Halloween Decorations

I am not very good at decorating my home for the upcoming holiday or seasons of the year. Mostly because I have no where to store out-of-season decor. But something has come over me recently, maybe because I'm home a lot more than I was last year, and we've been doing some decorating around here. Here are some photos of our Halloween crafts & decorations on the one usable windowsill of our lil' home.

Toilet-paper roll mummies

Ella's pumpkin (drawn by Ella, carved by mom)

Lexi's pumpkin (drawn by Lexi, carved by mom)

Gourd bats

An Evening Stroll

We have walked across the Brooklyn Bridge many times. And I have taken my morning run across the George Washington Bridge many times. But we have never walked, as a family, across the GWB even though it is right here in our neighborhood.  Mid-October, Aunt Barbara and Uncle Doug came down to visit one weekend and so after dinner we decided to take a walk. We ended up heading across the GWB which apparently has been on Barbara's bucket list since she was a little girl who drove across the GWB every weekend with her family on their way to their weekend cabin upstate. Doug was also excited to walk to New Jersey (he is from NJ) because even though it's really not that far, saying you walked to another state sounds pretty cool, don't you think? It was exceptionally windy that evening. But it was a nice walk anyway. We missed my cousin (their daughter), Liz, who loves these sorts of NYC adventures and so we texted her the photo below to let her know we love her and were thinking of her.

The lights this month were pink in honor of breast cancer awareness- although they really appear more purple than pink.

Lunch with Friends

Our friends Branden and Emilie were recently in town.  If you don't already know, Branden is the bass player for a band called Neon Trees.  They've had a lot of success recently and have been touring with Duran Duran as the opening band.  They played Madison Square Garden recently and so Emilie was able to spend a few days in NYC with Branden and Ella, Caleb & I got to meet up with them for lunch at Popover Cafe (a delicious spot I was recently introduced to).  It was a total bummer that Matt had to work and we missed having him with us.  The kids loved B&E (don't we all?) and it was so wonderful to catch up with them in a more personal way (instead of having to yell at each other over the loud music at one of his concerts, which is fun also, but not the same).  Can't wait until next time. 

Boo At The Bronx Zoo

Because we have a membership to the zoo allowing us to go anytime, I typically try to avoid weekends because it can be super busy. But every weekend in October they had a special event "Boo At The Zoo" that we have never attended, so this year we decided to give it a try. It turned out to be a gorgeous day & we went with friends so the kids had an awesome time together.

Our first stop was the haunted hayride.  Here are the kids all waiting for our turn: (from left) Julia the cat, Dylan as Scooby Doo, Ella as Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), Alexis as Laura Ingalls Wilder and Hailey as a fairy princess.

As we were boarding the hayride, a zoo staff member was handing out treats which we were all allowed to take regardless of whether or not we were dressed up.

After the hayride we saw a few animals and headed over to the craft table where they kids all made bear masks.

We joined a costume parade with a bug catcher & giant grasshopper.

I got to try on the awesome snake/witch's hat & got kissed by a bat.

We walked through the extinct/endangered animal cemetery.

And we also did a hay maze and attended a magic show- not to mention the animals we saw and the monorail & carousel rides we took.  It was a really fun day at the zoo. And I was pleasantly surprised that it was not the mad house with scads of people that I was expecting.  We'll definitely have to do it again next year.

Annual Apple Picking Trip

One of the activities we like to do every year come autumn is to go to a farm upstate and pick our own apples. This year we went to a new-to-us farm called Fishkill Farms in Hopewell Junction, NY.  It was wonderful.  The weather was gorgeous.  There was a storyteller for the kids to listen to and sing with.  A bounce house. Fresh hot cider donuts and a grill (hot dogs & hamburgers) and a pretty big country store with all sorts of freshly made goodies from cheese to honey to jams and then some.  There were several groups of people just camped out in the orchards- with tables & camping chairs and picnic spreads which made me think that would be a really fun way to spend a Saturday while the kids run and play among the trees.

The farm generously encourages tasting the fruit while you're in the orchard, but asks that you keep it to one piece per person.

There were also some great hay bales to play on- and a hay ride (which we didn't take). A beautiful day. Delicious apples (we made lots of apple crisp with them!).  The only thing I would have liked better was if the leaves on the trees had more autumnal colors- as you can see, things were still quite green in early-October.

Reading

Alexis had invited Ella up onto her bed (the top bunk) and they were quietly reading this princess fairy tales book together.  I love moments like these.

A smile

It's really hard to catch a smile on camera from this little guy.  As soon as the camera comes out, he becomes serious again.  But here are 2 photos I did manage to get.

Friends

This is Carrie & Ryan and their son, Landon.  Ryan and Matt were close friends when they were kids.  We haven't seen them in a couple of years and had never met Landon.  They were close to NY visiting Ryan's brother (& his family) and took some time to come into the city and visit with us.  We're so glad they did- it was great to see them again and catch up!

The Cradle

All my babies have slept in this cradle that my grandfather made for them. The girls both spent at least 4 months in it, but Caleb is practically touching head to foot when his legs are stretched out. We've already had to transfer him to a crib, although it's a mini-crib since we don't have the space for a full-size. Here he is in a photo for posterity, sleeping soundly in the cradle. 

2 Months

At 2 months old, Caleb is weighing in at 14 pounds and measures 24 inches- my biggest baby so far. He eats a lot, he smiles once in a while (usually after he's had a diaper change, or when he's in the bath). He's generally sleeping 7-9 hour stretches at night. He remains a pretty calm baby who rarely cries, which is amazing to me. He is a sweet little boy and we are so happy he's ours.

This series of photos was an attempt to catch him in his fighter stance. Sometimes when he clenches his fists and holds them up near his chin I think it looks like he's getting ready to box. And then one arm swings out which makes me think he's already starting to train.

Little Red Lighthouse

A couple of weeks ago we went to the annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival.  This is always a popular neighborhood event and they have a limited number of timed-entry tickets to enter the lighthouse.  Every year we arrive after all the tickets have been given out, so this year we made an extra effort to get there at the beginning of the festival.  We were able to score some tickets, so our efforts paid off!  The festival was a little disappointing this year- I can only assume that the Parks Department had so many budget cuts that this event was affected, which was a major bummer.  But we did get to spend a beautiful morning on the banks of the Hudson River and to tour the Little Red Lighthouse underneath the Great Grey Bridge.

Climbing the stairs

View of midtown Manhattan from the lighthouse

View of the underside of the George Washington Bridge from the top of the lighthouse.  It's still so far away!

Caleb was sleeping in the stroller, so Matt stayed down with him.  Here's a view of them from the top of the lighthouse- about 40 feet up. (Matt's leaning on the fence & the stroller is next to the rocks)

Alexis was "terrified" of being on top.  I put that in quotes because I think she's going through a fear phase where things that have never scared her before are suddenly scary.  Apparently, it's a typical thing for seven-year-olds to go through.  Here we are looking north up the Hudson.

And here we are looking towards midtown Manhattan on the left and New Jersey on the right.