Posts from — December 2009

It ain’t my favorite holiday.  I’ve had a dull time, and a decent time, and a couple of horrifyingly bad times.  I’ve gone out dancing with the girls, where we suffered from the high expectations of New Year’s Eve:  each venue seemed either not good enough or too expensive, so we’d wander to the next one, which also. . . wasn’t quite right.  I’ve shivered in Times Square, which is something that tourists want to do in NYC, but since I was a New Yorker and it was my in-laws’ idea,  I spent the evening rolling my eyes in horror that I was even among the huddled and drunken masses.  Another year, my sisters and I were the tourists and foolishly joined the drunken masses on the Champs Élysées.  We were not previously aware, but going out among them with light hair secretly meant that, yes, we would like to be fondled and kissed, in spite of our “show” of  kicking and screaming.  All sorts of cheerful people looked on, smiling pleasantly-talk about some cultural confusion!  When the guys from Brooklyn saved us, I was lying on the street, surrounded.  That was more than 20 years ago (!!) and I’m still grateful.  Another time I was sure I’d have fun: we had a fancy party to go to, and I wore a fabulous dress.  But my husband’s most irritating friend spent the evening attached to us as if he were the third spouse, even sulking and begging us not to dance.  On the way home I finally snapped and let him know what I really thought of him.  Oh, dear.  I’ve also done sleeping on the couch in front of the tv, of course, but that’s no fun.

And tonight we’ll do one of my favorites:  a casual party with friends where the grown-ups and the kids are all happy to see each other, and the kids disappear somewhere in the recesses of the house.   We’ll still be home well before midnight, but I’d rather be tucked in bed, anyway.

So what are you doing?  Here are some ideas:

Saratoga’s doing First Night.  If you’ve never “done” a First Night before, you buy yourself a button to gain admittance to oodles of different cultural events.  Buttons are $15, kids 5 and under are free, and events begin at 6 pm.

Schenectady has a fireworks display downtown at 9:30 pm.  It’s called the Bicentennial Celebration because this is Schenectady County’s 200th birthday.

In case you were wondering, Albany doesn’t do a First Night celebration because they decided to switch to the Winter Festival a few years back–I think that they realized that the most enthusiastic participants were families, so they made it even more family friendly by doing an event that’s free during the day.

If all of these sound way too late for you, remember that there are other events during the day to celebrate the new year.

Another one I didn’t catch earlier is that Bethlehem Public Library in Delmar is doing a countdown to noon activity.  Or, if you’re up for a drive, the Village of Fort Plain, about an hour west, has a Snowman contest and scavenger hunt during the day and more events into the evening.

So far I’ve gathered up more than 70 links to share with you!  My list  includes places that appear to be really unbelievably fun, and I can’t believe I’d never heard of them.  It also includes obvious ones, sure, but conveniently located in one place for you to bookmark and use forever and ever–oh, happy day.

A gajillion thanks to Brian for fixing it so my links are prettier (to ME, even if you didn’t notice).

And where is this glorious link page, you may ask?  Well, I’m still working on it.   It’s coming soon.  But meanwhile, if you know about something not-obvious, but cultural or sports-y or helpful to the pregnant/new mom or just plain fun and you think we should all know about it, email me or comment, s’il vous plaît!

After magic the other day, we did enjoy some culinary adventures while we were in downtown Albany.  We went to Van’s Vietnamese Restaurant on Central Avenue.   The girls loved it–they have some very good child-friendly choices.  Plain rice or vermicelli will prevent starvation for super-picky eaters, but my girls loved the Lemongrass Chicken as well as the  Sliced Beef with Summer Rolls.  Or maybe it was Spring Rolls?   Whichever.  They picked suspiciously at the uncooked ones that the grown ups preferred, but magically, tossing the rolls in hot oil makes them child-friendly!  Voilà!  Hey, maybe Van’s should do a show!   Okay, now I’m just getting unnecessarily snarky. . . . In any case, we all liked it.  I only wish that I could order a to-go bouquet of the carrot flowers that they used for garnish, because fresh vegetables are rarely received with such fervent wonder.

Even though we were unbelievably stuffed, we had to stop by the Honest Weight Food Co-op since we were so close.  The big attraction is the cheese section, where I defy you to taste the samples without purchasing something.  We had never noticed that there’s even a little file index where you can write down the names of your favorite cheeses for future reference.  Yay.  I was pleased and impressed when my big girl tried and liked some fabulously sophisticated & expensive cheese until I realized that we might have to share it with her.  Luckily, she’s pretty loyal to her Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar on Saltines.  Anyway, I was poking around the Co-op website and I noticed that they post a free samples schedule!  How fun is that?  Man, I wish they were closer to me!

