Long Island Farewell Tour 2018

In addition to spending quality time with our friends before moving, we also tried to sneak in some Long Island favorites, sites, and extra fun for the kids.

McNulty's Ice Cream Parlor, Miller Place, NY, July 6

Lavender by the Bay, East Marion, NY, July 8

Lavender by the Bay, July 8

Greenport, NY, July 8

Greenport Harbor Brewery, July 8

Greenport Harbor Brewery, July 8

Cedar Beach, Mt. Sinai, NY, July 9

Cedar Beach

Splish Splash Water Park, Calverton, NY, about 3 visits in July

Splish Splash, Kiddie area

Splish Splash, Kiddie area

Splish Splash, Dinosaur Falls

Long Island Ferry to Connecticut

See ya later, Long Island!

Emily and Dennis's BBQ 2017

Emily and Dennis invited us to their awesome annual BBQ. They live in a lovely part of North Fork. Emily works with Kevin, but Emily and Dennis are also the grandparents of one of the boys on James's T-ball team, Evan. How cool is that?

Emily (in white) and Dennis (in black) and lots of their friends

Spotted Kevin's work buddies

Kevin and Frank watching kids and talking sports

Jennifer, me, Joe, and Michelle

Shinn Estate Vineyard 2017

We did a quick stop at the Shinn Estate Vineyard in North Fork on Saturday.

Our favorite was white was Coalescence

James and Miranda's favorite red was Wild Boar Doe (for winter)

Miranda with the hydrangeas outside

Harbes Family Farm 2016

We took the kids to Harbes Family Farm this weekend with the intention of not picking any apples. Because we're played out on that. Kids picked berries this summer, and that's going to have to count for our fruit picking this year. Kevin also had the brilliant idea to drink wine while we were there because it's a family farm + vineyard. Genius!

Harbes Tomato Sign

Play chapel?

Treasure hunt

Goats!

Feeding goats

Fisher price farm- more fun than real farm?

Old-school rocking horse!

Tractor play gym

Tractor play gym

James and Kevin went on a hayride

Snoopy was there too! James was psyched.
Miranda was terrified of him.

Snacktime

Delicious apple donuts yum!!

Time to get wine! Woo! Vineyard up ahead.


Wine + huge pumpkins.


Multi-tasking with wine!

Chickens

Chickens

Carriage family picture

Inside the carriage

Bubbles


Bubbles with the runaway kid I returned to his mom...

Free-range bunnies!

Loving the bunny.

Ten Years Since We Met 2016

Ten years ago, Kevin and I met for the first time in the outdoor seating area of Mudhouse coffeeshop in Charlottesville.

To celebrate our ten-year anniversary of meeting, we went about 20 minutes east to North Fork to a vineyard we'd heard good things about, the Paumanok Vineyards. We did a white wine tasting and I liked all the wines we tried, the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, 2012 Chenin Blanc, 2011 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, and 2012 Riesling. My favorite was the 2011 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, so we bought a bottle of that and sat outside with cheese and crackers.

Sitting outside by the vineyard

Yum.

 Paumanok Vineyards

The closed a little early and practically had to push us out the gate. Even the rain didn't hamper my enjoyment of the wine and the setting. But no matter, Kevin had a plan B, which that there was a relatively new whiskey and bourbon distillery with tastings. On the way there though, I saw a chocolate shop and Kevin turned around. The North Fork Chocolate Company had tasting too! Some of the chocolates are good, but don't ask for recommendations unless you want to know what not to eat, as that's how they unload the unwanted chocolate.

Here comes their next victim

In clockwise order fromt he top left: Salty Dog, Ice Cream Sundae, Bourbon, 75 Dark Organic

I loved the 75 Dark, get that.

The Salty Dog tasted like licking an actual wet dog

I also made Kevin stop so I could hug a huge tomato on the side of the road.

 Finally, we got to Long Island Spirits, which had more of Suffolk County vibe. It is perhaps sometimes a dance club? Kevin did the bourbon tasting and I alternatively sniffed or licked a little liquid from his glass because it all resembled nail polish to me.

Long Island Spirits

Bourbon tasting

State of the union: Crazy in love.