Christmas Pageant

Samantha had a starring role in this evening's Christmas Pageant. Here she is during dress rehearsal earlier in the day.

And in the big event at 4:30 pm. She had the role of Mary.

You can click on a photo to see a larger version.

Sammy did a great job, as did the entire cast and orchestra. The kids are tucking into bed now, anxious to see what Santa brings during the night.

Merry Christmas.

Summer Wrap-Up

It was a busy summer, particularly the last month. We drove up to Boston for a long weekend the Friday before Labor Day. We wanted to do something 'educational' for the kids, and the Boston Museum of Science and the Childrens Museum seemed like a good idea.

The kids at the Museum of Science

And at the Childrens Museum

A visit to Boston Common to see the giant swan boats, which were closed for the day.

Mugging for the camera in the hotel room.

The return to school (First Grade) was uneventful. The kids are getting along well in their new classrooms. This afternoon, we took a hike through the local arboretum.

As you can see, fall has arrived on Long Island.

Camping Recon

Scouting potential campsites in Westchester.

Getting Ready

Haircuts in anticipation of grandparents visiting next weekend.

Hershey Park 2014

Kindergarten came to an end on June 27, with the kids finishing their first year in public school. The interesting thing about public school is that they make their own schedule, often on short notice. We were caught off-guard when we learned a week earlier that the last day would  be only two hours long.

Left with most of Friday and all day the following Monday and nothing to do, we planned a long weekend to Hershey Park. "Long" describes the journey out of New York on Friday afternoon. It took us two hours just to get out of New York City limits on the way to Jersey, making the entire trip nearly five hours.

We decided to stay in Harrisburg to save some driving time to the park. We usually stay in the Lancaster area when we visit PA, and we should have done so on this trip, too. Although our hotel was lovely and the staff exceptionally nice, the area is pretty blighted. Someone Bob knows referred to Harrisburg as "the Detroit of Pennsylvania." The contrast between Harrisburg and Lancaster is stark: run down buildings and sad looking people versus green pastures and smiling faces.

After dinner at a brewing company in Harrisburg, we returned to the hotel where the staff arranged for movie night in one of the conference rooms, complete with 'Smores and popcorn. Back in the room, Robert quickly decided he did not want to sleep on the sofa bed, preferring the grown-up queen sized bed instead. That was a wise choice.  Samantha woke at 5 in the morning with a sore throat that was diagnosed a few hours later as strep. Thankfully the urgent care centers in PA have their act together and she received her first dose of medicine and was pronounced healthy for the park.

Pro Tip: Hershey does not offer discounted tickets at the gates. But if you have a AAA membership you can get discounted tickets through the Travel Club. And, guess what…….there is a Travel Club just outside Hershey Park Drive. Donna ran in and scored our tickets with a $30 savings. $30 that we gave right back to Hershey in bottled water and beverage purchases!

The kids were pretty excited to visit the park. Samantha, in particular, because she missed out on buying a stuffed animal last year in Chocolate World. It's all she talked about on the car ride down.

Just a couple of years ago, there'd be no way she would pose with that character! But this year, she actively sought out a character to pose with. Sammy was in heaven when she was invited to dance in one of the concerts.

We stayed in the park almost 10 hours but the highlight of the day came in the last hour, when we took our first family ride on grown up roller coasters. We started with one of the older metal ones, the Trail Blazer, with traditional sit-down cars and the kids enjoyed it. For the last ride of the night, we boarded the old wooden coaster, the Comet. 

Wooden coasters are thrilling because your brain wonders if the creaking noises you hear are the tracks disintegrating beneath you. The kids were very excited as the train ascended the first big peak, with the sound of the chain dragging the cars uphill. Samantha's face was glowing and she had a giant smile. Then we hit the peak and began rocketing toward the ground. The smile was gone, replaced with a tear rolling down her cheek.

