Yesterday, I began the tale of our trip to the New York State Museum.  As I ended part 1, the kids were running off to see more exhibits.

They first ran into a dinosaur.  They all marveled the dino standing in front of them.  I was barely able to get them to hold still long enough to pose for a photo.

A little further down, they loved seeing, first, a whale’s skull and then a whole whale skeleton.

Even the complete whale skeleton couldn’t measure up to the exhibit were were looking for: Sesame Street.  We wound our way through the museum, relying mostly on my fuzzy memory of where it was.  Then we spotted something that I didn’t remember:  An old A-Train car.

This car was presented in such a way as to let people walk in it and sit in its seats.  The kids were instantly in love.  They ran all around it abuzz with excitement.

As we exited the train, I spotted the familiar face of a certain large, yellow bird.  We had found the way to Sesame Street.

I’ll admit that the exhibit was smaller than I remember.  (I think I half-remembered a larger exhibit from another museum.)  Still, the kids loved seeing even the small portion of Sesame Street.  A bench was positioned so kids could watch snippets of the show on a small television.

Before long, they got restless, though, and it was back to the train car.

Our next big location to visit was the carousel.  However, the boys and I stumbled upon a hidden gem.  A collection of old fire trucks.  What kid doesn’t like fire trucks?

These were right near the second of the museum’s two 9-11 exhibits.  This one included (among other things) a heavily damaged fire truck and a girder from the Twin Towers.  I must admit that I had to touch it and bow my head a bit when I encountered the latter of the two.  Thankfully, the kids were so distracted by the fire trucks they had just seen and the promise of the carousel to come, that they didn’t seem to notice what we were walking by.

Once this was done, we headed for the elevators and went up to ride the carousel.

To be concluded tomorrow.

On Saturday, with Aunt M, Uncle I, Cousin S, and Cousin B in town, we tried to figure out something fun to do with the kids.  We decided upon the New York State Museum.  Not only is it a nice, bit indoor space with some nice exhibits, but there was a craft activity for the kids to do and a carousel.  Just to sweeten the deal, all of this is free.

As we pulled up, we found a spot right near the museum.  The kids excitedly got out of the cars and headed in.  NHL pointed out one of the only skyscrapers that Albany has.  (I grew up near New York City, so I’m used to seeing a lot more skyscrapers.)  He also spotted that odd-shaped building in Albany known as "The Egg" (used for concerts and shows).

Heading in, we asked where the kids craft activity was and headed right for it.  On the way, we passed by one of the two 9-11 exhibits.

The kids weren’t too interested in these, of course, but they got very interested once we found the animal exhibits.

There were also the minerals/rocks which the kids surprisingly liked.  Mainly, I think, because of the colors and sparkliness.

Then, we got to one of their favorite sections: Kids Cove.  In this area, were many animal skins, skulls, leaves and other items for kids to examine close up.  Whereas most of the museum is hands-off, this section encouraged kids to pick up and take a closer look at the items.  (Don’t mind the jackets.  The kids were so excited by all that they saw that they didn’t want to stop to remove them yet.)

Leaving here, we located a Woolly Mammoth.  This was one of our original directions to find the craft table.

The Woolly Mammoth led us to a Native American village, complete with a house we could walk into.

And Native American wedding clothing.

Finally, we found another mammoth.  This one, however, was more skeletal than his friends.

Right by him was the craft table.  We had located our first major stop: Kid Crafts.  The kids settled in and drew, cut, and pasted shut envelopes.  Into these envelopes went some wild flower seeds.  Then, they glued the envelope shut and were done.

The person running the event was great.  She was able to recover from bad cuts and bad gluing.

After the crafts were done, I got Cousin S and JSL to pose by a nearby dinosaur fossil.

Then, off we went to see more.

Tomorrow: Trains, Fire Trucks and Sesame Street!

Yesterday, I demonstrated TheAnimatedWoman’s technique for turning lines into cute drawings.  JC even promoted my post on Google+.  That’s when inspiration struck.  (Minus the lightning bolt.)  Why not use this as a drawing lesson with NHL?

He wasn’t going to be as good at drawing on the computer, so out came a piece of paper and some crayons.  I prepped my camera.  Then, I told him to draw a wiggly line.  (As always, click to see a larger version.)

Quite wiggly.  Next came the eyes.

After this, I told him to draw arms and legs.  Go crazy with them, I said.  He was more than happy to oblige.

