Senesac's 24 hours in Tarrytown

The Senesac gang made it's way down to Tarrytown for a quick visit, after spending a fun night at the waterpark in Lake George.  They came down last Saturday afternoon  - Selena and Russell left for a wedding in Connecticut - and the kids and I loaded in as much fun as we could for the day.

We started out by going to the park in Irvington ... right on the Hudson River, where we played on the playground, played some catch, watched some boats go up the river to see if they would fit under the bridge.  I think they were a little excited:


Cathryn was kind enough to allow me to get a shot of her without her two front teeth (she said "don't tell mommy I let you take a picture ... because I haven't let her yet!") Ha!


We went for a little walk around the park, where Matthew was delighted to find another playground with a huge sandbox. Since there were no sand toys, he had fun rolling in it and filling his socks with dirt!

We then headed up to the infamous Main Street Sweets, where the kids wanted to try out the homemade ice cream.  Cathryn enjoyed the bright pink Fairy Dust flavor, Anna liked the Cupcake ice cream, and I think the bright blue color sold Matthew on the Cookie Monster like Tori had the week before.

After that, I promised them a ride up past the castle here in Tarrytown, which they seemed very excited about.  Once we got up there and I pulled over, I asked them if they wanted to take a picture in front of it - they all said "nah"!!  (I made them do it - it was a cute pic).


Once we got home, we all decided it was best to stick Sandy ... I mean, Matthew, into the tub!  Since Sheila doesn't have bath toys, he enjoyed playing with a bright Cancun cup, a funnel and a rubber snowflake ice cube tray -- must have been fun ... look how cute he was when he got out:

After that, we decided to do some crafts.  Cathryn worked on her cruise scrapbook while Anna and Matthew made some art for Russell.  Once Matthew was done, he announced that he was "done with his homework".  :o)

It was a fun day - and we all wound down with a movie before everyone was out.  Sunday morning brought enough time for brunch at a diner, before they all headed back to Vermont.  

Tori-Town!

Last weekend, Shelley, Tori & Spuds came down for a visit.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  On Saturday, we spent the day in the city - strolling through a street fair (Shelley and I love the cheap jewelry!) and then played frisbee and catch in Central Park.  




On Sunday, we stayed in our area to do some shopping and took Tori for ice cream down on Main Street Sweets here in Tarrytown. She also enjoyed the little playground here at our apartment complex, where she was very photogenic as she played.




We always enjoy having company - all visitors welcome!

Oh Baby!

I thought I would actually list the number of people I know who are currently pregnant. It seems like the list is just growing - it's crazy!! And all of this is in addition to a handful of people I know who have had their babies over the past 6 months or so.

• My friends Justin and T just had their baby this past Wednesday - a healthy boy at 8 lbs. 3 oz. 

A couple of May babies brewing:

• Our good friends, Mandy & Jason in Syracuse, are due with their second on May 1st, though she thinks it will be sooner.
  
• Jen & her new husband Chad are expecting their little girl, Emma, on May 30th (her third, their first).

This brings us to June and July babies ...

• An old friend from high school, Chara, and her husband are expecting a little girl, Sadie, on June 5th (their third).
  
• My cousin, Josh, and his girlfriend.
  
• Another cousin, Jerika, and her boyfriend are due on June 30th.
  
• Our good friends, Anna and Jeff will be having their first child, a little girl, the last week of June.
  
• Aaron's co-worker Mike, and his wife Rosann, will be having their first in July.
  
• My sister Shelley, and Tyler, will be having a little boy in July - (a playmate for Tori!)


• And the most recent one is my sister Selena, and Russell, who are expecting their fourth in October!!

My one question to all of the above is what's in their water, and can I please have some?!?! lol


What a year this will be!!! Congrats to all.

The Greatest Show on Earth!

The Ringling Brothers ride into the Big Apple on their elephants each year ... I've been wanting to go since we moved down this way, and we finally went! Last Wednesday, I met Aaron in the city for dinner and then the two of us walked into Madison Square Garden as excited for the show as anyone else ... perhaps the ONLY adults entering without any kids! ;-) We had great seats even though we had only bought them a few days before and enjoyed the 2 1/2 hours of sometimes nerve-wracking entertainment, while snacking on the $12 cotton candy!! It was "Over the Top"

On the Road to a Business

We have finally come up with a name for my cards & invitations "business"!! Over the past couple of years, we've brainstormed, we've thesaurus-ed, we've researched other sites. Some of the ones we liked were: Paper Trails, Paper Arrangements, Inklings, Eventations ... thinking we were SO creative with all of them, only to find they were already taken, or just knew our minds could come up with something better. Well, we have!! Aaron thought of it this morning and I quickly worked on a logo idea and think we may run with it - so here's the unveiling (drum-roll, please ...) :


(I hope to get some help on cleaning up the logo and getting a quality format to use for everything)

Now that we came up with a name, we've purchased a domain name - www.paper-seeds.com. And I will be making wedding invitations for an old co-worker of mine who has agreed to do a trade-off with me and create my website! (And another old co-worker who is offering to help as well ... nice to have programmer friends!) Aaron is going to start the research for starting our own business and I should be on my way by the end of the year! Very exciting, yet a bit scary at the same time. But if business picks up well enough - I may need to hire friends and family to help me on some of the bigger jobs - I don't offer good benefits, but I DO allow some drinking on the job! ;)

So there it is, I thought I'd share this with all of you since it's a big step for me. Let me know what you think of the name and logo - I'd love some feedback!

Professional Pics

Here are the professional pics we decided to purchase on the honeymoon (in addition to the crazy group one in the last post). We went a little overboard, but we'll only honeymoon once, right?!

--------

--------

--------

--------

We also got our caricatures done - look just like us, don't they?!  

Back on Solid Ground

Well, we had hoped to update our blog from sea, but that proved to be impossible with the ship's WiFi ... I tried and tried with no luck. Sorry to those of you who were looking forward to it. ;)

For a quick review of our honeymoon trip - it was a great, relaxing 12 days on the Explorer of the Seas. We've gone down the Atlantic, into the Caribbean to visit 7 beautiful islands, and back up the East Coast to return home. During that time, we zip-lined through a rain forest of Antigua, toured waterfalls and many other areas of Dominica, mountain biked through the sugar cane fields and neighborhoods of St. Kitts, relaxed on beautiful beaches in Barbados and St. Thomas, walked down the boardwalk in St. Maarten and toured a historic fort in San Juan. We met some great people, went to a cheesy honeymooner's party, loved the perks of the Grand Suite with 3.5 hours of free drinks each night (me, a little too much a couple of times!), we attended a Murder Mystery dinner in the ship's Italian restaurant, played ship shuffleboard, stuffed ourselves silly ... and I found out from a number of strangers that I have shiny hair!?! lol

Here are some pics from our trip that show the above adventures - (I'll send the big batch of photos on Kodakgallery):

~St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles~

~St. Johns, Antigua~

Looking calm in front of the rainforest we're about to dangle over

The nerves hit me after gearing up

Tarzan & Jane Lewis!!

~Roseau, Dominica~

In front of one of the Trafalgar Falls -"Mama Falls"

Overlooking the city of Roseau

~Bridgetown, Barbados~

The view from our umbrella on Boatyard Beach

~Basseterre, St. Kitts~

During the 10-12 miles of biking

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on the left and the Caribbean on the right

~Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas~

Looking over Magen's Bay

The view from our lounge chairs on Magen's Bay Beach

~San Juan, Puerto Rico~

San Cristobal Fort

Touring the grounds

Touring the tunnels

The colorful streets of San Juan

We had a blast off the ship as well as on the ship. We became friends with our tablemates - the Hanson family and Christine, Joyce and Nancy. We spent most of our time together - when we weren't at dinner or off the ship, most of us were together at the Crown & Anchor bar in the Royal Promenade, at a show, in the concierge lounge, or playing shuffle board. We even had a party in our room with everyone.

One night, we all decided to get a fun photograph taken:

All good things come to an end. The last few days flew by and as the weather grew cooler, it was easier to get ready to "move out" of suite 1560.

Final dinner with our waiters Sherman and Norris

"The crew" - our final night in the Concierge lounge with Ovidu and Jason

It was a great time all around. We can't wait to plan another trip for next year!

(I will put up the professional pics we purchased in my next posting)