All was right in the world be the end of that first drop, as the kids realized they would not be thrown from the train. They whooped and hollered for the remainder of the ride. Robert said the ride "blew my mind." Sammy said it "blew my socks off." 

We made our customary trip into Chocolate World for ice cream and……yes, a stuffed animal, before heading back to the hotel.

On Sunday, Bob declared that he wanted to visit City Island in Harrisburg. He remembered going there during a previous visit in the area. The hotel desk clerk was skeptical of the plan, for good reason.

Let's just say the park has fallen into disrepair and leave it at that. We walked out onto the old suspension bridge following a ride on a sad steam train, and left. After two minutes of discussion, we decided our day would be best spent in the Lancaster area. We made the commute over to Lancaster, stopped for lunch and then continued onto Strasburg for a train ride.

We thought the kids would be tired of the steam train, having ridden on it so many times already but they asked to go again. We just missed the 4 o'clock train and, as such, had to wait for the last public train of the day. It was a treat to ride in the late afternoon light, as the temperature grew a little cooler. The light really shows off how cute the kids are.

This is probably the third year in a row that we've missed this guy by two weeks.

Someday, we'll plan well enough in advance to be there when he is out of the barn and pulling passenger cars.

No trip to Strasburg is complete without some NY style pizza and old fashioned ice cream, available just down the road from the railroad. 

We returned home on Monday in record time, 4 hours, ready to begin summer camp the next day.

Backyard Outback

The Oregon Outback is a 360 mile bike ride through the Oregon wilderness. Riders must complete it in a self-supported fashion, meaning that they must carry whatever they need to survive on the ride. One 80 mile section of the trail, for example, has no access to water! Imagine a really long backpacking trip using a bicycle. This year's event was a couple last weekend, and one rider completed the course in a remarkable 28 hours.

Inspired by the event, Bob decided to introduce the kids to camping, by designing the Backyard Outback. The Backyard Outback consisted of a night of tent camping in the backyard, followed by a bike ride. We did the activities backwards but, hey, it's the spirit that counts.

The kids have never spent a night in a tent, so we thought it best to do this at home where, if things went sideways, we could retreat to the house. We started discussing the rules on Saturday afternoon. Rule #1: no shoes in the tent. Rule #2: pee before getting in the tent. Rule #3: if you have to pee, you're not allowed to hold it in; you have to wake up and go to the bathroom.

We pitched the tent Saturday evening and climbed in ready for bed around 10:30, when the kids were good and tired. Donna had to work the next day; therefore, she stayed in the house to get a good night's sleep. Here is Robert after helping to set up the tent.

Tucked in and ready to sleep. Not seen is a giant air mattress that took up the entire floor and made sleeping easy peazy.

The space was a bit cramped for three people, but everyone slept well. Robert obeyed Rule #3, but Sam did not! 

Morning always seems to come "sooner" in a tent. The birds started chirping around 6am. Boy do we have a lot of birds in the neighborhood. Sam was first to wake up and immediately retreated to the house to watch television. Robert slept late, emerging from the tent announcing "that was the best sleep ever."

We wrapped up the Backyard Outback with the bicycling component Sunday evening as dinner (prime rib) was roasting.

The kids really enjoyed the experience and it was less trouble than we imagined. They took to the tent environment pretty well considering the cramped and unfamiliar space. Next step is an overnight in the mountains, perhaps a family oriented campground upstate.

Happy Summer!

Skate Party

The kids attended their first skate party at the local ice rink this afternoon.  The event seemed fitting, since the weather has returned to winter after a few days of teaser spring temperatures.

Sammy took to the ice immediately, no hand-holding required.

Robert, on the other hand, needed a little help.

We don't think he quite understood how to stand on the skate's blades. Sammy was off racing around on her own and did not seem to mind falling down.

It was an interesting experience, though I don't think we ever saw the birthday girl!

Spring Weather

We are enjoying a hint of spring weather this weekend.  Bob, Robert and Samantha loaded the bikes in the car and went to a local state park to ride the bike path.

