Thursday, June 30, 2016

Teatown Reservoir Hike

We are trying to go on a hike every weekend this summer, so we tried Teatown again (since we got rained out before). It is a mile and a half loop around a lake. We saw frogs, ducks, and a snake. Pretty awesome! Axel walked almost the whole thing by himself, so I think hiking this year will be easier (albeit slower) than last year when he had to be in the backpack.






Grandma Jones' Visit

Grandma Jones came for a short visit, and we were able to celebrate her birthday with her!


Playing at the Dam Park.

 I let Axel pick what to do with Grandma Jones, so he picked his usual round of places. Dam Park, Zoo, and the Farm! So here is Grandma Jones feeding a sheep at the zoo.


Hooray for Dip 'N Dots!

Trying on Grandma's funny socks.

We went down into the City. We went to Little Eataly (like an Italian Market), to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), and Central Park. I don't have any pictures because I wasn't feeling well and went home after Little Eataly.

Sitting on the big bench at the Farm.

Trying to climb a tree.

Oh man, they played legos for hours!

Thanks for coming, Grandma Jones! Axel loved playing with you!

Also, happy anniversary to Jeff! We've been married for 9 whole years! I was sick that day, so we had to cancel date plans and are still waiting to do a do-over!


Gramma's Visit


Gramma came to visit again. We tried to go on a hike at Teatown Reservoir, but the meteorologists have their heads stuck where the sun don't shine and didn't inform us that it would POUR!!! So we probably walked about 1/8th of a mile before giving up!


Mama duck with 9 ducklings!



Can you tell how hard the rain was slapping the water? It was crazy!


Wet selfie!

Defeated, we headed to the park right near our house to have our picnic lunch. It started drizzling on us there too.

Gramma brought her Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Superhero lego men for Ax to play with! He was in heaven!

We found the funniest toy ever! Love that laugh!


We took a trip to the zoo! He is finally tall enough to see out of the prairiedog holes by himself!


Cutest little dude I ever did see.

Gramma petting a miniature donkey.

Me feeding the alpacas. Axel likes to feed the sheep and goats, but won't do the other animals.

Our favorite quiet lunch spot had some visitors! The gorillas usually don't come over to that part of their enclosure, but when they do we get them all to ourselves!

Riding the bug carousel.

We went to Legoland! I wasn't sure what to expect since it is in a shopping center, but Axel had lots of fun.

Axel and Gramma riding a ride where you shoot skeletons and trolls to save the castle.

They had some buildings from NYC set up.

They also had some Phantom Menace scenes.

Racing the pod racers.

They had a 4D Lego Movie short. Axel enjoyed getting sprayed with water!

Building cars to race!



Gramma's one request for this visit was to go to Valley Forge, which is near Philadelphia. So we drove the 2 and a half hours and made a day trip out of it.

Axel as Martha Washington.




Trying to play the hoop game.

Can you find Gramma?

PB&J selfie!

That face kills me! Haha!


Washington's headquarters.

He made it until 4:30 keeping up with all the walking and getting in and out of the car. He was a trooper for sure! Finally passed out so Gramma got out by herself at the last couple stops of the drive.

 I bribed him to be good at Valley Forge by promising frozen yogurt. A well placed bribe goes a long way.

This is called "Enjoying the New Rug"

We visited our favorite farm. Axel gets freaked out by the cows, so he is slowly backing away.


On Gramma's last day we drove up to Croton Gorge Park to have a picnic lunch and look at the cool dam.




Learning how to climb a tree.



We had a great visit with Gramma! Thanks for coming!