Posts from — October 2010

Anybody else just exhausted?  Today the girls powered through two parties and some serious trick-or-treating.  Poor J was stoic in spite of freezing fingers–mittens just aren’t conducive to picking up candy.  M gleefully counted 90 pieces of candy:  an excellent, chocolate-heavy haul, although someone actually handed out Scarrots.  We were all laughing about how lame this was when M ripped her bag open and started chomping.  What can I say?  The girl likes carrots.  She did balance it out with a couple of KitKats.

Here’s what I’ve found for this week:

Monday, November 1st:

• It’s Pajamarama at 7 pm at the Bethlehem Public Library.
  

Tuesday, November 2nd:

• From 9 am to 4 pm, the Children’s Museum of Science & Technology is having a school break camp for kids ages 5 to 10:  Simple Lego Machines.  Pre-registration is required, and it’s $55 for non-members.
• At 11 am, it’s Pre-K movies at the Bethlehem Public Library.
• From noon to 3 pm, it’s the Luzerne Mountain Trail hike at the Moreau Lake State Park.
• At 4:15 pm, there’s a new book group for beginning chapter book readers in 2nd & 3rd grade called Cookies & Books Group at the East Greenbush Public Library. Registration is required.

Wednesday, November 3rd:

• At 8 pm, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra will be playing at Proctors.  This looks very fun, and it’s $10 for kids 17 and under.

Thursday, November 4th:

• Albany Public Libraries are closed today.
• At 10 am there’s an Early Explorers preschool program at Moreau Lake State Park.  Registration required, $1/child.
• At 10:30 am, there’s a preschool program called L is for Leaf at the Children’s Museum of Science & Technology.  Pre-registration is required, and it’s $2/non-member.
• From 3:30 to 5 pm, kids in grades 1 to 5 can be After School Adventurers at the Albany Pine Bush.  Pre-registration required, $2/person, $5/family.

Friday, November 5th:

• The New York State Museum has Story Art for toddlers and preschoolers at 11 am.  Free, but pick up tickets at the front desk.
• At noon it’s the First Friday Hike at the Albany Pine Bush.  They’ll be looking for wild turkeys.  Pre-registration required, $2/person, $5/family.
• It’s First Friday in Albany from 5-9 pm.
• At 6 pm, there’s an Open Mike Shoe Slam at the Albany Institute of History & Art.
• It’s First Friday in Ballston Spa from 6-9 pm.
  

While tucking M into bed tonight, I mentioned that the Halloween extravaganza will continue tomorrow, and she actually groaned!  This whole Sunday thing isn’t working out for us.  It’s too many days–Friday school festivities, Saturday parties, and then the actual holiday.  When I was growing up and there would be multiple celebrations for the same event, like parties in class, with friends, and with family, my dad would say, “It’s a pagan festival!”  Which is funny, because, you know, Halloween really is a pagan festival.

But anyway.  Yesterday my friend had made some freakishly adorable Mummy Cupcakes for J’s class.  I wish that I’d taken a picture, because I just Googled “Mummy Cupcakes“, and none of the pictures were as cute as the one my daughter ate yesterday.

It put me into the mood to be a little crafty, and since I’ve volunteered to bring snacks to church, plus we had two parties to attend, I thought that I’d try to make something cool.  I decided to go with Gingerbread Skeletons:

These were a mistake on many levels.  First, umm, who likes gingerbread?  Well, it turns out that M does, and I’ve been meaning to make a batch of gingerbread to try it again.  Not my cup of tea.  J thought it smelled good, but then she tried it, and she spit it out.  And then she asked me if it was possible that something could be wrong with her mouth.   W & I don’t like it, either.  I kept decreasing the bake time and it still cooled off into little bricks.  Unfortunate:  I’m a chewy, possibly-almost-still-dough style cookie.  Second, it was just too time consuming.  I was supposed to chill the dough for at least 4 hours.  I don’t have the patience for that.  Third, way too labor-intensive.  My hand started cramping from drawing the bones.  All of which was a bad choice when I was already feeling grouchy about all of the business, anyway.  Still. . . cute, right?