Robert really enjoys riding the trail-a-bike. Last year, Samantha wanted to have her time on the back of dad's bike. This season, so far, she is content to do her own thing on her pink bike. Her confidence level has grown dramatically.

We hope the spring weather continues. We've had enough snow and sub 30 degree weather.

Mr. Snowshoes

Immediately after we published the last post, Robert decided to try something new: snowshoeing. We didn't want to leave him out of the blog for this month, so here he is taking a break from stomping around the yard.

Spring Teaser

The last few weeks have been miserable with back-to-back snow storms disrupting school and work life. Robert and Samantha have been off from school 4 or 5 days since January, and we were notified after the last storm that the school district was taking back a day from Easter recess to make up for lost days.

Today, however, feels like spring. It's nearly 50 degrees out which means it's the perfect weather to romp around in the snow and explore the backyard. Maybe even make a little snowman…

The polar vortex returns to NY tomorrow and there's the threat of more snow by mid-week. So today is the day to get outside and have some fun!

Bedroom Makeover 2

Samantha's bedroom makeover was completed a couple of weeks ago. Like Robert, she got a new rug and the furniture was rearranged in accordance with her wishes.

We've been working on developing a routine of keeping the room clean and organized. It's rough-going because the girl changes outfits seven times a day and leaves the previous outfit lying on the floor.

We may be imagining this, but there seems to be less getting up in the middle of the night following the room makeovers. 

We are getting our second round of snow this evening and the kids have already inquired about sledding tomorrow. But the day is pretty packed with social obligations, so sledding may not be on the agenda.

Awesome!

We are hanging around the house, recovering and sipping hot chocolate after our first sledding experience.

Today was a snow day from school (and work, for Bob). After spending the morning puttering around the house, we went out in the car to complete some errands.  On the way out of town, we noticed children sledding down one of the hills at the high school. Sammy and Robert, of course, wanted to give it a try but Bob was hesitant due to the crowd of people and out of concern for the kids' safety.

Robert and Sammy have been in a sled before. Bob has pulled them around behind his bicycle and, when they were about 2 years old, we pulled them by hand and let them cruise down a mild bunny slope.  They've never been let loose on anything with an incline. 

During one of our stops in the car, I mentioned to a buddy that we "might" go sledding but probably not because of safety concerns. My buddy called my bluff, reminding me that I wanted to raise the kids to be outdoorsy and that driving them around in a car all afternoon was the opposite of outdoorsy. He was right, of course, and after a quick stop for lunch we raced home to get the sleds.

During that same stop, by the way, Sam invited herself over to my friend's house for dinner---I think. She's such a social being.

My safety concerns were misplaced. The three of us stood at the hill for a few minutes watching the traffic patterns and I issued some basic rules which the kids agreed to. Then off they went up the hill with their sleds.

After maybe three seconds of quiet contemplation at the top of the hill, they launched themselves toward the bottom. Robert instantly demonstrated control over the sled by shifting his hips back and forth. Within 5 seconds, all I could hear was the two of them shouting "This is Awesome!"

On his very first run, Robert made it to the end of the snow and kept on going into the parking lot adjacent to the hill. That's him in the sled on the right, below.

They had the biggest smiles on their faces after that first run, and I knew immediately that coming to the hill and giving the kids this experience was the right thing to do for them. That's what parenting is supposed to be, right…giving kids experiences to learn from.

Sammy did not display the same level of steering control as Robert, but she did manage to find her way to some snow mounds that the older kids constructed as jumps. She hit the jumps a couple of times and caught some air. Robert, meanwhile, was studying the hill to find the fastest route. No kidding: you could see him trying different paths to go faster or practice turning. He may have a future in bobsledding.

We stayed at the hill for about 40 minutes. 40 minutes in 10 degree weather with a wind chill is enough for a kid. No injuries, No accidents. A couple of wipeouts that produced loud laughter. A lot of fun and the perfect way to spend a snow day.