Friday, 28 August 2015

Long Island/The Hamptons

We decided that whilst living in NY, we really had to visit The Hamptons, at the East end of Long Island. So we booked ourselves two nights away.

We stayed in Sag Harbor (just over a two hour drive) for two nights at a new hotel on the water. We spent the first afternoon wandering the rather quaint town and by the pool.

The second day we drove down to The Hamptons and went to the beach. The beaches are on the Atlantic coast so much more tidal than the local ones we're used to on the Sound. The beaches were very picturesque.

On our last day we visited one of the villages, Southampton, on our way home.

Some photos are below.








Monday, 10 August 2015

A new adventure at the zoo

Last time we went to the zoo, Ethan spent the entire time asking to go on the 'train' (the shuttle that goes round the zoo). However, when you're there with two kids and a stroller on your own it's not really feasible.

So today I planned a trip back with both boys, minus stroller. Joshua is easy as I have him in the carrier but was a little worried I was asking too much of Ethan.

With an itenary planned out, that minimized walking and maximized use of the shuttle the boys and I arrived at the zoo. We did the monorail, jungle world and saw the monkeys, got the shuttle to the children's zoo, saw the alligators, sea lions And got the obligatory ice cream for a hot sunny day out. Ethan had so much fun and loved the train. In fact His words were 'this is really really fun'!














Sunday, 9 August 2015

Summer days with friends

Summer is long here. Ethan finished school on June 5 and doesn't return until Sept 16. Many normal activities don't run. In fact we've gone from a pretty full schedule to a music group on Tuesday mornings. So we have to work harder to stay busy. But this is also lots of fun! I'm trying to go to lots of new places as well as old favourites.

This week we had two fun outings.

The first was Stamford nature centre. We went with Ethans friend Lucy. They enjoyed seeing the animals but loved the brilliant playground.

The second was with Nolan. We went to the Botanical gardens which we joined when we went to the train show but hadn't really been back. They have a cute little children's garden which has activities at the moment linked to their Frida  Kahlo exhibition. 

Photos below.










Living the (neighbour's) boating dream

So on Friday night Matt discovered someone had driven into his Porsche. His first point of call was to check with our Neighbours opposite as to whether their CCTV system had picked up who was at fault. It did and was actually someone who visited their house!

Anyway, today, obviously with us more prominent in their minds than normal, the found themselves without their planned boating companions and invited us all on their boat for a few hours. (I'm not really familiar with boats but it's a 42footer engine boat).

We went out the harbour and drove up to Greenwich and back. It was great to see some familiar sites from the sound rather than land. Ethan got to drive the boat. Joshua loved hanging out at the back. Neither enjoyed their slightly too large life jackets!

Some photos below. The random photo of the bridge... This is a mini scale model of the Brooklyn bridge that the orginal designer of the bridge built in his back garden as a test run. Oh and we also saw 'Judge Judys' house of TV fame. It was ridiculously big... Clearly cr$p TV pays well!














Saturday, 8 August 2015

Coney Island: Aquarium and Baseball

Last Sunday we were invited to see some minor league baseball, The Brooklyn Cyclones, with some friends. Matt and I aren't really baseball fans and it was a good hour drive away, but at $17 a ticket we decided it was the best chance Ethan was going to get to see some baseball while we lived here so we decided to go.

Since it was a good drive we decided to pair it with the NY Aquarium. Part of our Bronx zoo membership that we hadn't had the opportunity to take advantage of.

The Aquarium is being refurbed after Hurricane Sandy, so not fully open. But we got to see lots of fish and a Sea Lion show which the boys loved.


We walked along the Coney Island Boardwalk. An interesting eclectic mix of people enjoying a summers day.


The backdrop was a huge theme park where Ethan showed his fearlessness by requesting to ride many rides including 'The Thunderbolt' a vertical drop roller coaster!


We then walked to the baseball stadium.


Ethan enjoyed spending time with his friend Nolan. Nolan's dad Marcus brought Ethan a baseball and lent him a glove for the game.



I couldn't tell you who won, we left after the sixth inning after the boys started becoming restless. After a traffic jammed drive home we stopped for a quick dinner. Here's some of the boys at dinner.


Overall it was a lovely day and a great experience seeing some of Brooklym and taking the boys to a baseball game.

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Running reflections

IEvery morning when I run (well 5/7 mornings), now the weather is so nice I reflect on how much I'll miss this routine when I move back to the UK. This morning it was 25c at 7.30am, the sun was shining and the deer were out. The boys were interacting happily in the stroller while Bruno and I got our exercise. And most the neighbourhood continued to think 'that crazy lady with a dog and two kids running'. But on a day like today it is one of the most relaxing 20 minutes of my day.

And then also today, on my Facebook 'on this day' app, I randomly had three memories involving these three photos.


Views from our house and our village. And it reminded me how truly lucky we are, to have two contrasting, but equally great, places to live. 

Anyway, enough of the heavy stuff, we have another year left yet!