Brooklyn

Several weeks ago the kids and I headed to NY for a day trip with our cousins G and Becky (we can't call him a baby anymore because he's 1).

Our trip began with ME driving to the Bronx. I am very nervous driving in the city with the kids. I knew that as long as I had the Yankee stadium in view I was golden. However, I drove right by the stadium and ended up in an area that didn't look familiar to me. I saw the street that Becky lives on and immediately turned left. I drove down this road for a while and eventually saw her apartment building. I turned in there and parked in the garage.

Becky and I walked down the street to the subway and boarded the train to Brooklyn. We were headed to the aquarium. After talking about the aquarium for a bit I realized that we were actually going to Coney Island. I was so excited because I have always wanted to go to Coney Island. I don't know why I have always wanted to go there but I was excited.

The train ride was over an hour long but all three kids were well behaved. We finally reached our destination and we walked to the aquarium.

Our first order of business was the bathroom. Of course the bathroom was downstairs so we had to go down in shifts!! But we managed!!!

We walked around the aquarium for awhile. The kids were a little restless but they were good considering our long journey to get to the aquarium.

The Penguin hanging out on the cliffs.

This seal lion was laying down and I started taking pictures. I swear that this sea lion got up and posed for me.

The huge aquarium that we hung out at while we all had a potty break.

The fish are so colorful and relaxing to watch.

I could have stood here all day watching these incredible creatures.

I love the shape of this fish.

This is the area where Ballerina was introduced to a blacklight. She thought it was the coolest thing that her white shirt was now a cool blue.

Ballerina on a walrus.

Sea Horse.

At least someone in our family is not afraid of sharks. We took this picture for Daddy.

This is the entrance to the amusement park at Coney Island.

The Cyclone. How cool!!!!

At least I can say that I at least saw the Cyclone. I wish I could have taken a ride on this historic landmark.


Had I not packed my lunch I would have had my lunch from here!! Oh well next time!!

It was so cool exploring this area. I always enjoy spending time with Becky and Baby G. They make every activity a little extra special!!!

XOXOXX,

Janine

Donaldson's Farm

Happy Columbus Day. Today the kids and I took my parents to this very nice and clean farm in Hackettstown. I was pleasantly surprised how nice it was!!

We all hopped onto the hayride to head out to the pumpkin fields.
I told the kids that they could each get a pumpkin but they need to be able to carry their own pumpkin.

The cute couple that greeted us to the pumpkin field.
The Pumpkin Fields



Charlie Brown and Snoopy looking for the Great Pumpkin.


We got to pick our own Indian Corn.

After we picked out our pumpkins we headed back to the farm where all the activities were taking place. Speed Racer could not resist the tractors that were available for the kids to play on.

My father supervising the kids in the tractor wheel!!

Speed Racer riding around the farm.

Ballerina in the real big tractor.



Still driving the tractor.
After the tractor riding we headed over to get some funny pictures.
Grams and Pops.

Ballerina as a farmer.

After the funny pictures we galloped over to the horses for the kids very first horse ride. Ballerina went first she picked Foxy the white horse. Speed Racer wanted to ride on a miniature horse. I thought I would die laughing at the sight of him riding on such a small horse but luckily he's too big. So he rode on Foxy too.

The kid's new friend!!

Me and the kids. I think that this will be our new Columbus Day tradition.

I hope you had a great weekend!!

OXXOXO,

Janine

Ballerina had a great time on Foxy.

I think she wanted to go faster. Ballerina and her horse ride.


Speed Racer riding on Foxy.

Waiting for his ride.


Speed Racer getting on the horse. Ballerina did exactly what my father told her to do in the wheel.


Patiently waiting his turn.

After the horsing around we had our lunch and then got ready to head home. But we had to go the shop for some Apple Cider Donuts.

I saw this cute ghost and asked the kids to take a picture with him.

Good Bye September

I can't believe that it is the end of September. Where did the month go? September was a very busy month for us. We had so much fun and got to spend time with a lot of our favorite people. We also got to go to our favorite vacation spot.

