Big time play

Has it really already been a week since we left New York?

Here are some more photos from our visit to the children's museum in Rochester. The miniature Wegman's grocery store was a lot of fun: Sydney got to push around a cart, pick out what to "buy" and then go check-out, with Ellie as the helpful cashier.

After that we had to re-shelve the items back where we found them, and suddenly the exhibit wasn't so interesting to Sydney any more. Imagine that!

We caught up to the rest of the group at the next exhibit, a mini-theatre. AJ and Ellie had fun trying on costumes, ultimately settling on just vests before dancing across the stage.

Meanwhile, there were lots of fun things to do behind the scenes, controlling the lights, camera and sound effects.

The giant carousel was fun. Of course the kids couldn't sit near each other, making it impossible to get a group shot.

My favorite exhibit was fairytale land, which included the giant's playroom from Jack and the Beanstalk. Cinderella's pumpkin coach was also there, as was a kitchen, though I forget what story it was supposed to be from. Here's a shocker: AJ was whistling when I took this photo.

A play boat was another treat, with the kids having fun in the crew's sleeping quarters.

We lucked out during our visit. While we were inside, a big rainstorm passed over, the only significant rain we had the entire time we were in New York.

Busted at bedtime

At bedtime last night, Sydney gave me crystal clear proof we've read Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom far, far too many times.

As we settled onto her bed, she pointed to the book she'd selected and asked, "Is this your favorite story, Mommy?"

"No, it's not my favorite," I answered honestly.

Sydney looked stunned. She pointed to Dora's World Adventure. "Is this your favorite story?"

"No," I answered again.

"Do you like Diego?" she asked, clearly searching for common ground.

"I like Dora and Diego," I said. "They're just not my favorite."

Either that answer satisfied her, or she just wanted to get going with the bedtime story, because she turned her attention back to Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom.

Because it was late, and because I really am quite sick of the story, I attempted to speed things along by paraphrasing and abbreviating. We were several pages into it when Sydney interrupted me, "No, Mom. That's not how it goes."

"What?" I asked.

She corrected me, "It says, 'Once upon a time a mean Octopus dumped garbage all over the Mermaid Kingdom. Luckily, a mermaid named Mariana found a magic crown so she could wish all the garbage away.'"

My turn to look stunned! She had just recited almost perfectly one of the longer pages word-for-word.

I told her she was exactly right, and proceeded to read the story much more carefully. Every so often, I'd pause to see if she could finish the rest of the sentence. Note to self: the next time you read the story, which will probably be tonight, wait until after page 12 to start paraphrasing. She doesn't have it quite memorized that far back.

Another note: come Christmas program time, if she's okay standing in front of crowds, I have no doubt she could memorize a line or two.

Soccer - New York style

One of the perks of having an uncle and aunt who help coach youth soccer, is that when they have practice on a night that you happen to be visiting them, they let you sneak onto the team.

I do believe AJ was exposed to more cultural diversity during that one hour, than he will experience in his next 12 years in Esko.

So what if was wearing borrowed (from Ben) shin guards and t-shirt, plus regular tennis shoes, AJ had a ball running around the field with his cousins and the rest of their "team". I use that term loosely because the program is set up so that the kids aren't really on a team. Each practice, everyone shows up, each coach takes the 10 kids closest to them, and off they go. The first half hour is spent running fun drills like "sharks and minnows," during which the kids run around and chase each other.

And then they switched to a different game: frogs and flies, during which the kids... run around and chase each other (with the added element of kicking the ball at each other.)

The second half hour is spent with the team divided in two, playing a game against each other. Of course, by then, most of the kids' attention spans were shot. It was much more fun to wrestle with cousins.

Overall, AJ did a really good job. He ran hard and chased after the ball rather than planting himself by the goal. Aunt Jennie told us he's a natural. This was a great warm-up for his own soccer season, which starts (I believe) next week.

Ring - Ring - Ring

I really love where we live: it's a quiet street in a fairly rural area. From a kid's perspective, too, it's a pretty good place to grow up. Though they now know there's something lacking:

An ice cream truck. During our visit to Rochester, I recognized the ring, ring, ring of the truck from a couple blocks away. Knowing this would be a unique experience for them, I couldn't let it just pass by. It's a summer time tradition. It's the kind of memory all kids should have. It's a bit of Americana. It's ice cream on a hot summer night!

So we gathered the kids and Jeff attempted to let each of them choose a treat. There were about a dozen different options, and seven kids total (eight if you count me.) I think my kids were simply in awe of the opportunity. A truck pulls up and sells you ice cream. How cool is that?!?