Now, I instructed him to have his character say something.  Can you guess what I was making for dinner?

Finally, I told him to put the black crayon away and add some colorful elements.  (At this point, I went back to making the pizza and told him to call me when he was done.)

He insisted on naming his character, but had a little trouble with the spelling of “crazy”.

And there you have it.  Mr. Crazy was born.

Oh, and, in case you are wondering, I did show JC’s website to NHL and JSL.  They especially loved the story of the Last Snowman.

I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of a kid out of bed.  This is a usual affair.  NHL will wake up at 6am and ask if he can watch TV.  When I opened my eyes, though, I saw two kids looking at me.  JSL was out of bed also.  I approved them going to watch TV on the couch and tried to get some more sleep.

I gave up soon, though, realizing that I needed to get moving.  NHL has Hebrew school every Sunday morning at 9:30am.  This meant I needed to get the kids fed, get the kids dressed, get myself showered, get myself dressed, and get us all out of the house by 9:15am.  I decided that we would all wear matching Perry the Platypus shirts.

Dropping NHL off at Hebrew school, I found out just how many people were Phineas and Ferb fans.  As we walked up the steps, NHL in front and JSL and I behind, I heard someone singing “doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-wa”.  They had spotted NHL’s shirt and were expressing approval.  Then, as JSL and I came into view, they stopped.  Their appreciation was quite apparent.  For the record, these weren’t kids.  These were adults.  To rephrase my statement above: I found out just how many parents in our temple are Phineas and Ferb fans!

After NHL was in Hebrew school, JSL and I did some grocery shopping.  Then we picked NHL back up, stopped by the house because I had forgotten my camera (bad camera geek!), and headed to lunch.

My first thought for lunch was Cici’s.  However, eating pizza the night before had soured me on the thought of an all-you-can-eat pizza lunch.  Instead, we went to Moe’s Southwest Grill.  There, the boys each had a Mini Masterpiece (kids cheese quesadilla).  I opted out of my usual Homewrecker (beans, seasoned rice, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, sour cream, tofu and guacamole on a whole wheat tortilla), deciding instead to get an Art Vandalay.  This burrito has everything that the Homewrecker has except for the tofu and is $1 cheaper.

While they were making mine, they asked if I wanted grilled veggies.  That sounded good so in went grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms.  When it came time to roll it up, the guy somehow succeeded.  I have no clue how they do this.  If I were rolling that burrito, the tortilla would rip, toppings would leak out of all sides, and the burrito wouldn’t be able to be closed.  It’d be a mess.  A delicious mess, but still a mess.

This guy somehow fit all of those toppings into a rolled up tortilla that by all rights shouldn’t have been able to hold them all.  The end result was so delicious that the Art Vandalay with grilled veggies has now replaced the Homewrecker as my new favorite Moe’s burrito.

After lunch, I figured that the boys needed some time running around.  So to the park we went.  First up, was the hedge maze.  This is a favorite of the boys.  They run around hiding from each other (and from me) and having a blast.  I tried taking photos of them, but was only partially successful.  They were just too busy having a good time to wait for dad’s camera.

With the hedge maze run through (multiple times), it was time for the boys to tackle the playground.  JSL and NHL had fun on the slides, swings, and various other fun activities.

A favorite of theirs was the telephone.  There is a hollow pipe which winds under the playground to two separate locations.  Through either end, you can talk and be heard on the other side.  At first, NHL and JSL spoke to each other.  Then, as NHL lost interest and went on to other activities, JSL found himself talking to other kids.  He would chat for a short while and then shout “I’m coming over to see you!”  At this point, he’d dart as fast as his little legs could take him across the playground to say hi to his new friend.

I noticed that our time was running low, so I herded the boys to the lake.  There were ducks, fish, geese, and even remote controlled boats.

Before long, our dad and kids time was coming to an end.  We had to go get B from the train station.  Reluctantly, we left the park and went to the train station (stopping by briefly to buy an iced tea for B since she texted that she was thirsty). 

Despite my worrying that we’d get there late, we arrived with plenty of time to spare.  The boys got busy looking around in wonder at the train tracks below.  We spotted a train pull up and then pull back.  NHL worried that the train was leaving without dropping B off.  I reassured him that B’s train wouldn’t leave her behind.  Sure enough, B’s train (a different one than the one we saw earlier) pulled in a few minutes later.

