Finally, A Day at the Beach!

The kids have been begging for a beach day, but the closest beach to us is always crowded, even with the park limit of 50% capacity. When we tried Lake Luzerne, we felt pressured to leave because of the number of people crowded where the sand meets the water. A friend told us about a beach at Schroon Lake that is often empty so we decided to give it try. 

It was fantastic! Warm water, knee deep forever, nice sand, lots of rocks to collect.

Wishing we had found this gem a little sooner in the summer, but we will definitely be back!

The Little Things

Meamaw and Grampa were nice enough to send the big kids a present to fill our last days of summer. While the girls were thrilled with the gift. The boys just loved the box filled with packing peanuts!

Another thing that made us smile: this "ask me about my moo cow" shirt.

Our First Downtown Trip This Summer

Recently, downtown Saratoga Springs has had a lot of complaints regarding mask wearing, as the sidewalks on Broadway and the side streets are not very wide, and many patrons are choosing not to wear masks outdoors. Since it seemed like such an issue, we've been avoiding our usual summer walks downtown to see the ducks. It also didn't seem as exciting without the promise of a snack at a coffee shop. 

LittleL.G. had the fantastic idea to get frozen yogurt from our favorite "top your own" shop downtown, so we braved the potential sidewalk issue to take a stroll through Congress Park to see the ducks and walk up to Plum Dandy on Broadway. 

The park was a great place for a short walk. The boys loved chasing the ducks! Broadway was a bit crowded, but since we were outdoors, it didn't seem to be much of an issue.

We were fortunate to snag one of two outdoor tables for our snack, and enjoyed frozen yogurt while people watching- something we haven't done in ages!

Glad to have added one of our favorite summertime activities to the last month of summer. 

 

A Hike at Skidmore

Even though MiniM.E. spent two years at Skidmore Early Education Center for preschool, and there were many days I had a one year old in tow for a few hours and didn't know what to do, we never found the awesome trails in the Northwoods.

I heard someone mention hiking the Northwoods trails a couple years ago, and thought we should give it a try. The kids were excited to put another mile on their hiking packs.

It was a fun adventure, with a little too much poison ivy and not enough frogs for MiniM.E.

It was a loop trail, which meant once we got to the halfway point, we really just had to finish. It was probably a quarter mile too long for the little guys, but we managed to make it back to the car in time for lunch!

 

No More Diapers!

What is a family with a 19 month old to do during a social distancing pandemic? Potty train, of course. To be honest, it seemed young, but once we start school in September, we won't have time to be constantly watching for signs of needing to go. I didn't want to wait until next summer: one, because I am tired of changing diapers; two, because all the kids have been trained before two. Early training means more time in the bathroom and more help from mom, but also no defiance about the process. 

So with all the kids on board (because at our house we train with m&ms and TV), we got the potties and tiny undies out and went for it. 

And here we are, two and a half weeks later, done with diapers!

Back Home With Gram

This visit to NH, Daddy had to leave Sunday to go back to work, which meant Gram came back home with us. It's nice for the kids to have an easier transition back to home, rather than show up at home and have Daddy at work and only me to entertain them after spending time with lots of fun and attention in NH. 

We tried to keep busy by going blueberry picking and visiting a nearby elementary school playground. It seems like no one thinks to play on school playgrounds, so no one was there, which made it feel a lot safer.

A River Adventure

Auntie Jen lives nearby a river great for swimming and exploring with waterfalls and wading places and plenty of rocks to throw. We took a day trip up to see her and play at the river today. 

It was such a cool place to hang out. The girls and Auntie Jen were pro explorers. The boys are a little small for climbing rocks and waterfalls, so Mr.T. hung out at a shallow pool by the rocks, and I took SlimJim on some climbing adventures.