I think the neighbors thought I was a little strange for getting so excited, until I explained why I considered this to be a special moment. Ultimately, they recognized the fun, too, running for their camera to get a photo also.

So I don't forget, the kids are: top row - AJ, Sydney and Ben. Bottom row: Acadia, Ellie and Zollie. The girls sitting with Ellie live next door. Acadia, we learned, is just two weeks older than Sydney. We bought a treat for another neighbor boy also, though he had to run home before the photo was taken. That was an interesting moment. The boy is an Orthodox Jew, which means he had to make sure his treat was kosher. Something else we probably won't ever experience in our neighborhood.

Clearly, as I expected, the night was a memorable one. The next morning, we could hear a truck horn honking down the street. AJ looked at me hopefully, "Is that the ice cream truck?"

Now that they've had the experience, I can go back to loving everything about where we live. Including the fact that we don't have to deal with ice cream trucks and the whining that would no doubt result, "Can we please get something?"

MarineLand

Obviously I knew that Niagara Falls had a lot of water. But I had no idea it had water like this!

MarineLand is like a small Sea World, though I give them credit for developing shows and exhibits that set them apart. For instance, the stars of MarineLand seems to be the dolphins. That was clearly evident when we allowed each of the kids to pick out one souvenir. And they all picked the same thing.

The whale exhibits were also fun. They were set up in a way that allowed us to get surprisingly close. (Is that due to a difference in liability insurance costs in Canada versus the U.S., I wonder?) The Killer Whales swam in a large pool with only a 3-foot wall around the edge, so we could look right over at them.

The calmer Beluga Whales were in a similar exhibit, where kids could touch and feed them. Sydney was quite excited about the opportunity initially. Afterall, as she repeatedly told me, "Diego saves Beluga whales!"

Alas, when it came time to get up close to the big guy/gal, she wanted nothing to do with it. Not a problem! Her protective big brother was more than willing to take her turn. What a guy!

AJ informed me later that the whales felt like rubber.

One of the funniest moments came right at the beginning. All of the kids were beyond excited as they ran toward the entrance. I was with Sydney in the rear and could see, as they got closer to the ticket counter, that - almost in unison - Jeff grabbed AJ and Scott grabbed Ben. I assumed the two dads were giving the boys a "settle down" sort of instruction. No. The two dads had caught sight of the ticket prices, which showed kids four and younger were free, while five-year-olds were $32.95. Just as I caught up to them, I overheard AJ exclaim to Ben, "They want us to be four!"

Thankfully, AJ's still young enough to just find this oddly amusing, rather than a reason to question everything we've tried to teach him about the importance of honesty.

Mackinaw!

We've found ourselves almost back where we started. We're in Mackinaw City and plan to head out to the Island today. We'll stay here again tonight before loading up the kids for one more long car ride.

And then vacation is over. Back to reality. Back to work on Tuesday morning.

(Sigh.)

Hard to believe it was nine days ago that we set out. We stopped in Mackinaw that first day to let the kids run around and to give Jeff a break from driving. Note that I did not say our brief stop gave Jeff a chance to rest. The kids kept him busy. After all, there were cannons in the park, so of course AJ needed Daddy to be a soldier. (I believe if you click on the photo, it will enlarge so you can see the look on AJ's face as he orders Jeff to fire the cannon.)

Next we headed into the Mackinaw Crossings shopping area. We switched kids and AJ and I headed in search of "the knight store," so he could find a replacement sword for the one he bought here (and subsequently broke) on our last visit.

There were some musicians performing on a small stage in the center of the Crossings. When I looked back, I noticed another performer had been inspired by their music.


We spent a little time on the playground. It was interesting to watch AJ. He was three the last time we were here. And while he doesn't really remember much from that last visit, I could tell he was experiencing flashes of deja vu.

Of course we couldn't leave without stopping for ice cream. I know that Mackinaw is famous for its fudge, but I just don't find rich chocolate to be all that appealing when it's 85+ degrees. Mix that famous fudge into ice cream, however, and now we're onto something!

Mmmm... ice cream. Ahhh... vacation.

The casual Super Heroes

Such masters of disguise! AJ and Ellie look so relaxed as they scale
this skyscraper at the children's museum, you'd almost think they were
just laying down for a photo that was turned sideways.

But we all know they'd be ready for action at a moment's notice.
Right? Right?

Forces of evil, beware. These cousins are coming after you. And
they're quite a team. At the playground, AJ informed me that he and
Ellie were pretending they were married. Of course I'll be sure to
remind them in years to come of their efforts to be a super couple.
Won't they love that?!?