Yikes, it has been a loooong time since we have posted here. The Europe posts are a lot more time intensive than I thought (maybe that is because there are a bazillion pictures to go through). Anyway in the meantime, here are some non-Europe posts. I promise to get back to those... but for now, let's catch up on our last few months!
Back in June was Men's Weekend - Tim went to that along with all of the other menfolk. Mom, Cameron, Leah and I decided to have a fun weekend away from home. We went down to Ithaca for the day and started out at the Sciencenter. We had been there back in March and the kids loved it, so we decided to go back.
As soon as we walked in, Cameron knew straight where he wanted to go. His memory always amazes me - I guess he is old enough now to remember stuff, but he gets the details right down even though he had only been here once a few months before. We went to the water table, and Cam knew exactly what he wanted to do: catch all the ducks in a "cage"!
Leah liked splashing and trying to steal ducks from Cameron
Yum, chlorinated stainless steel is delicious!
Leah suce
Next we headed outside. This part was closed when we were here last, so we were very excited to check it out. There was a really cool waterfall that lead into a little river area. You could make dams with bricks, send ducks down the waterfall, and of course, splash around.
Cam made another cage for the ducks. Are we sensing a theme here?
Once again, Leah liked to take the ducks from Cam's caged area.
There was also a music area with tons of different drums, xylophones, etc. Both kids really liked it.
Even Leah could reach so she was having lots of fun.
Cameron the Spider Man, climbing the web
Back inside we went to check out lots of other exhibits.
A little bit of air in the face!
Leah liked putting the beach ball on the air jet.
Cameron holding a hermit crab. He also held a starfish.
Our St. Louis Arch
Another of Cam's favorite exhibits - a giant coin spiral, where the pennies are already included (Mama's wallet likes this one!). He could have stayed at this, sending pennies down the spiral, for hours.
In this exhibit, you turn the wheel and the gears turn. Each of the gears represents one of the place values - ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. Every one million turns, the gear in the millionths place has a bar that knocks over a wine glass. The glass had just been knocked over a few weeks before we were there, so although the kids did lots of turns, we didn't get anywhere near one million.
Cameron riding the triceratops. By this point, Leah was tired out and had no interest in riding with Cameron.
Once we were done at the Sciencenter, we drove up the west side of Cayuga Lake and stopped at Taughannock Falls. I had never been there before and it was so pretty! The hike up to the falls was about a half mile, but it was an easy walk (we could take the stroller). On the way up there were tons of little falls. Also lots of people swimming and playing in the river and small falls.
Kiddos with mini falls
Very pretty falls
Cameron, Mama and Leah with Taughannock Falls in the background
Cameron and Nana
Mama and kiddos again
On the walk back, the sky got dark and then we heard thunder. We quickened our pace and got to the car and put the kids in just as the sky opened up. It was very good timing! After the falls, we headed north along Cayuga Lake. Both Cam and Leah immediately fell asleep, which I was very glad about. On the way up, we stopped at a few wineries. Mom and I took turns going in and tasting (and buying!) some wine while the kids napped.
We stayed a hotel in Auburn that had an indoor pool. Everyone had stayed there back in March and we went to swim, so we knew it was nice. We had dinner at the Irish pub and then went in the pool. The water was so warm and the kids had a great time swimming.
The next day we were headed home on the Thruway when we came to a complete stop. After being passed (with much difficulty) by police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance, we knew it was going to be a long wait. Everyone turned off their cars and started getting out. Kids were playing on the hills on the side of the Thruway and people were hanging out and walking up the road trying to figure out what was going on.
Leah explores the road cones
She found a rock!
Nana with Cam and Leah in the middle of the Thruway
Cameron had lots of fun playing on the side of the road
Nana and Leah killing time (an hour) until traffic started moving again
After an hour or two at a standstill, we started moving again. We got home with no other problems.
The whole weekend was so much fun. We had lots of fun with Nana and the kids were really well behaved. We don't need Men's Weekend to have fun!!