We looked as people came out and suddenly I saw a familiar figure.  B was back!

(Click to enlarge and see the returning Angel.)

The boys ran up and hugged B and off we went back home.

I want to thank the folks from SheStreams for taking such good care of my wonderful wife.  You tired her out, but in a good way.  She returned with lots of new ideas and excited about her blogging future.  Best of all, from the kids’ point of view, she brought back gifts!

The day before school started, we decided to do something fun with the boys.  First, we went to CVS and then to Home Depot to look for a new doorbell.  Oh wait, that’s not fun.  That’s ok, though, because the next place was fun: Uno Chicago Grill, or, as the boys call it Pizza Uno’s.  NHL got a pepperoni pizza.  (Ah, my Kosher Boy!)  JSL got Mac and Cheese (his all time favorite food).  B and I both got the Spinoccoli pizza lunch special.  This came with unlimited soup.  We both wound up eating only soup and packing our pizza for another meal.  (Nothing like getting 2 meals for the price of one!)

After our meal, we walked around the mall for a bit and stopped by Border’s.  They’ve been going out of business for the past month or so and the selection really was bare.  We managed to find a few items, but JSL was not having a good time.  He didn’t understand why there weren’t any toys or kids’ books left.  Going Out of Business and Clearing Stock mean nothing to a four year old.

After the mall, we planned to go indoor miniature golfing.  NHL had gone here before with me, but JSL and B had never been.  However, there was something important to take care of first.  We high-tailed it home to put our leftovers in the fridge.  Even more important, though was potty breaks for everyone.  As NHL was going, B & I began doing the “potty dance.”  B lamented her complicated pants.  There was a tie, buttons, and a zipper.  I think a combination lock might have been in there somewhere.  Gloating, I said that I had it easy.  All I had to do was “zip, whip, and pee.”  Unfortunately, laughing hysterically does not go well with swimming back teeth.  There was a real risk of peeing my pants.  It didn’t help that NHL’s response to hearing that B couldn’t “zip, whip, and pee” was “Mommy’s broken!”

Luckily, my bladder held out and we went on to indoor mini-golf.  JSL was instantly entertained by the black light causing everything to glow. His socks, shorts, ball, fingertips and even his teeth were glowing.  The indoor course is divided into four parts.

Underwater.

Jungle.

Dinosaurs.

Outer Space.

After mini-golfing, we decided to get some ice cream.  NHL and JSL got Mint Cookie Crumble (mint ice cream with chocolate cookie crumble and fudge swirls).  B got Crumbs Along the Mohawk (graham cracker ice cream with graham cracker pieces and a caramel swirl).  I got Mud Season (coffee ice cream with brownie dough pieces and a peanut butter fudge swirl).

We all had a blast.  There’s nothing like laughter, mini-golf and ice cream to wind down summer vacation!

How did you celebrate the end of summer vacation?

The day before NHL’s birthday, we decided to spend some time with Nana, Papa, Uncle I and Cousins S & B.  First, though, we needed to return some Netflix DVDs.  So NHL and JSL walked with me to the mailbox.  Along the way, we spotted some mushrooms growing in someone’s yard. Given the boys’ recent obsession with certain little blue characters, I joked that Smurfs might be living in there.  Luckily, I didn’t see anything come out of the mushrooms as I took photos of them.

With the Netflix DVDs mailed, we piled into the car and went to meet B’s family.  We were meeting them at a local park that hosts a farmer’s market every Saturday.  The boys were a bit annoyed at having to walk through the market since the playground was so close.  Still, we made the best of it and looked at all of the interesting vendors.  Sadly, I didn’t take many photos since I was trying to keep and eye on the little ones while looking at the wares for sale.  At one stand, though, there was a sunflower for sale that a bee had landed on.  I took out my camera and showed JSL and S just how I take bee macro photos.

We returned to the cars to get a quick drink and then off we went to play.  We had taken our Aerobie Sprint Flying Ring, Z-Curve Bow, and Zing-Shot Launcher so we broke those out.  The kids loved tossing the Aerobie or shooting the bow and arrow across the grass.  (The slingshot had a few misfires so I put it away lest it frustrate the younger kids.)

Uncle I had two really good bow-and-arrow shots.  In one, he hit JSL (by accident) from about 50 feet away.   We all laughed about the good shot while JSL proclaimed that he wasn’t hurt because the arrow’s made of soft foam.  The second shot was later on and rocketed a good 150 feet.  It was quite amazing to behold.

