What we did on our Thanksgiving break

Since we were all (all of us, I swear) itching for a change of scenery, and the weather was stunning, we decided on a last minute road trip.

We packed the car with juice boxes, trail mix, a whole jar of peanut butter, M&M's, and were on the road by mid-day Wednesday.

Our first stop (not counting rest stops, of course, because you know there were a lot of those) was Hershey, PA. We took the free factory tour, ate the free samples, and crashed at a hotel for the night.


Thursday we drove to Washington, DC. All of the Smithsonian museums on the Mall were open, so we spent the afternoon at the Air and Space museum. W1 and L1 were in heaven.


That night we had a Chinese-food-take-out Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious. And Charlie Brown was on TV, so that completed the evening for us.


Back on the National Mall the next morning, we walked around the Capitol building.


And up to the Postal Museum. This was one museum R1 and I hadn't been in before, and thought the kids would like it, too.


It was pretty cool. But, considering the confusing juxtaposition of things you could touch and things you couldn't touch, it's impressive we only got yelled at once.

After a quick picnic lunch, we went to the Natural History museum. It was a bit crowded so we went upstairs into the farthest corners. In the insect zoo, we saw lots of creepy stuff.


We also spent a lot of time in the Forensic lab learning about bones, and putting together a skeleton.


We ended the night with a bang at the Shake Shack in Dupont Circle. Their caramel shakes are a can't miss.

Saturday was spent viewing the White House,


at the holiday miniature train display at the National Botanic Gardens,


the Native American Museum,


and the Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. That place is huge.

On the road home Sunday, we stopped in Gettysburg, PA for a short tour of the battlefield.

We climbed to the top of Big Round Top, freaked L1 out by sitting too close to the edge of the cliff, jumped off every rock we could find, then settled in for the long drive home.


By 8pm we were home. It was fun, perhaps we'll do it again next year?

You'll never guess...

... another hike!


This one from the Abraham Lincoln Park out to Irondequoit Bay.


The trail wound through some mud and tall grass, so we told the kids we were going on a bear hunt. W1 did NOT like that.


And at some point we must have asked W1 and L1 a particularly difficult question (average rainfall in the Amazon basin?), because here they are pondering it out.


I'm not sure what L1 was saying here, but I can hear in my head exactly the tone of voice that goes with that expression!


We watched the sun set over the bay, then hightailed it back to our car while we could still see the way!

Tinker Nature Park

Tinker Nature park was on our to-be-explored list for a very long time. When an empty sunny Saturday morning rolled around, we finally had our chance.


The nature hike is fabulous. Signs and boxes with things inside to touch: fox pelts, bark, snake skin, etc. There is a nature center, and a little museum, as well.


It was sunny enough for H1 to discover her shadow. They had a nice long conversation.


It seems like this autumn has been full of beautiful days. We almost don't know how to handle it!

Halloweenish stuff

In the week leading up to Halloween, we made the obligatory pumpkin sugar cookies,


(do you love the retro-red counter top? Nah, me either.)

went on a haunted hayride,


explored some haunted teepees,


and watched the kindergartners parade around the parking lot in costume.



But then, like the terrible, terrible record-keepers that we are, we didn't take any (ANY!) pictures of the kids in their costumes on Halloween. No cute pictures of them traipsing in a pack around the neighborhood, consuming candy by the handful, spiraling out of control...

Just believe that all of those things happened, and they had a marvelous time.

Ganondagan State Historic Site

While autumn was still in it's stunning (and warm) glory, we spent a Saturday morning at the Ganondagan State Historic Site.


We practiced our hiking skills on their nature trail. There were signs identifying plants and how they were used by the Native Americans.



In the little visitor center, we picked up a scavenger hunt for the kids. It was a sort of hiking BINGO. They had a great time searching for the items on the list.


It was a fun little hike!

Apple picking overload.

Between the preschool apple farm field trip, and our 3 apple picking Saturdays, we've worn out our apple pickers.


On the last trip, the kids picked an apple or two apiece, and spent the rest of the time charging up and down the rows.


But, nothing tastes better than these fresh, sun-warmed apples!

A quick weekend away.

While the weather was autumn-in-upstate-New-York-gorgeous, we snuck out for a quick camping trip weekend.

First stop? Fort Stanwix.

It was fabulous for the kids; large fields of grass for running, tall grass to hide in, hills to roll down.

It's a large wooden fort from the 18th century, complete with cannons and pikes upon which to impale the enemy.

We camped next to a beautiful lake and spent the night listening to the ever increasing wind, and feeling the steadily dropping temperature.

In the morning we shiveringly packed up the car, then made a quick stop at the Oriskany Battlefield, site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War.

We ran up and down the hills, climbed a tree and ate some (not tasty) wild apples.

Then we drove (with heater on full blast) to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institue in Utica. We toured some of the permanent collection with surprisingly well behaved children, and played together in the kid's area.


On the way home, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch. W1 and L1 were gleeful at the thought of "eating at a restaurant!".

For them, it was probably the highlight.