NOW, by comparison a few years back we made a Pudding Graveyard, and that was easy and fun, with plenty of easy kid participation.  I think that I’d found the recipe in Family Fun (you can even see the photocopied page), but I couldn’t find it online today.  It was basically:  a layer of store-bought pudding covered with a layer of chocolate cookie crumbs, then decorated with Milano cookie “headstones”, instant-whipped-cream-and-chocolate-chip “ghosts”, and some of those candy pumpkins.

The kids loved making it, and of course it was tasty.  And easy.  Clear winner of the smackdown.

In other news, we had our last soccer games of the season, and M finally scored a goal.  And my little sister  had her baby–a boy!

Holy Cow! I was looking for random Halloween pictures because I've been lazy about uploading photos lately, and how about this one? I have no recollection of why my children were so miserable. Oh, wait. It might have been the year the kid with the Scream mask accidentally traumatized M.

Okay, I’m not hunting exhaustively for activities this weekend.  Usually I keep a running list as I hear about stuff, and then I search beyond that.  Not tonight.  I’ve recently obtained a borrowed wig that M wants to wear to school tomorrow as part of her vampire costume, and it’s about 3 feet long with awfully tangled synthetic hair, so I’ve got to move on to my next project.  Besides, seriously:  aren’t you too busy already?   If you’re not, remember that many super-fun outdoorsy Halloween-ish activities continue this weekend.  Plus, here’s some more stuff:

All Weekend:

• Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany has a Haunted Mansion program all weekend.  Check the TU’s Albany blog for details.
• It’s the Saratoga Fall Festival on Saturday & Sunday.
• Olana is having special Superstitions Tours–this is a 45-minute drive from Albany.  $9/adult, children 12 and under free.
• Steamer 10 Theatre continues  Cinderella Tales.  If you come in costume on Sunday, you get free popcorn.
• Home Made Theater in Saratoga is showing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Evening of Friday, October 29th:

• From 5-8:30 pm, Glens Falls is hosting Boo To You, with horse & wagon rides, crafts, performances, and more.
• It’s Troy Night Out from 5-9 pm.
• At 6 pm Cohoes is having a Halloween Parade.
• There’s the annual Witch Walk in Ballston Spa at 6:30 pm.
• There’s a free Halloween Party at the Rotterdam Boys & Girls Club from 6-8 pm.   I love this place–the girls used to do swim lessons there.  I heard about the party on the TU’s Schenectady blog.
• The Wilton & Saratoga Springs branches of the YMCA are hosting Harvest Festivals tonight.
• From 5:30-8:30 pm, it’s the annual Halloween at Howe Caverns. $10/adult, $5/kids 12 and under–no coupons or discounts, but it goes to charity.
• From 6-8 pm there’s a Halloween Dance Party at Arbor Hill Library for elementary & middle school kids and their parents.
• Fort Ticonderoga is having special Garrison Ghost Tours from 7-10 pm on Friday & Saturday.  Another listing including Thursday, too, but it wasn’t on their website.

Saturday, October 30th:

• Thacher Park is hosting a Preschool Sensory Walk at 10 am.  Please call 872-0800 to register.
• It’s Halloween at the Crossings in Colonie from about 10 am to 11:30 am.   Andy The Music Man at 10:15, a parade at 11 am, and a Spooky Storytime at 11:15 am.
• At 11 am, kids 7 and up are invited to a Halloween Happening at the Troy Public Library.  Kids in costume get a free book.
• They’re showing Monster House at Howe Branch Library at 1:15 pm.
• At 2 pm at Pine Hills Library, they’re showing Wallace & Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.  With popcorn.
• Walk the Trick or Treat Nature Trail from 5-7 pm at Grafton Lakes State Park .  Mysteries, treats, s’mores.  $3/person.
• Guilderland is having their Halloween Extravaganza & Safety Night from 6-8:30.  A puppet show, a haunted house, and police fingerprinting so that the parents can feel a little scared, too!

