Greenport cont.

Highlights from the visitors..
Liza, Alex, Nathan..

Tom and Gillian of course..courtesy of whom Al and I enjoyed a night away at Sunset Beach hotel..

 Dan, Lora, Thalia and Binah

Pamela and Armand and Lyla..

 Same weekend as Zach, Isabel and Azai..

 Adam and Sara..although sorry Sara you missed the photo opp

And at the end there was a little time just family...x

Greenport

is a place on the North Fork of Long Island. About 2.5 hours from New York - with beaches a plenty and one of the best places ever for kids. Merry-go-rounds, cute little fishing villages, lovely restaurants, vineyards and farmstands selling their produce on the side of  the roads. We took advantage of me being on maternity leave and rented a house there for a month. Al took two weeks vacation then worked remotely from Greenport for 2 weeks.
We set off - car journey was a breeze. For Eben definitely (his first ever car journey)

 As soon as we got there Al shaved his head. Gave Ruby a shock.

This montage outside the house around the corner was the only somewhat creepy thing about the place.

We had a great time - deserted beaches..

Picnics on the beach..

Ice cream near the beach..

And to top it all off Al won the corn eating competition at one of the farms!! Holiday bliss.

Ruby's 3rd birthday

Ok - for the 3rd year in a row, Ruby had a somewhat quiet celebration. We remain committed to giving her a big 4th birthday blowout - but in the meantime, at 8.5 months pregnant (playing serious catch up on this blog) suffice to say it was not a huge deal. Ok - there were a couple of highlights. Firstly - the g-ddam cake. But 6 hours of HARD labour later and Dora was born.

We also bought her a little kitchen which was waiting for her outside her door in the morning. Bit of a setback at 8pm the night before when we opened the flatpack to find just a few screws, nuts, bolts etc.

But Al, bless him, persevered. And the amazing kitchen was waiting for her in the morning

I don't have any pics of Ruby's face but it was brilliant. She loved it. 

There's also fun WITH the kids

The majority of our time has been spent having fun WITH the kids, needless to say. Tom, Maggie, Emme and Hudson - some of our favourite people to hang with:

Even if Ruby has turned into a raging hippy.

Dinners out - less frequent - but still happening, just about.

This is where Al and I do our runs, around the reservoir in Central Park.

Finally - the bread and butter of summer / fall for families - the Upper West Side street fair. This is the one on our street. Bouncy castles, cake and pink paper garlands. Heaven.

Some alone time

Doesn't happen often admittedly, but here's a few snaps of me and Alsky escaping for a few blessed moments here and there over the first few months.

Anniversary at a restaurant in Long Island City with an amazing table overlooking Manhattan skyline.

Walk in the park..



And a lovely night at Sunset Beach hotel while Tom and Gillian looked after Eben and Ruby. Rode some bikes over from Greenport to Shelter island - had a lil table tennis, boules, alot of alcohol, a little skinny dipping (no pics luckily) and a horrific horrific hangover.

More Eben photos

Eben really is such a cutie. A lovely sweet smiley and easy-going baby. I'm a bit late with alot of these photos as the blog died on me for a few sad months, but I'm back. So here's some highlights from Eben's first months.

Fun and frolics - and a visit from Grandma Linda who had a big birthday while here.