So sit on back and grab a snack and something hot to drink and see what we've been up to. It's gonna be a long one since I didn't blog at all this month. I told you I was super busy.

The beginning of the month bought us much time to play. Which was nice since I knew that the next couple of weeks was going to be CRAZY!!!

Labor day weekend we celebrated the holiday by staying in town and enjoying our Saturday summer traditions of going to The Farmer's Market, Mollies for breakfast, running errands. We also went to StroudFest which is a town wide festival that gets bigger and bigger every year!!
We took a boat ride in my father's new-old boat that he worked on all summer. Tommy, Speed Racer, and my father took the boat out for a little spin while Ballerina and I painted some ceramics. I asked Ballerins if she would like to go on Pop's boat and she said "no thank you." So I went out with my father and Speed Racer. I sat there and watched two of my three favorite men interact. Speed Racer and my father have a very funny relationship. One that I think s very funny. Some days Speed Racer thinks that my father is the greatest thing and other days they fight. All this time I thought Ballerina would be the ball buster in this family but I am starting to think that Speed Racer is going to be the ball buster. (It makes sense Girl, boy, girl, boy aka Nana, Pop, me, and Speed Racer. Anyway, I watched Speed Racer bark out orders to my father and I watched my dad not listen, but then I sat there and watched my little boy feed animal crackers to my father. It was such a great moment for me to watch them. I have a feeling that Speed Racer and my dad are going to be the best of friends. They are very much alike!!!

Labor day weekend went by in a flash which was ok by me because I just wanted Thursday to be here. Earlier this year Tommy, our cousin (will call her Becca) and myself that it was time to re-start a Nieman family tradition of going to LBI for a fun family weekend of fun!! What a blast we had!! The house was great, the food was good, and the company was the best part!! Plus so many people to inter-act with the kiddies.

The week of the trip I was packing and food shopping for everything we needed. Thursday came we dropped off Bing at the kennel and headed for the shore but first we needed to make a little stop to see one of our favorite little girls.


My little niece Baby O. Is she just not the cute? We actually had some girl bonding!! I was excited that she reached up to me!! It made my day!!!

Uncle Tommy was the one who suggested the stop so he could see his little niece. he hadn't seen her since 4th of July. Another little girl I have to compete with!! LOL!!!

It looks like they are all playing together but their not!!! I can't wait for that day!!

We stayed for about an hour and then hit the road for exit 63!! Tommy and I decided that we would go down a day early and stay at a little motel on the bay!!

Once we got down there we stopped for lunch at Plantation House and then went to the light house.

It was very windy!! We couldn't stay here very long.

Tommy and Ballerina walking on the rocks!!

Speed Racer and Tommy thinking they might get to fish!!

Ballerina showing us how windy it is at the light house.

Too much wind for us so we decided that we would just head to the motel and enjoy the bay!! (Ok Tommy and I really needed a drink!!!)

1. The sun setting over the bay.

2. Tommy once again thought he was going to fish. Ballerina had other ideas for her Daddy.

3. Ballerina wanted a picture of doing funny faces.

4. The bench over looking the bay.

5. Sun setting.

It was a very exhausting day for us. We couldn't wait for our family to come and play!!

The Nieman family arrived to the house at different times. Some of us were lucky to have a few hours down at the beach before we had to head back to the house for appetizers and cocktails. For dinner we had Paella. It was so yummy!! Even Ballerina ate it and she is not a big dinner eater. After dinner and the kiddies were put to bed we all retired to the porch catching up on stories and our lives. It was a lot of fun just being together.

Saturday was an absolute beach day, so we all hit the beach. It was great!! My brother in law was prepared!! He brought a huge canopy, spackel buckets and adult size shovels. What a boy scout... he was PREPARED!!!

1. Ballerina striking a pose for the camera.

2. Tommy, Speed Racer, and Uncle Mike looking for the perfect wave.

3. Speed Racer had a wipe out but he got back up and continued "surfing."

4. Ballerina playing on cousin Pat's turtle.

5. The dude's planning their course of attack.

6. Surfer dude!! He was loving the water!!

7. Speed Racer and his new "surf board"

8. Ballerina still on the turtle.

9. Ballerina thought she would give surfing a try.

Ballerina and Baby G playing so nicely.

