Memorial Weekend Getaway to Finger Lakes, NY

Mommy and Daddy were completely overdue for a mini getaway. We couldn’t think of any better place to relax than going to the Wine Country in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. We’ve been there almost every year since 2006, and it’s always been a good time!

The kids stayed home with Indira, and we drove up with our friends Irina and Vadik for two nights at a bed and breakfast for Memorial Day weekend. We visited our favorite wineries, petted the dogs at every winery, had some nice dinners, enjoys some beautiful views over the lakes, as well as stocked up with wine for the summer 

We found a new favorite winery, called the Thirsty Owl on Cayuga lake: http://www.thirstyowl.com/. We loved everything about it! It was beautifully decorated, good wine, it had a restaurant with a covered deck overlooking the lake with live music, and also it’s own lake dock! It was our last stop before we headed home, and judging by how great it was, it may have to be our first stop next time go up.

We returned back with 4-5 cases of wine (12 bottles each) which hopefully will last us through the end of summer. If not there’s always the Wegman’s Liquor store, which sells some of the Finger Lakes’ wines :)

Preschool is out!

Ashley’s school year has ended! I’m so glad she got to do this preschool program. She’s gained a new level of self-confidence, became less clingy, made a lot of new friends and learned a lot of basic skills like cutting with scissors, writing letters, etc. We got a giant book of her art work and crafts from the year, along with comments from student teachers on how she’s progressed. Also, Ashley got to attend her first Prom and her first ever graduation ceremony!

Mike and I, Joan, Chuck, Uncle Dan and Aunt Theresa got to watch Ashley’s graduation. (Indira was sick, and my mom had to work.) She wore a yellow cap and gown outfan awesome picture montage of all of the kids during the school year, then the kids got their graduation certificates,it and marched proudly down the auditorium aisle and on to the stage to the band playing. Ashley stopped to give me a hug on the way down. The student teachers prepared and sang and danced to several songs that they’d been practicing. At the end they served refreshments and food for everyone that came and we got to take some pictures with Ashley’s favorite teachers. Miss Jane was Ashley’s favorite from day one, and unfortunately she’s a senior and won’t be there next year when Ashley repeats this program. We exchanged our contact information will try to stay in touch.

After the ceremony we returned home for lunch and some home-made strawberry cake. I asked Ashley what kind of cake she wanted, and she was very specific: “Strawberry cake with fresh strawberries in the middle”. So that’s what I made her, a strawberry Bundt cake with fresh strawberries in the middle, drizzled with strawberry glaze, served with some whipped cream.

Here are some pictures from the graduation:

After lunch, everyone went home, and we went to the beach. We found out that taking Katelyn to the beach is a liability! She's not afraid of water at all, so she kept running straight into the ocean! It was a lot of fun, even though we had to watch Katelyn like hawks!

I taught Ashley’s preschool class!

One day this month I volunteered at Ashley’s preschool to do a lesson on Gardening and Vegetables. I called it the “Vegetables are Good for Me” lesson. I’ve never taught preschoolers or kids in a classroom setting before, so I made sure to have the whole thing planned out, and rehearsed in front of Ashley, Mike and anyone else that would listen.

I brought in soil samples, potting soil, planting containers, tomato plants, nasturtium seeds, and a giant bowl of fresh veggies for all to try (along with some ranch dip). I taught the kids about how plants grow, that they are living things like us and need air, sun, water, food, and space to grow. We checked out different soil samples (sand, clay, compost), and then headed outside to plan tomatoes in planters for everyone to take home.



After the plants were planted and watered, we headed back inside to talk about different vegetables. I brought in carrots with green, celery, peppers, sugar snap peas, asparagus, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and radishes. Everyone got to say what their favorite vegetable is, and then we sang the “Vegetables are Good for Me Song” that I found online that goes to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.

The words went:
Vegetables are good for me, E-I-E-I-O
And so I eat them happily, E-I-E-I-O.
With a carrot, carrot here, and a carrot, carrot there,
Here carrot, There carrot, Everywhere carrot, carrot.
Vegetables are good for me, E-I-E-I-O

And then we repeated the song with everyone’s favorite vegetable! The kids really liked it!
After this, it was snack time. The student teachers cut up the vegetables that I brought in for the kids to try with the dip. You could tell who eats veggies at home and who doesn’t. Only a few of the kids tried stuff, and I’m proud to say that Ashley cleared her plate (minus the Asparagus, which I ate for her).



Afterwards, the kids made me a giant thank you card with pictures that they took from the day. It was really cool! I plan on doing this again for Ashley’s class next year.

Ashley playing T-Ball

This spring, I signed up Ashley for T-ball. It’s her first year trying it out. Being a girly girl, I can’t say that she particularly liked it. The sand was blowing off the field, and it was mostly boys on her team that were already pretty good, so she didn’t feel like it was her thing.. She likes gymnastics a lot more! Nevertheless, she completed all four sessions, and can now practice at home. Here are some pictures:

Mother’s Day and Deep Cut Gardens

On Sunday, May 1st the weather was warming up, so we ventured to Deep Cut Gardens to check out what’s in bloom. Ashley and Katelyn had a blast smelling all the flowers and running around. We checked out their vegetable garden, and their green houses as well. We didn’t stay too long, since Ashley had a soccer practice at 1pm, but we decided it’d be a nice place to come back to on Mother’s Day.

The following Sunday was Mother’s Day. Everyone met at our house for a light brunch complete with coffee, tea, bagels from Bagel Masters, and fresh cut fruit! Afterwards, we drove over to Deep Cut Gardens for a nice walk and a picnic. We brought a picnic blanket along and some snacks. Ashley and Katelyn were again on their best behavior.






From there we went to get got take out lunch from Keyport Fishery, and ate it overlooking the water. It was a simple yet perfect day!

Here's a picture of us at Deep Cut Gardens:

Easter 2011

It’s been a busy month for us; with Easter, birthday parties, gardening, yard work, kid’s activities and work the blog obviously took a back seat. So, here I am a month later finally getting to writing about our Easter.

On Good Friday, we managed to get out to get a picture with the Easter Bunny at the Mall and stop by the Barnes and Noble store for their 7pm story time. Last year Ashley was too shy, but this year she was talking about it a lot and couldn’t wait to dress up to go see him. Unfortunately, the picture didn’t come out great, but here it is:

On Saturday, Ashley and I were busy making all sorts of treats. We decorated sugar cookies, made chocolate eggs and two cakes – a chocolate one with peeps on top, and a cannoli cake in a shape of a cross. It was a very busy day! Katelyn is still a bit too little help with cooking, but she certainly made up for it by being the tester of everything sweet that she could find within reach. :)






Some more pictures:

As always we spend the day at Nana’s house. Nana organized an Easter egg hunt for Ashley and Katelyn, and gave them each Easter Baskets full of goodies that they like. We had a nice dinner, followed by our traditional walk around the block and a stop at the playground. Last year around Easter Katelyn was only 10 months old, and didn’t walk yet! Wow, it’s hard to believe how much she’s grown. She’s such a big girl now!
Here's some more pictures from the day: