Out in Nature!

What a gorgeous summer afternoon! We're taking advantage of this summer to it's fullest. We went to the Palisades Intersate Park. We love this park because it starts off under the George Washington Bridge on the Jersey side, hugs the Hudson River and goes all the way into New York. There are many trails and interesting stories that date back into the 19th century. There are also guided hikes available on a practically weekly basis that are fun and informative.

There was no hiking involved this time around, but we enjoyed the scenery, laid down on big blanket, and let the breeze relax us. Take a look at the pictures:

More Energy Please!

After having off of work for three days and not working hard at all yesterday, I fell asleep on my couch at around 9:00pm. Today, I'm working probably about 14 hours and I'm up from 4:00am. I have tons of energy on the weekends. All I want to do is hike or go to a park or whatever requires physical activity to the point that I drive Dan crazy. For instance, this Sunday he put his foot down and we stayed home. So why is it that when Monday rolls around, I'm ready to pass out?

I'm amazed at how some of my friends with kids have energy to workout or even go out throughout the week. I really wanted to go to the gym yesterday, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. Ugh...

My problem might be that I'm not eating enough during the day. I'm not doing this to loose weight (I haven't lost any). I'll have breakfast at work and sometimes it's only a yogurt because that's all I have time for. I don't get to eat again until 4:30. By then, I only have a small salad because I'm going home to cook. If I eat anything big, I won't have dinner. On days I work doubles I eat a normal meal during the 4:00 time, but that's my only meal. I'll have a yogurt when I get home.

I'm not sure what to do about this because I really don't have an option to change my eating schedule. I wait tables and can't just stop what I'm doing to eat something in the middle of my shift. Maybe I'll have a real meal after work instead of a salad, cook dinner for Dan, and eat something light. That may work?

Anyone have suggestions?

Three-Day Weekends are the Best!

Can the summer continue being the way it's been the last two weekends? The weather has been beautiful and not extremely hot. I think it hasn't gotten past 84 degrees, which is fine by me. I dislike it much when it's sweltering.

On Friday, we picked up Dan's cousin and went to Cheesquake State Park. The place is gorgeous. There are trails to hike, a lake to swim in, bird watching, a basketball court, grilling, and countless other activities available. We went to the lake, which Will actually enjoyed. It was a bit cold for me, but nice. Will held on to me and splashed the water. We did, however, get out of the water fast when something bit my thigh. I have no idea what it was and I didn't care. All four of us got out.

Once we dried out, we went hiking. We passed a couple that was crabbing. They caught some blue crabs. Then we met up with another couple that were walking their huge dog Jacky. She decided to go for a swim. The rest of the short hike was beautiful. The forest was full of pine barrens and the trail was sandy. I wished we would have been able to do the full hike, but it was getting late.

Here are the blue crabs and if you look closely, you could see Dan taking the picture!


Will, Christopher, and myself:


Jacky swimming:


The beautiful forest:


On Saturday, we went to a pool party/bbq that my coworker had invited me to. He has three beautiful kids ranging from 3 to 8. One of my other coworkers who also has a child was invited as well. In total there were 6 adults and 5 children. We had such a great time. They live in a beautiful home in Madison, NJ. The kids spent most of their time in the backyard playing and were all very sweet to him by making sure he was having a good time.

The only pictures I have are from the pool, but they're great. Will did have an incident at the pool, though. We were in the kiddie pool with him. The deepest part was 18 inches. He was fine walking around and grabbing all of the toys that were floating around. Dan and I were sitting at the edge of the pool watching him play. He ventured into the deeper part and slipped. When he tried to get up and out of the water, he couldn't because he was too buoyant. I hadn't seen him fall into the water because at that moment I had turned my face to say something to Dan. Dan did see and immediately jumped into action as I did. The lifeguard was also very quick. We got to him and Dan pulled him out. For a second, Will had his eyes closed and wasn't breathing. He did, luckily, breathe out. I guess he was holding his breath and wasn't sure if he was out or not. He was great about the whole deal. He didn't cry and wanted to continue playing.

Here's Will playing with the water:



Let these weekends keep on coming!

May This Summer be as Wonderful as This Past Weekend

What a wonderful three day weekend I had! You already know about the hike. I haven't told you about July 4th or what turned out to be a surprise day off for both Dan and I on Monday. May there be more weekends like this one this summer.

On Saturday, we had our friend Cody come over to watch the fireworks. Since we live close to Hoboken, we decided to take a walk over there. The walk was a good 40 minutes. We took an elevator down the cliff (there's a light rail stop there) and made it all the way to the downtown area. The day was beautiful and it was a great walk.


Will, surprisingly, stayed in the stroller the entire time we were making our way to the fireworks. Once we made it to our destination, he got out and ran around. As soon as the fireworks started, he stayed put and watched them. He loved them and would clap and cheer when everyone else did the same. It was adorable. I guess he was as excited as we were because he stayed awake the entire time we were there. We didn't get back home until midnight and that's when he fell asleep.


Let's skip to Monday! On Friday, I was able to switch my schedule around and got Monday off. Dan, however, was suppose to work. Well, it dawned on us on Monday morning that he should try to to take a vacation day. He texted his boss, but she didn't respond. So, he left for work. Not even five minutes after he left, he came back with the good news that she let him take the day off! So what to do on an unexpected day off? Go to the beach!

We have not been to the beach since we lived in Florida and that was about four years ago. So, I was as excited as I could be. We made it there, settled down, and applied lots of sunscreen. Will was happy until we tried going into the water. I held him as we walked towards the shore and he took one look at the water and cried. He didn't even want to stand and get his feet wet. Poor little guy! I brought him into the water, but he was not having it. Oh well, back to the sand, which he loved.


Will hated the water so much that he would cry out for me whenever I went in. He actually would run up to the water and call for me to come back in. I would come out and he would hug me. It broke my heart and I stayed out. We tried one more time getting in, but it was useless. He was miserable and I didn't want to ruin the day for him. Someday, he'll like the beach.


The day was absolutely gorgeous and we took advantage of it. We didn't leave until 8pm. Once we made it home, we unpacked and knocked out. Ahhhh.......


Our weekend was so wonderful. We always enjoy ourselves when we go out, but this weekend felt like a vacation. I loved it and hope that there are more wonderful mini-vacations in store for us.

Enjoy the pictures!

Sunny Days!

Ahhhh, the sun has decided to grace us with her appearance just in time for the holiday weekend. We took full advantage of this opportunity and went on a impromptu hike yesterday. Actually, the whole trip was unexpected. I wanted to go to Bear Mountain and instead ended up at Sterling Forest State Park. We've never visited this park even though it's next to Harrimon State Park and Bear Mountain.

What a beauty! I can't believe we've never gone through this forest. The area is so large that you have to drive to the different parts of the park. The woods are so beautiful and pristine that you forget that civilization is near by. Dan and I have to come back here to do some serious hiking. Anyone want to babysit????

We made it to the visitor center, which had a beautiful lake behind it that you were able to hike. Once we were done checking out the visitor's center and got a map to the hikes available by the lake, we were off to our hike. We really weren't prepared for the hike. I was wearing flat shoes, that fortunately had a nice grip to the ground, but I felt every step I took. Will was wearing sandals, but they at least had a good grip to them. Dan was the one that was most prepared.

Either way, the hike was very short only be 0.4 miles long. The seclusion of the trail amazed me because right after taking a few steps you were what it seemed like the middle of the woods. At first, I was concerned that the hike would be a little too much for Will since it wasn't a flat trail and there were many rocks. As always, he amazes me. He was great. The spots that were difficult for him to go through, we carried him. Otherwise, he hiked it himself. He even got to go under a huge tree that had fallen. He loved it!

The end of this trail was just beautiful. We were able to sit down right at the edge of the lake. We took off our shoes and soaked our feet. The water was cool, crisp, and just so inviting. Will loved wetting his feet. If he had his way, he would have gone in. Unfortunately, we couldn't let him go because we were sitting on big rocks and it was to slippery to run around. He didn't seem to mind. He sat there with us and soaked in the sun.

Our little impromptu trip was great. We all had so much fun. The trip reignited Dan's love of hiking and there will be more trips coming up. I leave you with some pictures. We didn't have our camera with us, but snapped some pictures with our cell phones.



Enjoy!