A Week at the Lake: Day Trip to Rochester

We set out for Rochester after breakfast yesterday morning.  Sadly, LittleL.G. has been under the weather with a cold and both Daddy and I woke up feeling less than 100%.  But we weren't going to let that ruin our big day!

First stop, The Strong National Museum of Play.  Since having kids, I've heard it is THE museum to visit.  Oddly neither Daddy or I visited when we were in school in Rochester for so many years.

It certainly didn't disappoint.  The museum was huge!!- taking up an entire city block!  With lots of different areas to play, we didn't even see everything in the six hours we were there.  The only negative I have is that overall, it was dark and I didn't bring the right lens to take good low-light photos, so the evidence of our trip aren't quite the stunning pictures I'd hoped for.

Of course, our first and favorite play area for LittleL.G. was Sesame Street.  We started there and she and I would venture back whenever something else caught MiniM.E.'s interest and LittleL.G. got bored.

on the steps of Sesame Street

playing the pipes

counting Bert's pigeons

driving the monster taxi

putting on a show

 There were so many things to see and do it was hard to keep up with MiniM.E. as she explored everything.

flying a plane

 Another huge hit with both girls was the train ride:

on the train

fun with fairy tales

 LittleL.G. took a catnap while MiniM.E. explored her favorite area of the museum, Berenstain Bear Land.

Molly Bear

pulling teeth

After lunch we did the pretend Wegman's.  It was by far the BEST part of our trip to Rochester.  Kids get their own mini carts, shop for super realistic looking food, then scan barcodes and print out receipts for their items.  Both girls could have shopped all day.

We also saw all the "mostly looking" exhibits and a few more rooms of gadgets and gizmos to play with.  This photo op was pretty fantastic:

scaling a tall building like a superhero!

Stop two on our Rochester trip was R.I.T., where Daddy and I went to school.  Things have changed a lot since we were there eleven years ago so we took a very circuitous route to the bookstore which had changed locations.  It was nice to see the campus and fun that it was move in weekend because we didn't feel so out of place.  The girls posed with the tiger statue before we ended our walk and actually had to DRIVE to the bookstore to buy orange tiger sweatshirts for the girls.  And maybe a few things for Daddy and me too.

We stopped for dinner at one of our old favorite restaurants and made it home late after a drive full of much crying.  It was a really looong but also really fun day.  Good thing we have almost a whole week left to relax!

A Week at the Lake

Every year we see Meamaw and Grandpa over the summer, usually in August.  For the past few years, since we've been in Saratoga, they have come to visit us there.  But this year, to change it up, Meamaw and Grandpa decided to rent a lake house at Owasco Lake in Auburn, NY, the town Daddy grew up in.

We're excited to do something else with Meamaw and Grandpa since we've already seen the sights in Saratoga.  Meamaw and Grandpa are excited too because they will get to see some of their friends.

We drove here yesterday, arriving just before dinner.  But of course, the girls weren't thinking dinner, they wanted to see the lake and go swimming!

It was a late night trying to get them to sleep in a new house after such an exciting evening.  Of course, no one slept in this morning!  We enjoyed breakfast out on the back deck.

What a view to see while eating breakfast!

Late morning we were invited to a brunch with Meamaw and Grandpa.  The girls swam in the pool there and LittleL.G. was so exhausted she took a nap on Meamaw!

After the brunch we stopped at a playground we had passed on the way that looked like lots of fun.

Of course, when we arrived back at the lake house, it was time for more swimming!

Tomorrow the weather doesn't look so favorable.  Road trip to Rochester!

C. & H. Visit: The Beach

Today was the last day of C. & H.'s visit.  We had a blast and all the kids behaved much better than both C. and I thought, but two headstrong almost-five-year-olds together for almost four days mixed with a tired toddler became a little too much for everyone by this morning.

We packed up for the beach where we decided we would play until lunchtime.  The big kids had a blast swimming with C. but unfortunately LittleL.G. decided after five minutes of swimming that she wanted to go home and nothing would do except me holding her on the blanket in the scorching sun.  We held on for a while but had to cut the morning a bit short so LittleL.G. could come home for a much needed nap.  Since the big kids were at each other everyone took a break while C. packed to head home.