Keep in mind that I’ve already listed some break activities in my Winter Break is Looming post.  Those items were theoretically supposed to be planned for well ahead of time.  But so far, whenever I’ve called about something, there’s still been space available.

Meanwhile, here are  some more ideas around the Capital District.  I’ve tried to keep them in chronological order, although at the end there are a few things that are offered for several days in a row.

Monday 12/28

• At the William K. Sanford library, they’re showing kid-friendly movies: at Pixar shorts at 10 am and Up at 6:30 pm.
• At the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology, there’s a program about Snow from 1-2 pm for $2 plus admission.  It’s designed for kids 5 and over, and pre-registration is required.  Yup, I missed it for my planning ahead post, but I just (late afternoon Saturday) called and there was still plenty of room.

Tuesday 12/29

• At the Saratoga Children’s Museum, there’s a playtime designed for very young children from 10 am-12 pm.  It’s free with museum admission.
• At the William K. Sanford library, there’s a “Music & Motion” program at 10 am.
• At the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology, there’s a crafty experiment at 1 pm for kids 6 and older.  It’s $2 plus admission.
• The downtown Schenectady Public Library will have a Mr. Magicman show at 2:30 pm—no registration required.
• There are funny stories for kids at 3 pm at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library.  It’s free.
• At the New York State Museum, there’s a free Kwanzaa celebration from 4–9 pm. [Read more →]

Just came home from Steamer 10.  Our original plan had been to take Grandma & Grandpa to Snow Queen later this week, but then they changed their plane tickets and that wouldn’t work.  I let the girls choose something else, since everyone still wanted to do some theater.  Let me just say, magic isn’t my cup of tea, anyway.  And my sweet husband had taken the girls to Steamer 10 before, but I’d never been there.

So. . . love Steamer 10.  An interesting building, friendly staff, popcorn for $1, and it’s so small that there’s not a bad seat in the house.

The magic. . .  not so much.  Bless her heart, she was trying, and the children enjoyed it for sure.  She came out with a microphone strapped directly in front of her face and immediately began to weakly warble a song that was about 3 minutes too long.  Have you ever watched tv or a movie, (maybe an afterschool special, or the Little House episode where Laura decides to stuff her shirt with apples so that it will look like she will have large, knobby breasts?) and it’s so awkward and embarrassing to watch that it’s almost physically painful?  It felt like that.  I mean, she was trying, and she wasn’t terrible, but I’m one of those people who can never pay enough attention to “get” the tricks, and even I could get them this time.

Then she was asking for helpers from the audience, and of course that always causes anxiety because my big girl always wants to help and she never gets picked.  That makes me nutty.  And then, one kid who came onstage as a helper was so obnoxious that it was really stressful to watch.  I mean, seriously, the kid was yelling, picking up random props, and tickling the magician when he was supposed to hold her hand.  It was out of control and the magic lady was losing her cool.  Meanwhile, the obnoxious kid’s grandmother–I kid you not–was feebly calling his name from the back of the audience in a vain attempt to remind him to behave.  We went directly to intermission as soon as she managed to push him off the stage.  And, I mean, he didn’t get off the stage when she asked him to, so she almost did have to push him.  So any rhythm that the magic lady might have obtained was utterly lost.

Watching the show just made me tense, but it was even worse because I’d said that I was going on this blog.  So it felt like I’d made a tacit endorsement, like I was recommending the show.  Therefore,  I’m throwing out an official disclaimer, I guess.  Sometimes I’ll be able to tell you:  I’ve done this and we had fun.  Sometimes I’m just listing things and I don’t know how it will be.  In fact, in these cases I would love comments to help me–and us–find out more about activities.  I really do think it will be so much more effective if people contribute.   But the worst part is that when we do something that’s not fun for us, argh. . . I guess that I have to be honest about that, too.  Although it’s painful, and I’m not naming the poor lady in case she likes to Google herself.

Just quickly–

We’re going to see Magic at Steamer 10 — they’re already in the car!  Apparently many of these vacation shows are still available.

Jennifer Silverman, one of the editors of My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities, will be signing books at 2 pm at the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza today.

Okay, every single summer, I say to myself that this is the year that I’m going to catch the New York City ballet at SPAC, and every year the beginning of summer flies by and I realize that I’ve missed it again.  I don’t want that kind of heartache to befall you, gentle reader, so allow me to call your attention to the Albany Institute of History & Art’s Hudson River Panorama exhibition, which is closing on January 3rd.  It feels like it’s been there forever, and I still haven’t made it, but by golly I’m going to try.  I even have a free pass!   I figure that if I hit that one and make it to 1609 at the New York State Museum, I’ll be able to give a symposium on the Dutch exploration of North America, or at least make sure my kid’s learning fair display kicks all the other kids’ butts.  No, actually, I’m a history chick, so I love that stuff, and I’ve even walked through 1609, but I had my girls with me, so I was not able to devote the attention it so richly deserved.  I was being dragged to the subway car, again.