At one point, we stopped by a veteran’s memorial in the park.  I’ve been to this park many times and, for some reason, I hadn’t visited this before.  It’s quite impressive (even if the lack of wind kept the flags from unfurling properly).

NHL used the benches at the memorial to show his love for his cousin.

Then, it was on to the park’s pond where we got to see ducks and fishes.

At some point, Uncle I took NHL away.  You see, there’s one thing NHL loves more than anything about this park: the hedge maze.  He was dying to show it to Uncle I.  After a few more minutes admiring the ducks and fish, JSL wanted to show Cousin S the maze also so I walked them over.

Once at the maze, we all went crazy running through it.  JSL even got brave enough to allow himself to be separated from me a few times.

Park play is hungry work, so we all went out to lunch.  Well, we all went to go out to dinner.  Unfortunately, B fell asleep in the car.  (He had skipped an earlier nap so we were expecting this.)  Nana and Papa took him back to their house for some much needed rest while the rest of us ate in the Cheesecake Factory.

Finally, it was time to go back to Nana and Papa’s house to play and (later on) eat dinner with more family.

Yesterday, B wanted to go see a friend for a quick meet-up and dinner.  I was more than happy to watch the boys.  Before she left, though, we settled on what I would do with the boys.  A local park recently paved over their pool and installed a great splash ground.  No, you couldn’t go swimming there anymore, but kids (and grown-ups) could run through the water without fear of anyone drowning.

There was only one problem in this plan: JSL didn’t want to get his face wet.  Now, JSL has no real fear of water.  When it’s raining out and we’re running to the car trying to stay as dry as possible, JSL inevitably declares “I don’t mind. I LIKE getting wet!”

Of course, when Niagara Falls sprayed us all with a fine mist, he cowered into me complaining about the soaking spray.  Where “soaking spray” = “just got us slightly wet enough that we dried off three seconds after the spray ended.”  I’ve gotten wetter running through a light drizzle.

I guess the moral of this story is that JSL likes getting wet only when JSL decides he likes getting wet.  And, even though he had never been to the spray grounds before, he decided that he most definitely did NOT like getting wet there.

I came up with a plan, though.  We went to Target for a few things and we decided to buy the boys a few pool toys to use at the spray grounds (or for when we set up our kiddie pool).  I asked JSL if he’d feel braver with some new toys.  He hesitated.  I added to the pot by volunteering to go into the spray grounds with him.  He smiled and decided that he would be brave with a new toy and daddy along for the soaking wet ride.

Once we got home, we geared up, got suntan lotion applied and went to the spray grounds.  Once we set up shop (aka put JSL’s stroller with our gear in a nice, dry location), I got one of the toys out and the boys tentatively entered the water.

NHL quickly took to the environment, though he was afraid of going under the water sprayers.  When he was young, he dragged me under much worse sprayers at Sesame Place but has since gotten hesitant of them.  JSL, wasn’t sure about entering the water at all.  I walked in and coaxed him in as well.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so the spray grounds was hopping that day.  I’ll admit that I wanted to take my camera with me to take pictures except that 1) I was afraid of my camera getting wet and 2) I was afraid of looking like a weirdo taking photos where kids were in bathing suits.  So I just took a single photo with my camera phone, framing the shot so it’d be clear that only my kids were in the photo.

The boys quickly make a bunch of new friends.  Kids would come up to them and ask to play with them… or maybe it was the cool new toys (a beach ball, soft “frisbee”, water football and 2 water balls).  Either way, they all had fun tossing the items and then running after them.  I even got into the fun throwing (or chasing after) items.

Lest you think it was only me playing with kids, though, I had some grown-up interactions also.  I spoke with quite a few moms who were there with their kids.  It was wonderful talking with them and seeing the various kids interacting.