A little more playing and it was time to say goodbye.  We had a great time C. & H.!  Thanks for coming and see you soon!

C. & H. Visit: Great Escape

Today was a low key morning.  The weather started out pretty soggy so we spent most of the morning playing inside until it was warm enough and not quite so rainy and the kids went out to dance in the rain.  Too cute!

The girls and I had a service to attend at 11, so C. & H. had some time to explore downtown Saratoga on their own.

We met back at home for lunch and headed to the Great Escape for the afternoon.  Since it was so miserable out this morning, the park was hardly crowded and their were no lines for anything.  We started out at the rollercoaster while LittleL.G. took a mini snooze in the kinderpack.  Next came the log flume and then the kiddie area before we headed over to the waterpark.

It was impressive timing because just as the kids were ready to jump in the water the sun came out and it heated up.  The big kids had a blast sliding while LittleL.G. splashed around in the kiddie area.

We stayed at the waterpark until it closed and had time for a couple car rides before the whole park closed at 7.

Another fun and busy day!

C. & H. Visit: Adirondack Animal Land

Our friends C. & H. are visiting from NH this week.  This is their 4th almost annual summer visit (it just didn't work out last year).  MiniM.E. has been looking forward to it for a while, and we tried to plan a week full of exciting Saratoga adventures.  Since C. & H. have done all the tourist-y things we added in some new activities to the agenda this year, like Adirondack Animal Land and the Great Escape.

The ride from NH can be long with a mini-backseat-driver and C. & H. got a late start so they arrived Monday just before dinner.  There was just enough time for a backyard swim before a late dinner.  The kids were bit wound up with the excitement of the visit but we finally wrangled them to bed.

Today we planned for Adirondack Animal Land.  It was a steep learning curve this morning getting all three kids fed and dressed and ready to go.  Plus, everyone wanted to take a bike ride to stretch their legs before we left.

Poor LittleL.G. was so exhausted from the excitement she fell asleep in the car on the way before 10am!

As always, Animal Land was a blast.  

After a little rest in the afternoon we headed over to the new spray park.  MiniM.E. and H. splashed and played while LittleL.G. had some mommy time on the swing at the playground.

More fun tomorrow!

A Fun Weekend

This weekend we had a great time at a summer party and BBQ, a Daddy's work sponsored SPAC event with catering and the Philadelphia Orchestra playing along to Ratatouille and a backyard BBQ at our friends'.

While we waited for C. and H. to arrive today we played at the sprayground.

And dressed up some dolls.

A Day Trip To Maine

Today we drove up to Maine to visit York's Wild Animal Kingdom and see the ocean.

After visiting the Friendly Farm and Animal Land, York's was a bit underwhelming as the animals were much less accessible.  MiniM.E. did get to feed some baby goats:

The girls loved being frozen bananas:

And we got a good look at the lions:

We took a break from York's to walk down to the town and get a snow cone and some taffy.  MiniM.E. wanted to see the water, but the beach was just a sea of umbrellas and it was too overwhelming to try to get to the water.  We promised we'd stop at a beach on the way home and we headed back to the zoo for the best part of the day, the camel ride. We had to wait until 1:00 for the big camel to take his shift so the three of us could go together.

It has been a while since I've been on a camel ride because MiniM.E. has only wanted Gram to take her in the past few years. I remember our first ride and how for weeks we talked about the "wibbledy wobbledy" camel. I had forgotten how "wibbledy wobbledy" it was.

After York, even though it was past LittleL.G.'s nap time, we decided to head to Fort Foster to see the water because we couldn't leave Maine without MiniM.E. getting to touch the ocean.

Both the girls had a blast by the water.  MiniM.E. explored the rocks and LittleL.G. decorated them with wet sand.

We reluctantly headed home, stopping by Stonewall Kitchen and ended a great Maine day with a stop at Johnson's Dairy House for an ice cream dinner.