Here are some weekend activities for you:

Schenectady Museum still has the model trains out.  They have one of their Fetch! Labs on Saturday afternoon and they’re open this Sunday.

On Saturday at 2 pm, Five Rivers Environmental Education Center has a program about how animals get through the winter.

At the New York State Museum, a museum educator will be telling visitors about Henry Hudson, the Dutch, & the Mohicans based on their 1609 exhibition from 2-3:30 pm on Saturday 12/26.

On Saturday & Sunday, the downtown Albany library has crafts from 1 to 5 pm in the Children’s Room.

Guess what?  I figured out how to find the statistics on the number of people who’ve looked at the blog, and it was more than 9!  Yay!  It gives me the energy to keep plugging away.  I’m going to try to learn how to make my links prettier, for one thing.  And one of my big projects this week while I have free babysitters the in-laws visiting will be to gather up a ginormous  links page for all of us to enjoy.  Of course the best thing about their visit is that I’ll be able to avoid the Chipmunks movie entirely.

One thing my in-laws love to do is go to a farmers’ market, so we’ll probably be hitting the Schenectady Greenmarket on Sunday.  It’s open from 10 am to 2 pm.  If you haven’t gotten around to going, you should try it this weekend.  I mean, seriously, don’t you feel like you need to detox a little bit?  Get yourselves some vegetables, make a soup, and you’ll feel better.  Actually, my kids hate going to the farmers’ market because we inevitably run into people we know there and stop to chitchat every five minutes or so.  I’m always joking that they should run a shuttle bus from my church to the market at the rate people troop over there.  So our visits take forever.

But, hey, your schedule’s probably messed up already, so why not totally succumb to it?  Just plan on having your lunch there, especially if you have relatives visiting who will treat you!  And even if nothing they’re serving appeals to you or the kids (which would be tough), there’s always Thai or burritos or Indian food right there.  Whoops!  Now I’m beginning to sound like the lady who used to come into TCBY back when I was a yogurt slinger and she’d ask for the special diet sundae and then substitute fudge and caramel for the fresh fruit toppings it was supposed to contain.  And then we’d all snicker with the contempt you can only find from high school kids at a minimum wage job who are missing a keg party at that very moment.  So maybe you should set aside the pad thai and samosas and head back over to the market.  There’s always music and extraordinarily pleasant people, and they even take food stamps or credit cards.  So what’s not to like?

If  Sunday’s not good for you, the Troy Farmers Market is on Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm.

Speaking of eating some vegetables on the post-holiday detox plan, did you know that ice skating burns a ton of calories?  There’s public skating on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons at  Union’s Messa Rink,  Clifton Park Arena, and  Schenectady County Recreational Facility (by the airport).  They’re all at naptime–there seems to be a conspiracy about that.  But, it’s a relatively cheap activity, and places usually have buckets for the littlest kids to push around.  We’ve skated at Union and SCRF, and Union’s been much quieter when we’ve gone.

I promise, I have more things to do this weekend, but I got lost on a tangent, and I’m trying to learn to pace myself.

My big girl questioned me pretty hard on the whole Santa issue a while back, when she was only 3 or 4. I mean, come on, shouldn’t they remain naïve at least through kindergarten? Anyway, she was persistent, looking for inaccuracies and loopholes and. . . I’m just not so good at lying. Finally, I gave up and confessed, “Santa isn’t real like this chair. He’s real like my love for you.” It stopped the line of questioning, and nothing more was said on the topic for quite a while.

But then, when she started to talk Santa again, she spoke–and still speaks–as if she believes entirely. When I’m feeling optimistic, I hope that she’s forgotten enough of the conversation to hold onto a little magic even if somewhere deep down she knows it’s better not to push it.

And, you know, in general she’s too smart for own good, but sometimes the discrepancies are just goofy.  Last fall she mentioned in passing that there’s no such thing as fairies, but then she corrected herself: “except the Tooth Fairy.”  Which is even more unbelievable if you know that she is well aware that “The Splinter Fairy” is just her mom avoiding the hysterics by going after her with tweezers, a needle, and a headlamp while she’s unconscious. (Yes, I do.  And it works quite well, thank you.)

This year she’s loved the video from Santa, even though she felt that he was inaccurate because she really doesn’t have to try to be good in school.  “I’m just naturally good,” she says.  See, I knew that I should have picked the “nice to your sister” option, but honestly, I don’t think that she’s excelled at that one enough to be complimented, even if it’s by an imaginary video man.

So, I just wrote a Santa note in disguised handwriting that looks like mine.  Maybe she’s  just humoring me.  If so, I will have to thank her some day.

They’ll be a post later on things happening this weekend–after things simmer down from the morning frenzy.