The Best Birthday Party Ever

MiniM.E.'s 5th birthday party has been in the works for months.

She wanted her party at the indoor water park at the Great Escape with her three best friends.  The whole thing went through many revisions, but the final result was this: Four girls and their dads at the waterpark all afternoon. Moms and siblings meet back with dads and daughters for pizza and cake.

Since the moms were home, I didn't get to see the excitement on the girls' faces, but from what I hear, everyone thought it was the best birthday party ever and MiniM.E. thought it was the best day ever. So I guess it went well. All the girls got along and had a fantastic time, so much so that they were late for dinner because they didn't want to leave! The fun continued at our house with pizza and cake and everyone left exhausted and happy.

Happy Birthday MiniM.E.!

It's hard to believe I have written a post with a similar title four times before this one... but here it is- FIVE!

To my five-going-on-thirty-year-old,

I feel so lucky this year that while the moms of other turning-five-year-olds have to send their kids off to school for hours a day I get to spend all day with you. You amaze us every day with the thoughts you have and the things you learn and the things you teach me.  You are sensitive and caring and loving and smart and you have a fantastic sense of humor.  We have watched to turn into such an incredible daughter and the best big sister any little sister could ask for.  As much as we don't want you to grow up, we are excited to watch you learn and play and grow and see more of the person you are becoming. We are so lucky to have you!

For MiniM.E.'s birthday there was lots of playing and presents and excitement. The special part of the day was that when LittleL.G. took her nap and I worked on the cake for her big party tomorrow, Daddy took her to Ellms'.

So MiniM.E. had a day full of fun, followed by presents and cake and the anticipation of tomorrow's party. Definitely the start of the best birthday weekend ever!

Happy Birthday, LittleL.G.!

My spunky little baby is two.  Which probably means she isn't really a baby anymore...

To my two-going-on-five-year-old,

You are the excitement and energy in our days. From waking us up with lovely (and loud) serenades of ABCs and Ring Around the Rosie, to insisting on being chased around the house many times a day, to the hilarious things you say every time you open your mouth, you definitely add the spunk to our lives. You are so loving and cuddly and observant and smart and headstrong. We are so lucky to have you!

Speaking of the hilarious things that come out of her mouth...

LittleL.G. mastered the phrase, "me be two October!" months ago. For weeks she has anticipated her birthday and we have counted days together. And then this morning when she woke up the first thing out of her mouth was, "Me be two RIGHT NOW!! It's my birthday!"  Then later when I asked LittleL.G. what she wanted to do for her birthday she said, "Go to the museum!" Not what I was expecting.

BUT, being that it is her birthday, today we went to the World Awareness Museum in Glens Falls. I later learned that the "museum" she was talking about was the Wild Center at Tupper Lake, but... you do what you can. And the girls had a great time, even if it wasn't exactly the place LittleL.G. wanted to spend her day.

On our way home we stopped at LittleL.G.'s favorite restaurant for lunch- McDonald's. We also had to stop to pick up a cake because I had planned on ice cream for tonight and the Sesame Street cake I had promised for her party next weekend, but LittleL.G. had other plans and insisted that the Elmo and Cookie Monster cake was for TONIGHT. Can't say no on her BIRTHDAY!

After a nap LittleL.G. woke up to Gram visiting, which she loved. She opened some presents and had her little Elmo cake sang Happy Birthday to herself many, many times, and probably had the greatest two-year-old birthday ever.

A Week of Fall and Almost Birthdays

This week we took a break from school to celebrate fall and to prepare for a weekend of birthday. It is nice to have the flexibility to take a week off whenever it's needed.

I printed out tons of fall-themed printables for the girls to work on when there was unfilled down-time. They both have really started to enjoy cutting and pasting and even LittleL.G. is getting pretty good with scissors.

With school taking up most of our mornings, we haven't had many opportunities to get out and enjoy the fall weather so we made sure to spend plenty of time outside this week.

The most fun we had was Wednesday when we visited Liberty Ridge Farm.  This was another of the places I "always wanted to visit" as we have driven past it many, many times on the way back and forth to NH.  Our neighbors went on a field trip there last week and said they had a blast so I figured we might as well check it out.  Well worth the trip!

Liberty Ridge had some of the same "farm activities" as Ellms', but in a different format and with some things that were new and exciting. It being Yom Kippur, which many districts around us have off from school, and there being a few large school groups (from districts that don't have it off?) it was extremely crowded.

Fortunately, we arrived just as it opened and had some first class treatment at the petting zoo while we were the only ones there.

There was also an incredible treehouse playground, racing hamster wheels, and a hill slide that both girls didn't want to leave.

We skipped the jumping pillow because it was too crowded and were only able to spend a little while in the giant corn bin.

LittleL.G.'s favorite part, not a surprise, was the farm "show".

MiniM.E. loved the racing pigs and volunteered to cheer one on, winning a pig nose. After the race we were even allowed to hang out in the shed and pet the racing pigs!

My favorite part was that at a farm with a lot of walking, there was a trolley which ran continuously throughout the farm. The kids loved riding it and it was nice not to have to walk miles toting a twenty pound toddler.

Can't wait to take Daddy back with us next year!

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...