Beach Day at Tobay

Why we haven't gone as a family to Tobay beach is beyond me. Matt has gone as a kid and teenager. I've gone with Leah and with friends but we've never all gone together. The bay was awesome today. Not overcrowded at all. Just families having a good time. I am sure we will be back there often this summer. They have an incredible new playground that is worth the price of admission. We had a wonderful day.

Leah's first jump into the water. The bay is great, no waves, just calm waters and it is much warmer than the ocean. If you don't mind the snails, seaweed and occasional lil crab then it is perfect. Leah and Matt certainly don't mind any of the latter. Leah plays with the seaweed and Matt collects the snails.





This is the first beach trip where Leah spent more time in the water than in the sand. Though she still did love playing in the sand.






Leah took a few breaks to just 'relax and listen to some music'.


Matt found a live horseshoe crab so we looked at that for a bit. Matt spent most of the afternoon collecting hermit crabs and snails.




Playing with the sand and water.


Taking a break before heading home.


Great playground with sprinklers and climbing rope section and other fun stuff, like sand boxes and slides.


Leah took running starts before going through the gauntlet of sprinklers.


Rare moment, picture of us three together. Of course Leah did not want to be in the picture.


Before we left Leah changed into dry bottoms, put on her headphones, cranked on the music and off we went.

New York Aquarium

Matt and Leah went with Ruth and George to the New York Aquarium at Coney Island today. Lindsay volunteers as a diver there and helps keep their many tanks clean. Today she was responsible for the otter tank.

Leah had a tattoo painted on her leg. I am not surprised by the latter. She loves tattoos. We are in trouble when she turns 18.

Lindsay and Leah and of course Matt in the background being...himself.

Lindsay in the tank.

Exhausted after a day out and about.

1st Graduation - Pre-School

Leah graduated from ACDS today. It was a beautiful and well done ceremony. The children sang songs and received their diplomas.

Big Girl Haircut

Leah had her first big girl haircut today. She has been growing out her hair because she wants it "long like Rapunzel's" for about a year now. She understood it was time for a cut and was excited to get it over and done with. Her only comment was that she did not want her hair to be shorter than a lil past her shoulders when curly.

Big Apple Circus is back in town

As one of my Facebook/High School friends said "Isn't this like the 40th time you've been to the circus this year?"

We sure do love the circus. Always a good time.

We had an especially good time this time around. We went to see the Big Apple Circus which this year was conveniently located in Eisenhower Park, not too far from home. We had ringside front row seats and they were well worth it.

We got to see everything literally right in front of us and at many points in the show we were able to participate! I was able to throw a cup of water on one of the performers (I was directed to by Grandma the Clown) during their remake of Singing in the Rain and it was a lot of fun. Leah got to play a game with one of the performers and we got a dollar from him for that! At another point the performer I threw water on was doing a music routine playing air guitar and his string broke so he used one of Matt's hairs to restring his guitar.

The only down side to sitting in the front row is during the horse act...they run around crazy fast and you end up with sand, saw dust and undoubtedly some horse droppings though we didn't see any.

It was all worth it. The acrobats were amazing, the jugglers were fantastic. There was this one act with a guy and his life-size dummy and at first the dummy really did not look like it could possibly be a person. That is how still it was and as the act goes on you realize it is a person. Phenomenal.

I can tell Leah has developed her own love for the circus and circus acts. She really gets into them and she gets very serious when she is watching the acrobats, dissecting everything they do. She asked if she could possibly learn to do some of those things. I told her with dance and gymnastics, hard work, dedication and good spirit for fun, she could eventually learn to do acrobatic type things as well.

Growing up in the Bronx our elementary school had a circus/tumbling/arts program, top of the line. Not the usual run of the mill program for a public school. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was incredible.

They now are part of a program in NYC with the Circus Arts Academy and they do clinics for kids. In another year or two if Leah is still interested I think we will sign her up for one.

Before we left for the circus Leah wanted to dress up so she chose a pretty summer dress.



Matt & Leah eating her popcorn




Random Pics of the Circus






Right before I was told to soak the guy with the umbrella. He was sitting in front of me serenading me and splash! went the water in his face.


The dog act was incredibly well done. All the dogs involved are dogs that have been rescued from animal shelters across the U.S.


This guy really is incredible. A birthday party for kids with him and the other two clown performers would be perfect.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Leah's choice of greeting for her dad. It may seem inappropriate but if you know Matt and his love for all things Family Guy you'd see how appropriate it actually is.

Matt didn't have the best birthday ever but we tried to make up for it. His car broke down and then he had to work from home after work for a few hours.

We went out to Cheeburger Cheeburger and he proceeded to celebrate the start of his 29th year by consuming their 1 Pounder. When you eat their Pounder they make an announcement with sirens and tell everyone in the store what you have accomplished. They then take a picture of you with a huge stuffed burger and post it on their wall. Matt ate the Pounder like it was nothing, in less time that it took for Leah to finish her milkshake and for me to eat half my grilled cheese sandwich. Leah of course did not eat her meal (but we didn't care cause on Mondays kids eat free and she'd had a bowl of cereal earlier in the night. Her entree would be lunch for the next day) but this didn't stop her from finishing up her chocolate oreo milkshake and then also eating up a chocolate sundae. The kid knows when to take advantage of us, and on birthdays she knows she can pretty much have whatever she wants. Even if the birthday isn't her own.

Look for his pic along with Leah by his side the next time you are in the Plainview location. She was quite proud of her dad.

Early Birthday Dinner

Matt's birthday is on Monday. We went out tonight for an early birthday celebration. His parents took us to a great restaurant and afterward we had a birthday cake back at the house.

Leah modeled her outfit before we left.



Leah has taken to ordering Shirley Temples when we go out to eat. I am to blame for this new compulsion of her's. She has been to a few bar and grills with me and we usually sit at the bar so she's learned what to order.

Summer time = Pool Time

The pool is finally open and Leah loves to spend her free time there on the weekends.