trip to long island beach

Last month I had a week off from school and it was a gorgeous day out, so we decided to rent a car and drive to the beach with the girls. And, wow, am I so glad we did! The day turned out to be just as fun as we hoped it would be (and you know with two toddlers that is saying a lot).

 

It felt SOOOOOO amazing to put the girls in their carseats and just drive (like REAL people). I don't even know if I can explain what it feels like to never drive anywhere. To not own a car. It's SO weird. This little day trip was JUST what we needed to get a little taste of 'normal'.

 We got McDonald's for breakfast and headed out for the day with Jamie at the wheel. (Honestly, we were all grinning ear to ear just from the sad fact that we were heading out somewhere IN A CAR.)

Ok so maybe Jamie wasn't smiling, but he has to keep up his image as Cool Dad, right?

 And alright, Annie did get car sick and throw up all over herself, but dang it I was still smiling.

We waved bye to the island of Manhattan and crossed over the bridge into Long Island.

 We had to stop and pick up 46 trumpets at a band instrument resale shop (yes, 46 trumpets) and then one more stop in an adorable fishing town for some tasty seafood. But then finally we arrived at Long Beach...!

 We unleashed the girls and just let them RUNNNNNNNNNN on the deserted beach. (Obviously no one else in their right mind was at the beach in February. Ha!) But we enjoyed the much needed solitude and open space.

 The sun felt great on my face. We brought a blanket to stretch out on, but we ended up doing more running than relaxing. But that was ok, too.

 I brought some toys for the girls to dig in the sand with. Annie kept stomping on Audrie's sandcastles though. Little stinker.

 It was around 60 degrees that day, but a little windy so we kept our jackets on.

 The wind kept blowing sand in poor Annie's face.

 Thanks to Jamie to snapping these photos!

 There was a nice pile of rocks that kept the girls entertained, too.

 Though this next picture of Audrie cracks me up... little pin-up model pose. ha!

 These two had the best time playing together on the beach.

 As you can imagine the water was pretty cold, but Audrie got brave a few times and ran in.

 Annie had fun running full speed towards Jamie...

 and he'd scoop her up...

 and toss her in the air. She loved it!

 I don't think Annie stopped smiling the whole time we were there.

And of course Audrie had to sing a few bars of "Part of Your World" at the top of her lungs...

 Such a fun day!

not the baby

(Sorry this blog is kind of wordy, but I wanted to get some Annie stories preserved on here.)

 Jamie and I were talking tonight about how much Annie is changing every day and how we are so in love with this girl. It's so crazy how between 18 months and now it seems that she has become a whole new person. She is certainly not a baby anymore. Though she does still cling tight to her blankies when she's tired.

 We just can't get over how much love she gives out every day. Hugs, kisses, snuggles, and even at 22 months she seems to genuinely be concerned when anyone is sad and will run over to pat your back and offer some soothing babble that sounds just like "it's going to be ok".

 Annie is talking more every day. I love this stage where almost every day you hear a new word that she has added to her repertoire. Her latest adorable word is how she clearly (and enthusiastically) says "OK!" to anything you ask her. She says it like whatever you asked is the best idea ever.

"Annie will you go get me some cheesecake and a glass of wine?".

"OK!!!" and she runs off down the hall. Like I almost expect her to come back with it because she says it so confidently. But then she comes back with a huge smile and hands you a baby doll and a half eaten banana she found under her bed.

But, honestly, you can ask her anything and she will cheerfully say "OK!!" (I need to try to catch it on video.)

 And she throws the cutest fits. Audrie at this age was much more dramatic and committed to her tantrums. But with Annie it's more like she plops herself down in the floor and thinks- "Ok, I think this is how the fit-throwing is supposed to go... am I doing it right?". Then she does that thing where if you are not looking at her then she will get up, walk closer to you, and throw a new fit closer to you. It's hard not to laugh at her.

 Some of my other favorite words she says are: she says "scuse, scuse" for excuse me, she says thank you a million times a day (every time you hand her anything),  she says "I don't know" a lot too, but all run together like one word "idohno". Several times a day she throws up one hand, raises her eyebrows and says "where did it go?!". 

When we put her to bed at night she gets out of bed, stands at her door knocking, and yells "PLEEEEEEEEASE?!" at the top of her lungs over and over until you go in there to see what she wants. All she ever wants is one more hug.

