A Long Weekend

Well since Geoff had to work all summer we decided that we would take the first school holiday weekend and go somewhere. Well that was just a few days ago, Columbus day! We debated between heading towards Salem, MA. or going up to Niagra Falls. We decided on Friday night we would head North. We booked a hotel in Canada for Saturday night but left Sunday open. We got up early and headed out. It is a beautiful time of year to be driving. The leaves are so vibrant and full of color. I did sleep the first hour but that is okay because it was still dark outside.

We arrived at the Falls around 11:00am. I thought they were beautiful. The whole area is. I did understand why everyone says you need to go to the Canadian side. The American side may have some better access to the falls but the view by far is better from the Canadian side. We took the maid of the Mist boat ride. Mainly you get wet! Really wet! The park around the falls was a nice place to sit back and take it all in, and a good place for the younger boys to wrestle!

We had a great hotel, the biggest one that Jake has been in!!! We went swimming and crashed at bedtime. Well at least me. We slowly got moving and checked out and headed to Rochester to The Strong Museum. A great place, we were having a blast. One last stop the Harry Potter area and the boys were making magic wands. I sat my hand full of stuff down so that I could assist in the many demands on me (how do you roll this, i need tape, where is the paper, I want a silver one). Finally, not only have we made magic wands but wizard hats too! Now, I need to get a picture. Oh! wait I can't because someone has stolen my camera, and most importantly all the great pictures from the day! I mean I really had some great pictures. Well I let it ruin my day for awhile, I am still sore about it! So no pictures but it was a great place.

Off to our next destination. Palmyra. Now we haven't ever been to this area and we don't know where we are staying. The miles are getting closer and we are yet to see a Hotel. We get into Palmyra and pull over to a gas station. I go in an ask and they tell me that there is one hotel in the town. We cross our fingers (so far we had been lucky, managed to get over the border without my birth certificate) and yes we pull up to the Palmyra Inn and they have a vacancy! McDonald's drive-thru is dinner. And to the hot tub the boys and I go!

We get up the next morning (yesterday) and get going, by 9:30 we are out the door and headed out. We start at the furthest church history site and work our way towards Hill Cumorah. It was all so amazing. Beautiful, interesting and well amazing! We saw a lot of great things, and I learned a lot too! It was 3:30 and we hadn't stopped yet, we know we have about a 3.5 hour drive a head of us and the kids have school so we head out! Thankfully we bought a new camera and have pictures to show of this day! Words alone don't do justice!

A Lesson Learned

So I ask you a simple question. You are asked to go on a fieldtrip to a museum....What do you wear and what do you take? Last year when I went to the Children's Museum we had snow outside so naturally I wore a heavy coat. On the bus it got warm, so I took it off. At the musem they took all the kids coats and threw them in a bin so I opted to carry mine, along with my purse.

So Monday we wake-up and it is very cold, the grass is covered in little specs of ice. So I put on Jeans and a long sleeve shirt, but forgo the Jacket. My car will have heat, the bus will have heat and the museum will have heat. Ohhh did I make a mistake, the Museum was not entirely your typical museum. This was on Native Americans, that were native to this area. Most of what we did was outside. Now despite all of the shivering, I did find this an interesting place. When we first arrived we did go inside, now at first the room had a chill, but of course I had just been on a heated bus. The rain was coming down pretty hard. We learned how the Indians made food, fortunatley or unfortunately due to the weather we did not tour the garden but all tried to peak out the door to see what she was talking about. Now it was time to go outside to the Wigwam, very cool, and cold, but yes I was amazed at all the hard work that went into these, and how well they used their resources. Next to the fire starting station, I had wished one had already been started. We were under a canopy and again it was very interesting but at this point I can barely feel my toes. For the last part we go back inside, now this time the room did feel nice. We were told a very cool story and we went home. Lesson learned, ask!

For Julie but feel free to browse!

OKay Julie here are the pictures of the rooms. You can click on them to get a bigger picture. The first is the hallway just to show the trim, then the family room, next kitchen and then our front room! Ignore the mess, the stairs are still under construction and so is Jake's puzzle.

Is Chandler heavy enough to drive the lawnmower?

Geoff thought it would be fun for Chandler to try and drive the lawnmower, he left him a small patch of grass in the front yard. After full safety and driving instructions he let him go. He was doing fine, I was a bit surprised at how well he seemed to be handling it. Then "bang" what the heck was that. He tries again!Again he is driving smooth and then the mower starts to stutter and "bang" again. What the heck is going on? This never happens when Geoff or I drive the mower, and then we realize...a safety factor has been built in to the mower, if you get off the seat it shuts down the mower. Well Chandler is so light that the mower wants to shut down but he is pressing on the gas! Lucky kid it will be awhile before we can make him mow the lawn!

More on the Stairs

Well I know this isn't the most exciting thing to read on my blog, but since this is a mini diary for me and these stairs are taking up most of my life...that is what you will get.

Although I might add that I am having a very difficult time finding jeans that will fit me now. A big problem...it is starting to get cold and I donated all my clothes from last year, cause of course they don't fit and I don't ever want to fit into them again.

Well back on the real reason I am blogging. We are now on a new phase of the stairs, all of the trim is painted white, and the banister is sanded, and we are finally rid of the green walls that I have very much disliked for the past 2 and some years. YEAH! Now Geoff is a bit tired of his time off spending on this project, and their is so much more to be done. Home Depot is not done with us yet! Stay tuned for the final reveal, or maybe something else exciting will happen first. One never knows!

The Stairs

One of the bigger projects that we have taken on in this house. When I did the molding it was a lot of tedious work. I wish that I would have taken pictures of the stages but I didn't. This time we are working on the steps. The carpet on the stairs looked awful, and we have wanted wood steps ever since we moved in....Geoff did his research and we had a few options, one we could have hired someone, but what fun would that be and what would we be teaching our children...lol, another was to do them ourselves and again more options. When we pulled up the carpet we had nice pine planks, so we are attempting to use them. At this point Geoff has removed all the carpet, staples, etc. and has sanded out all the watermaks, stain drips and any of the other major flaws. We taped them off and begin priming the baseboards and the backs of the stairs so that we can paint them white. That is where it is now...lots of blue painter tape, white primer and very pretty raw pine. The boys want to keep the blue tape, they think it looks cool. Oh I forgot to say this was Geoffs first day of his vacation....you should see his list!

Picking Fruit

One of the greatest things about living in upstate New York is all of the fresh veggies, and more importantly the rasberries and apples. Preston and I went with Mary Jane and Jade to pick some rasberries and then we grabbed some apples. Preston didn't really like the rasberries but I really did and I so I picked and picked. I brought them home, half were put into a sealed container and the other half I left in the cardboard box...2 days later I pull them out to chow down and they were on their way to being antibiotics. I was able to salvage the rest but without hesitation threw them into the freezer. Good news is the 15lbs of apples are just fine and I will be making apple crisp Sunday night.