The Fall Classic

One of the annual get-together days for the Shepard, Asanovic, and Imanoff familes is for fall apple-picking. This year we all met up in October at Harvest Moon Farm in North Salem.

The crowds on this beautiful sunny day were beyond belief and, as usual, we never picked any apples... but we had a great time eating lots of delicious food.

Me and my baby girl.

Dear old friends.

Nut on a tractor.

The ladies.

The men.

The official photo.

And then this happened.

Rye Playland 2015

We had another beautiful day for the annual Rye Playland outing. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts meant that we were missing some J-Girls and some Asanovic men. And Lisa Hill weaseled out of having to drink a Fish Bowl of Tiki Punch with yours truly.

But we'll get back to normal next year!

Stella and Marni thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the Playland Plunge with Lisa Stefanoff (thanks Lisa). And Daddy even joined in on the fun by going on the Log Flume for the first time ever (me no likey). And we're keeping the Popeye's chicken thing on the down low.

Another super-fun Rye Playland summer outing is in the record books!

Me and Stella after the first Log Flume run.

  

 

 

This is what Lisa Hill DIDN'T drink.

Christmas Vacation

We kept the ladies pretty entertained over the nearly two-week Christmas vacation.

It started on the 24th with the girls baking some awesome holiday cookies all by themselves at home. Usually Lisa guides them through the process, but this year they were able to do everything on their own. Pretty cool. Bravo to Stella.

On Christmas Day we drove up to Salem to spend the day at Karen and Glenn's house. Nana and Papa joined us. As usual, Glenn's meal was delicious. And the girls made out like bandits with presents.

The next 2 days were spent relaxing in Natick. Nana and Papa took the kids to see the Enchanted Village at Jordan's Furniture. And Stella and I worked on her "westward expansion" school project which was quite an undertaking.

Red Lion Inn

On Sunday we headed to visit Nana Audrey in Albany with a stop for a delicious lunch at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. Monday began the girls' triathlon of adventure with a few hours of rollerskating at the world's largest indoor roller skating rink.

Tuesday was part 2 of the triathlon with a trip to Maple Ski Ridge (notice that they don't mention "mountain" anywhere). Last year they took a 1-hour lesson at Maple Ridge but were not interested in skiing after the lesson. This year they stayed on the slope all afternoon after the lesson. By the end of the day they were both pretty awesome skiers.

Wednesday they got haircuts in anticipation of their big New Years night out at Lisa's friend Amy's house. We watched Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve (minus Dick), but little Marni started to fade. She took a short nap between 10:15 and 10:45 and was woken up in time for the ball to drop. Their first New Years Eve party!

On New Years Day we drove down to Bear Mountain Ice Rink to join the Asanovics and Stefanoff/Imhoff families for our annual get together. Both girls did their best to ice skate with help from Stefanoff and Hill. This was the final leg of their winter triathlon. After skating we ate and hung out at The Stadium Bar and Restaurant. Pretty cool place.

The remainder of vacation included a Midget Model reunion, a visit from the New Jersey Hoffmans, and a trip to the movie theater to see Night at the Museum 3. 

The beginning of Stella's project

The end of Stella's project. Look at that proud smile!

Chillin with the hound at Karen and Glenn's

Standing in front of Karen and Glenn's tree

Red Lion Inn

Roller babes

Ski bunnies

Marni doesn't like the roller rink rules

Marni's kooky ski pal, Lisa Asanovic

June

So things have been a little stressy lately, and I've neglected my daddy blogging duties. In order to catch up a bit, let's do a recap of June...

The girls became social activists when they joined the protest to save Brooklyn's iconic Kentile Floor sign.

That same weekend the girls and I took a relaxing and educational cruise on The Circle Line.

We joined the Asanovics and Stefanoff/Imhoff gang for our annual Rye Playland get-together.

Stella and I finally broke open our sushi-making kit and made some awesome avocado rolls (Stella's favorite).

And at the end of the month we joined the Stefanoff/Imhoff gang and Kathy for a nature hike in Cold Spring.

Protesting with City Councilman Brad Landers.

On the Circle Line.

Soaking and happy at Rye Playland.

Chowing down after Rye Playland.

Sushi time.

Hiking in Cold Spring.

Cold Spring.

The Summer Tradition: 2013

The Shepard, Stefanoff/Imhoff, and Asanovic families (plus Steve Cherches) got together again at Rye Playland last Sunday for our annual summer fun-fest.

Five hours of rides and food were followed by a relaxing dinner at the Pier Restaurant Tiki Bar.

Jenna and Stella buddied up on a lot of rides because Marni just couldn't make the 48" restriction.

Poor little Marni!

The Summer Tradition - 2012

It appears that the Asanovic/Shepard/Stefanoff-Imhoff clans have settled on three annual get-togethers per year.

The first get-together is on New Year's Day.

Get-together number two is in June or July and centers around a beach or an amusement park (or both).

And get-together three is in the fall and involves apple or pumpkin picking.

On June 10th we headed for Rye Playland at the suggestion of Lisa Asanovic. I don't think any of us had ever been there before and it turned out to be a perfect destination.

Since we loaded up with unlimited ride passes, the girls were able to ride as much as they pleased. And they did!

At one point, Stella and Marni shuttled between the Family Flyer and the Sky Skater, on their own, for almost an hour as Lisa and I just relaxed on a bench.

Around 6 we headed for the Tiki Bar for dinner. The Shepard and Asanovic kids demolished a large serving of steamers and the adults got sloshed.

As the sun set, the prerequisite group photo was taken and everyone headed for home.

The Shepard family unanimously agrees that Rye Playland is the nicest amusement park we've been to!

The girls and some creep.

The Fall Classic - 2011

Damn! We look good!

Evidently the kids have done nothing spectacular for the past month considering I haven't blogged anything since the first day of school.

So, a little more than a month later... the kids are still in school and doing well. Which brings us to October and our annual three-family trip to the pumpkin patch.

We've.

Done it.

Before.

But we did it again.

We joined up with the J-Girls, the Asanovic boys and various parents at our favorite farm, Outhouse Orchards.

Ponies. Bounce houses. Hay rides. Food. Pumpkins.

The usual. But still lots of fun.

And speaking of NOT lots of fun... let's talk about Marni's adventure.

We were all minding our own business when all of a sudden Marni starts screaming in pain and holding her neck. We had no idea what happened, but we saw a little boy spinning around next to her with his arms out and we figured he hit her by accident. But no. She was really screaming.

Lisa pulled open the collar on Marni's shirt and found a yellow jacket in there. Ah ha! A bee sting!

Lisa killed and removed the bee and we all watched to see if Marni was allergic to bee stings.

Apparently not.

After a few minutes of very loud screaming, Marni return to normal (or her version of normal).

The remainder of the day went well and, after the obligatory yearly group photo, we all headed off in various directions.

Our direction took us to Sherri Bubble's house to say hello to new baby boy Raine Alexander Hellman. The girls took turns watching him, feeding him, and commenting on his stinky poop.

The yearly photo.