Tupper Lake Wild Center

Saturday we were invited to visit Tupper Lake Wild Center with some friends.  We had been wanting to visit for a while, but the two hour drive as a day trip seemed a little daunting when we weren't sure how age appropriate the activities would be. Since our friends have a one and three year old and were visiting for the third time this season, we figured it had to be pretty fun for the toddler/preschooler age group and were excited to finally go!

Sadly, the weather looked pretty awful for the day, but it turned out to be okay- at least for the morning, which worked out perfectly, as we did the Wild Walk first, had a picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon in the museum.

MiniM.E.'s favorite part of the Wild Walk was the giant spider web. LittleL.G. wasn't so sure...

Later, LittleL.G. said that this swing was her favorite part of the whole day:

I liked the giant eagle's nest with beautiful views of the mountains and foliage.

In the afternoon there was lots of rain, but there was plenty to explore in the museum from otters to glaciers to the earth... there was even a nature painting area that both girls got really involved in.

MiniM.E. could have spent days there. LittleL.G. was done after a couple hours but she napped while we took a walk outside during a break in the rain and perked up enough that we stayed until it closed!

Definitely another place to add to our list of yearly trips!

Ellms' Family Farm

The past couple years we have loved Ellms' Farm in the fall. In fact, last year I remember there still being snow on the ground when MiniM.E. started asking when Ellms' would be open again. We loved it so much last year that we bought season passes and were there almost every weekend the past couple fall seasons.

This year though, our deck building took up many worthwhile weekends and we had yet to visit Ellms' even once until today- Field Trip Friday!

MiniM.E. was bouncing off the walls with excitement over all the things she wanted to do and her excitement wore off on LittleL.G. who was convinced that she, too, wanted to do the jumping pumpkin and bouncing pillow and the Moo Moo Choo Choo.

Ellms' was busy, as always, but it's such a big place that it hardly felt crowded at all and we were able to avoid the school groups and have almost everything all to ourselves. 

MiniM.E.'s all-time favorite is the zip line. We were the only ones riding, so the girls ran back and forth at least seven times.

stopping to feed the goats

jumping

and jumping

and jumping

The MooMoo ChooChoo comes in at a close second. Again, we were the only ones riding at the time and we got special treatment with a long ride that went through the corn field twice.

swinging

and more jumping

and more jumping

LittleL.G. playing instead of jumping

It was a little tricky juggling a timid two year old and a brave five year old together, but it was a beautiful day to be at Ellms' and the girls had a great time- they were both exhausted when we left! Once might be enough for this year though...

Sunnyside Gardens

This week started with a sick mom. The girls had a cold last week, but nothing that slowed them down, just made them a little crankier. Over the weekend I caught it, but managed to muscle through... until Monday afternoon. Fortunately, Gram came to drive us to NH and back and I asked her to stay just in case I wasn't feeling well. So she stayed through Tuesday while I tried to get over the nasty bug.

Finally by Wednesday I was feeling myself again and we were able to meet up with our friends for our annual Sunnyside Gardens trip.

Thursday we took a nature walk to collect some leaves on the trails in our neighborhood.

Over the weekend we finally finished the deck! Which gave us a few hours in the late afternoon to take Gram and Grumpy up to the Great Escape.

And also... nothing is cuter than these new bunk mates.