Some fun moments (in no particular order):

• PRESS THE BUTTON! – There is a big red button that controls the water flow.  Pressing it gives you about 10 minutes of water time.  After that, the flow gets cut back and you need to press the button again.  This saves water in case nobody is in the splash grounds.  You would think us grown ups would get tired of pushing the button so often, but we didn’t.  We didn’t press it once.  Instead, when the water pressure dropped, the kids all shouted “PRESS THE BUTTON” at once and made a mad dash to be the one who pressed it.  NHL got it a few times and JSL even got it once or twice.  They were so proud of being the ones to turn the water back on.  Water conservation + Extra fun for kids = Double Win!
• The One Year Old – A mom was there with her one year old boy (and a second on the way).  He was having fun just sitting or standing in the water.  While the boys were playing I chatted briefly with her.  Her boy kept smiling at me and it just melted my heart.  I just love babies.  (Though, no, B and I don’t plan on having another baby!)
• It’s Raining, It’s Pouring – To help JSL get over his fear of water on his head, I playfully picked him up, said “oh no! It’s raining and I forgot my umbrella!” and ran under one of the water sprayers.  (One that really came down like rain.)  JSL told me he had one and held up a pretend umbrella.  When we got out of “the rain” and I put him down, he demanded we run through it again.  Bye-bye fear, hello fun!
• Sunglasses Almost Go Bye-Bye – In an effort to show one of the kids how easy it was to stay under one of the sprayers (one that forcefully sprayed water down), I almost lost my sunglasses.  They got pushed right off my face, the water pressure was so strong.  Luckily, I caught them.  The next time I went under that water, I was smart and removed my glasses first.

Before long, it was time to leave.  Leaving, however, turned out to be not so easy to do.  I first told them it was time to leave at about 4:15.  Then, I relented and gave them until 4:30.  Then, I got to talking with a mom about some stuff and realized it was 4:35.  So I said we’d stay until 4:45.  At 4:50, NHL was still complaining about leaving, so I told him we could stay for 5 more minutes if he stayed under the water sprayers (the rain-like ones mentioned above) for 5 seconds.  He did it so we stayed.

Finally, it was at 5pm and we really had to leave.  They still protested so I told them we could do one more run-through the rain-sprayers.  We said ready-set-go and off we went.  We came back dripping wet and laughing.  We headed for home, but not before I promised the boys that we could come back again soon.  Maybe next time B will join us and take photos or, even better, join us in the water!

Three years ago, on a visit to B’s brother, we decided to go cherry picking.  While I love picking fruits and vegetables, I’ll admit that I was skeptical.  After all, I don’t like cherries.  Never have.

Still, I went and had a blast.  We picked a ton of cherries.  One great thing about cherry picking was that the trees were so short that we could easily reach the top branches and NHL (then 4) could easily reach the bottom branches.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S (then 1 and almost-1 respectfully) sat in their strollers holding hands.  We collected 22 pounds of cherries.  Enough for everyone to split and feast.  I wound up trying a few and, for the first time ever, found that I loved cherries.  Especially the rainier variety which tastes like peaches.

Last year, we went with B’s brother, his wife, Cousin S, and B’s parents.  Between all of us, we collected 33 pounds.

So how did we do when we went cherry picking yesterday?

We arrived at the cherry fields, got some buckets and hopped on the wagon.

We could have walked, but the kids loved this.  It was like a ride before the cherry picking fun.  Once we got off the wagon, we headed to the trees.

As you can see, there were cherries everywhere.  We immediately got to picking.  NHL went on a quest to find the perfect cherry.  Meanwhile, JSL and Cousin S formed a team to work together.  Cousin B just was happy having room to move and big buckets to try to tip over.  (He didn’t manage to, but he was having a blast once we let him loose.)

One big challenge was keeping them from eating too many cherries.  Ok, let’s admit it… We ate a lot of cherries too.  They were just too tasty!  Still, most of the cherries wound up in the buckets until they were filled.

So how many cherries was this?

Yup, we picked 45.2 pounds of cherries.  Even after we split it with B’s brother, give some to B’s parents and perhaps to some others, that’s a LOT of cherries to eat.  Luckily, they’re healthy as well as tasty.

Hmm…. I wonder if there are any cherry peppermint recipes.

On Sunday, with the boys going stir-crazy and driving us just-plain-crazy, I put the boys in the car and headed to a park that we heard had a new spray ground.  The spray ground looked really cool and we’ll have to go back there one day.  For today, though, the boys were content with playing on the drier equipment.

After picking up B and going to lunch, we decided to head to another park for another quick playtime.  At this park, the boys’ favorite attraction is the hedge maze.

Of course, they went on normal playground equipment as well.  As usual, NHL went off on his own while JSL insisted that I accompany him.  Thus all of the photos coming up are of JSL.

And, just because I like this photo, here are some budding flowers on one of our bushes

What playground features do your kids enjoy the most?

While you’re here, remember to enter my Outback Steakhouse gift certificate giveaway.