Stardate 63763.70 - Sailing to Staten Island

The Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club (of which we are members) held a cruise up to Great Kills Harbor, Staten Island from the club's headquarters in Atlantic Highlands, NJ a few weekends ago. We (unfortunately!) do not currently own a boat, but Cheryl decided to be New York pushy and sent an e-mail out to the cruise director to see if anyone would be brave enough to take the two of us and Loren and Kate with them. Joe and Patti of Ocean Cowgirl were kind enough to invite us aboard their Catalina 34 for the overnight trip, and we gratefully accepted.

We had no wind on Saturday so we motored the entire way there. After drinks and dinner ashore, we returned to the boat for the evening. The next morning was calm and gorgeous. The girls even slept in a bit.




We then went to the Staten Island Zoo as a group. The Zoo was pretty small, but it had an excellent petting area (which is where Loren spent most of the time).







We returned to the boat and winds were favorable for our return sail.



Loren cannot resist being in charge, and here "Captain" Loren briefly takes the wheel.



Our hosts were fantastic, and we had a wonderful time. Here Joe sails us back.


This is the type of sailing I enjoy - a day sail or weekend get-away. The AHYC has tremendous opportunities of this type, and in fact I have canceled my Manhattan Sailing Club membership in order to focus on the Atlantic Highland Yacht Club.

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Stardate 63336.06 - Return to the Beach

Last weekend we had temperatures in the 80s, so on Saturday we took a trip over to Central Park for a picnic and to visit the Zoo. But first, here is a photo of Kate and Loren showing off their matching socks that Nana and Kraker gave them for Easter.


Loren has been watching Sid the Science Kid and wanted to bring a scientist bag with her to the park to look for bugs and to collect leaves and things. Cheryl helped her with her exploring while I tried to keep Kate out of the sun.



After eating our picnic we headed over to Central Park Zoo, and in the Children's Zoo portion the spider web is always a huge hit with Loren.


On Sunday we went to the beach. It is weird to remember how warm it was just one week ago, because as I'm writing this post it is in the 50s and raining today.




After the beach we went to Cheryl's parents' place where Bill entertained us with some Wii games. That company is doing something right in their marketing if they convinced Cheryl's parents to purchase one!


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Stardate 63180.07 - To The Zoo! (Again!)

With temperatures expected today near or at 70, we decided to get out of the apartment and travel yet again to one of Loren's favorites, The Bronx Zoo. Here are the obligatory, fuzzy, no-flash photos from inside one of the habitats.



Here Loren poses by the waterfall at the "B" entrance to the Zoo. Loren can now read "Zoo" when she sees it on signs and books. She can also read "off" and "no". I'm sure there are more, but those are three words she really knows well.


Cheryl took her on the bug carousel.


Here I hold Kate so Cheryl can eat lunch.


Cheryl and Kate pose.


Loren had more fun, I think, climbing on these rocks than she had seeing the animals.


And here we are all mid-afternoon getting ready to leave as the crowds have steadily increased to the point of annoying.


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Stardate 62854.65 - Arkansas

A couple of weekends ago we took a trip to Arkansas to visit Cheryl's brother Steve, his wife Rachel, and their two children Ethan and Ellie. They have been in Arkansas for more than a year, and we've been saying we needed to get down there for a visit so we finally put a trip on the calendar. We flew out on Friday the 17th and back on Monday the 20th. On Saturday, we went to a wild animal safari and Loren got to see her favorite again - Zebras!



We were a little concerned about the donkeys that seemed to be in or right next door to the tiger cages, but then we saw the following sign:


The animals didn't seem too "wild" and frequently came right up to the cars or pretty much ignored us.




This one ostrich, however, came right up to the car and began pecking at the glass. He (or she) did this for a good 2 minutes before I gently moved the car forward. The ostrich did continue to follow us for another 30 seconds or so before moving away off of the road.


After the ride through the park, which turned out to be longer than we expected, the kids were hungry and thirsty and ready for a snack.


We then entered the petting portion of the facility, where we were immediately beset upon by hungry goats.


Loren did help feed them.


Then we found the ceramic gorilla for the kids to climb on and pose for pictures.


On Sunday we went to Drake Field to see the planes and the big hit was a helicopter that the kids could get inside of and play. They had a blast pretending to drive.


We also had a lot of fun just hanging out and watching the kids play in the back yard. Loren's favorite toys were the Geotrack trains, although I think the gas pump for the little red car is a close second.

We flew back on Monday with minimal delays on both ends, although there were some slight delays.


It was a great trip overall, and Loren's favorite place we ate at during the trip was Mad Pizza, which she still talked about for a couple of days after we got home.

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Stardate 62824.78 - To The Zoo

Two Sundays ago (October 19) we took a trip to the Bronx Zoo. Normally we've gone in the very off season on unseasonably warm days (like in January). This time the Zoo had many more people in it than on our previous trips, but still not too crowded.






Loren's favorite thing, and what she talked about the entire time until we got to them, was the zebras.



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