Sunday, October 31st:

• Kids eat free at Applebee’s on Halloween.
• From 10 am to 1 pm, Albany Art Room is having BOO2, a special Halloween event: costume parade, face painting, trick-or-treat bags, pumpkin painting.  $7/hour.  Drop-ins are allowed in theory, but call to reserve because space is limited.
• From 10 am to 5 pm, the Children’s Museum of Science & Technology has special Halloween activities.
• From 11 am to 2 pm, it’s The Children’s Guide’s 2nd Annual Halloween Bash at Sportsplex in Halfmoon.
• At Crossgates it’s the annual Malloween from 12-3 pm, with a Costume Contest at 2 pm.
• From 12-4:30 pm, kids can trick or treat at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.  $5/child.
• From 1-5 pm, you can stop by Albany’s Main Public Library in costume to receive a treat.
• Kids can Trick or Treat at Clifton Park Center from 3-5 pm.
• From 3:30-4:30 pm, Niskayuna is having a Halloween Parade at the Town Hall.
• Come into Chipotle after 6 pm dressed as “a horrifying processed food product” and receive a $2 burrito.  It’s a fundraiser for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.  Hey. . .  my neighbor’s kid is dressing as a cheeseburger.  Maybe I can steal it after Trick or Treating. . . .

Fin was buried today in a brief ceremony, comprised of some flower-scattering and a song J made up, the lyrics of which were “Fin, Fin, Fin, Fin. . . .”  I would share the tune, except that it was  pretty tuneless.  I had attempted to press M into playing something on the recorder (it would have been Hot Cross Buns, since that’s the only song the third grade has learned so far), but she was not inspired.  There was more crying, but not much more.

After I made my weekly listing I received an email with a whole bunch of Halloween-related events at Albany Public Libraries that either had not been on the calendar before or I’d missed, pretty much completely.  In fairness, some of them are for the weekend, but it’s worth checking out.

A reader wanted to make sure that folks know about The Dance Experience in Delmar.  She reports:

My daughter just started a Creative Movement class there and loves it.  Her teacher is very down to earth and great with kids.  There is no requirement to do the end of year recital if your child isn’t ready for that type of performance, as long as you notify the studio before costumes are ordered in December.  Tuition works out to about $8 per class, which I think is pretty reasonable.  There’s still space in my daughter’s class, so please spread the word.

Heck yeah, $8/class is pretty reasonable!  How about everybody else,  by the way?  Has anyone started their kids in a new activity that they love-love-love or perhaps, alas, an activity that you suggest people might want to avoid in the future?

Also, some of you may have noticed that I’m finally updating and revising my categories a little bit.  The biggest change is that when I started, a weekend listing would have tons of categories (ie. Books/Storytimes, Museums, Sports, Art, Nature) just because an item would be listed.   Now, I’ve just got a Listings category, which is time-sensitive stuff.  Then the only items that get, say, an Art or Theater category are when I wrote at least a couple of paragraphs about the topic, and something that remains relevant over time.  And, in a nod to the complete narcissism which is blogging, there’s a whole new parent category called Me, Me, Me, and My World.  Anyway, hopefully it will make it a little easier to find items–asssuming that someone, sometime, wants to find something.  But I know this is boring, so before you nod off and start drooling on the keyboard. . . .

Cute W was gone tonight, and I was all set to be lazy and do a little Annie’s Mac & Cheese when I realized that I didn’t have any in the pantry.  Bummer.  Luckily, I had the makings for one of the girls’ favorites (and a W non-favorite):   we call it Chickpea/Gnocchi/Cheddar.  It’s from a cookbook I love, 366 Healthful Ways to Cook Leafy Greens.  Now the sad part is, my kids don’t actually eat the greens (it calls for collards)  in this recipe.  But the good news is that the recipe works with practically any leafy green vegetable, so I managed to throw in 3 different little baggies of who-knows-what random leftovers (there were definitely some beet greens in there) from previous CSA weeks, and I enjoyed eating it.  So I cleansed my intestines and my freezer at the same time!  Yay, me!   Except, of course, that there are more dirty dishes than I had anticipated.

I spent well over an hour tonight comforting a sobbing J because Fin is not looking good.  It seems  likely that (s)he won’t last more than another day or two.  Foolishly, I suppose, I warned the girls that I didn’t think Fin was going to make it.   Please:  I don’t want advice on how to save the fish–I have Googled, I asked the pet store lady, I’ve done what I can, I’m not going to secretly replace Fin and prolong the agony,  so just feel my thirst, okay?  Anyway, J would cry, try to compose herself, allow herself to get distracted, and then, a few minutes later, she’d start again.