We had such a great trip!!

Speed Racer loved surfing in the water, taking long walks with his Great Uncle Glenn, and having long talks with his Great Aunt Laurette!!

Ballerina loved being with her Aunt Jo, playing with her adult cousins, playing hide and seek, and talking to anyone that would listen!!

Tommy and I loved being with our family. We feel so blessed that so many wonderful people played and amused our kids!! Our kids are very lucky to have so many wonderful people in their lives that really care about them!!!

I hope that this becomes our tradition once again!!

After a great weekend we had to head home and say good-bye to Tommy who would be gone for the whole week. I had unpacking and loads of laundry to catch up on. I also had a little project I wanted to do by the end of the summer. I wanted to re-do our powder room yet again!! I forgot to take before pictures. If you forgot it was a very pale blue!!

The sink area.

The art work is original art work done by my mother in law and Tommy. I have such talented artists in my family!!

Tommy's art work.

The whole bathroom!! I have a couple projects I want to do in here!! You'll have to wait and see!!

I was never so happy for Friday to come. Tommy would finally be home after traveling all over the east coast. I kept joking by calling him Jeffrey and I would call myself Ina. (Barefoot Contessa) You have to watch her show to understand!!

That Saturday Ballerina started her second year of dance class!!

The twins saying good-bye. Speed Racer told her to have fun!!

Ballerina ready to go!!!!

What a difference a year makes. Last year she made me sit in the dance room with her and this year she ran right into the room. She was so happy to see her friend!!

After dance class we headed for our annual apple picking.

We go to the same farm every year. It's not too big!! It's just right for the four of us. We love apple picking and then we had a wonderful lunch together.

Another busy week!! My mom and I decided to throw my sister in law a baby shower. She is due in December. When I throw a party I like to work with a theme. The baby shower theme was apple of my eye. All things apples!!!

I did all the cooking and decorating. You know me I love to throw a party. I even did all the flowers. I thought that they turned out pretty good!! Everyone said they had a great time and everything was yummy!!!

I have you pretty caught up. Hopefully will be able to tell you next week all the fun things we did this week and what we did this weekend. Big Weekend for this Nieman Family!!

Gone Camping...

Ok, well we went for half a day of camping. I thought it woud be fun to take the kids to my parent's camper for a few hours today. We had a great time camping.

When we got to the camper it was snack time. I thought that Smores would be a perfect snack. However, I have to admit I don't know how to start a camp fire plus it was very hot. So I decided to do the next best thing...

Goldfish Smores. They are so tasty as the kids say. I thought that Ballerina needed a little Tinkerbell bling.

After snack I thought that we would hike around the campground. We headed down to the river to see the water. We had to stop for some photo opps. I have to tell you how I love that the kids are suddenly posing.

I love these pictures. I think I will get some of them framed!!

As we hiked I thought that I would snap some great pictures of the kids and things that I saw along the way.

We stopped at the two beaches that the camp ground has. One beach is sandy and the other is rocky. The kids enjoyed the rocky one more because they were able to throw the rocks into the water. I can't believe that the leaves are already changing colors.

As we continued our hike I thought that it would be nice to hop into some air conditioning. So I introduced the kids to something they did not know the campground had until now....

A Game Room. The kids had a BLAST playing air hockey. It was so great to watch them play. Speed Racer is so naturally good and Ballerina is going be a competive little girl. I think I know what I should get the family for Hanukkah!! LOL

After our hike and fun in the game room we headed back to the camper to eat our lunch and

and went to the pool for a swim and to cool off. Sorry no pictures of the pool, I had to watch the kiddies swim.

It was a great day!!! Sometimes I think that it would be great to have a little place to get away to during the week. It would of course need to be on the water.

Something like this would be fun. Like a home base that we could go to for meals and to get changed. I think it would be fun to find something like this really cheap and make it really fun for us to go to!!! I know you probably think I lost my mind. Everyone needs a place to escape!!

Well I must go wake up the happy campers.