 Recently she has developed a fixation with pretending to go potty. I let her do it as much as she wants, hoping to lead up to some successful potty-training this summer. She just sits there buck naked and smiles. Never does anything. But then she hops off and gives me a high-five. Crazy girl!

 I have to admit I was a little nervous that because she stays home with Jamie that she would develop an "I love daddy better" stage. (Audrie went through that phase about this age.) But so far Annie hasn't done that. I mean, she does adore Jamie, of course, but she shares the love with me. :)

 Annie still frightens the other mothers at the park because she climbs up everything, teeters on the edges, and runs like a wild banshee about to wipe out at any minute. Occasionally Jamie and I will feign some concern for the sake of the other parents at the park. But honestly there is no stopping this little monkey.

 And she is an Audrie groupie. Follows her around like an adoring fan. I can only imagine what trouble these two will get into in their lives. :)

Annie is quickly approaching her 2nd birthday and sadly I'm having trouble remembering her baby stage. Where did the time go??

walruses and hot dogs

 A couple of weekends ago Jason and Sam called us up to see if we wanted to join them for an outing to the NY Aquarium. It was on our 'to-do' list of things to do with the girls in the city, so we said sure. We hadn't done it yet because it is an hour ride on the train out there (to Coney Island). But we decided to brave it that day.

 And I'm so glad we did. The girls (and us, too) LOVED it!!

 We could have stayed in the foyer for about an hour just watching all the amazing fish swim in the huge hallway of coral reef.

 There were several outdoor exhibits, too. Luckily it was a beautiful day that day so it was nice to be outside.

 Annie wasn't quite too sure about some of the larger animals. She's a bit more of a scaredy-cat than Audrie.

 My favorite was the HUGE walruses. They were so cute and playful!

 Except this one swam right up to the window and took a huge poo- the whole crowd gasped in disgust. It was awesome.

 Samuel seemed to like all the cool sea life, too.

 Sharks and sting-rays aren't my favorite creatures, but behind the glass they were tolerable. :)

 The glowing jellyfish were really cool!

 After the girls had their fill of the aquarium we went outside to walk on the boardwalk around Coney Island.

 It still seems weird to me that we live 30 minutes from the beach. I can't quite wrap my mind around that.

 Samuel practiced his cute wobbly steps.

 It was a fun family outing!

 I love how this Instagram photo turned out... almost looks like a miniature.

 Coney Island itself was shut down for the winter but it was still nice to walk in the sunshine on the boardwalk. Audrie had plenty of room to run.

 Also the home of the National Hotdog eating contest is out there at Nathan's Hotdogs. So we stopped in a got some lunch.

 There was a long line because just as we walked up a huge tour bus of people hopped in front of us. So Jamie had a big fake smile for the "tourists" (which we like to say with some disgust, right? since we've lived here a whole 8 months now... ha!)

 Luckily the girls were having fun playing outside and didn't mind the wait.

After the fun outing it was almost 2:00 before we finally headed home. Another hour ride back on the train. And if you have small children you know what a ticking time-bomb that was. Annie did great. And Audrie was awesome the entire day... until about 10 minutes left on the train.. and she decided to have THE melt-down of her lifetime right there on the crowded subway. We felt like parents-of -the-year at that moment. But oh well. That's a part of life. We still had an awesome day! :)

Thanks, Jason and Sam, for inviting us!

(And Audrie if you're reading this in 30 years I hope your 4 year old just threw a huge screaming tantrum in public. So there!)

lamps are taking over our apt!

Jamie's lamp "hobby" has been going nuts lately. I'm not sure if I blogged about the fact that an online wholesale company called Uncommon Goods contacted Jamie a few months ago (saw his booth at the Brooklyn Flea market) and now they sell his lamps on their website and in their catalog. Since that happened he sells about 5-6 lamps a week. It's pretty crazy.

But it's so fun to watch his creativity come to life and all the new products he dreams up. I really enjoy taking the photos for him, too. Audrie got in on the last photo setup.... ha!

 His latest artistic idea is that he is starting to make custom lamp shades out of maps and famous artworks.

This is from a map of Long Island that he designed for a guy who wanted it for his beach house on Long Island.

 One of Jamie's favorite pieces of art is "Starry Night" by Van Gogh. So he made a lampshade based on that painting. So cool!

 He started another one this afternoon from the Mona Lisa so you'll have to check out his Etsy shop to keep up with all the new items he makes.
www.etsy.com/shop/instrumentallighting

Despite all the lamp creating, Jamie still has time for impromptu dance parties...!