. Enjoyed it all but the steamers were my least favorite as the large ones were not as tasty as the smaller ones. The fries were a sorry state as they barely looked cooked and I love a good fry but really, you’re not going there for fries!

Since we had time to kill before being able to check into Mohegan Sun (Joy’s contribution to the weekend trip), I thought we could be more touristy and check out Portsmouth, NH. Got some yummy ice cream at Annabelle’s, caramel cashew cluster and mint summer night’s dream. It’s a cute little town but honestly, all those port towns look very similar to me (Bar Harbor, Port Jefferson, etc).

At Mohegan Sun we were able to book a massage for 8 pm. Joy went to gamble and I went to the hot tub beforehand. It was so nice and relaxing! The massage was heavenly and always hate it when it’s over as it seems to go so fast. There were quite a few dining options offered in the casino/mall. After the relaxing massage, we headed to Frank Pepe‘s Napoletana pizza, another place I had on my list. Their original location is in New Haven, CT. We ordered the White Clam pizza and original pizza with anchovy. I enjoyed both of them as I am a fan of thin crust. They were both a tad salty which I know is the nature of anchovies.

The view from our floor.

Inside the mall/casino

For breakfast, we went to Hash House a Go Go, a place Joy encountered in Vegas and marveled at the size of their portions. She did not lie! Joy ordered the chicken and waffles and I had to get their original hash with eggs. All was delicious! The hash was shredded and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Still thinking about it. LOL

The journey home on Monday morning included a stop at Bishop Orchards. A place Joy will never let us forget about since this was the place with the fabulous peaches. They have changed! From a small little orchard to a bigger market! Because of traffic, I did not make it in time to pick up Sienna after school. I had a little ordeal with the pick up but basically Jessica and my mother in law picked her up.

All in all, a very fun getaway! Just wanted to note for documentation that Sienna cried when we skyped. Saturday night she was sad and had wet eyes. Sunday was full fledged crying! Yves said she was basically fine the whole time except when we skyped. I guess seeing me was too much! I was feeling guilty about not making it in time to pick her up after school since I promised her I would be there. I wondered how mad she would be but turns out, she was ok and just wanted to play! You never know how upset she will be about things. Usually things that I think won’t affect her so much, she is over the top about and things I worry and guilt about are not a big deal! Sigh! Will I ever figure it out?

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