We discussed possible funereal options.  I suggested that although the flush seemed disrespectful, it was actually a way to allow Fin to become one with the oceans and waters of the world.  J was unpersuaded.  She’d like a burial with a handmade faux floral memorial to mark the spot.  Of course.  At one point, during dinner, we tried to switch the subject to our happy, healthy cat, Isis.  J contributed that she was particularly grateful that Isis had chosen not to eat Fin (cue additional tears here).  Later, at bedtime, I was whispering to J about the delightful upcoming holidays, and we talked about our Thanksgiving thankful tree, where the girls name things that they’re thankful for and it’s “[sniff] I will say that I am thankful that we had Fin, even though it wasn’t for very long.”

J wallows.  And when it comes to death, or really, all of the biggies, she’s relentless.  You know how “they” always say that you should just answer questions with the bare minimum necessary to answer?  She’s the queen of the follow-up .  What does it mean to die?   Do you see people who die again? Are you going to die?  Is [her friend] going to die? Yeah, I know not for a long, long, time, but that’s just probably, right?  It’s possible to die just from a bad accident any time, isn’t it? — and then– But I don’t want you to get old!  I don’t want to grow up!  I just want to stay with you and live here with you forever. So as soon as the fish arrived at home we feared the mourning.  And here it is.  And now I feel like an idiot that we gave her a warning, because how long can this fish hold out?  Seriously, it’s not eating, it’s barely mobile. I almost want to just take it out of the water.  But I won’t take it out of the water.

UPDATE:  Fin died overnight.

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Prior to the fish brouhaha, there was a Sibling Incident that led to M’s confinement in solitary followed by a lecture/discussion/crying jag.    And then I sat down on the sofa to post this and Cute W was watching a Frontline on BP.  So I’m about ready to cast the whole dang thing aside and start pillaging  the house for some chocolate.

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For those of you with baby needs, did you hear that the Buy Buy Baby store has opened in Colonie?  I heard about it on the TU’s Parent to Parent blog.

Okay, I had technical difficulties and I’m feeling a little fed up with cyberspace, so I’m slacking off.  But if you’re desperate for a post, I just put something silly up on the CBS 6 Blog.

We had a gala pumpkin carving session that resulted in only minimal bleeding.  We’re a little bit screwed because inside the house it’s too warm and the pumpkins have already begun to rot, but outside our voracious squirrels will eat them before Halloween.  Yikes.  Lucky for us, we have a tremendously drafty front entryway, so the pumpkins are huddled there.  I tried again and I still hate roasted pumpkin seeds.  And that’s about all that’s happening here, except that I have two enormous baskets full of laundry to fold.  So here’s what’s happening this week:

Monday, October 25th:

• Nothing that I could find. . . .
  

Tuesday, October 26th:

• From 2-3 pm, there’s a Preschool Naturalists program for ages 3 to 5 at Saratoga Spa State Park.  Call to register; it’s $3/person or $5/family.
• There’s another Sound of Music Sing-Along Event at Crossgates at 6:30 pm.  Thanks to Albany Kid for the heads up on this one.

Wednesday, October 27th:

• Rensselaer Consort will be playing at 6 pm at the Bach Branch Library.
• At 6 pm, the Bethlehem Public Library is doing Halloween Crafts for kids in 6th grade and up.
• From 6:30 to 7:30 pm, kids ages 4 and up can put on their costumes and drop in to the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library for a Halloween Hoot.

Thursday, October 28th:

• From 11 am to noon, there’s a Preschool Naturalists program for ages 3 to 5 at Saratoga Spa State Park.  Call to register; it’s $3/person or $5/family.
• Hudson Valley Community College is hosting a Pumpkin-Palooza Festival from 5-7 pm.  The community is invited, and children in costume can enter a raffle for a new bike and helmet.
• At 7 pm there’s a Children’s Circle Storytime followed by a playtime at the Bethlehem Public Library.  This program is designed for kids with special needs.

Friday, October 29th:

• The  Bethlehem Public Library is having a Halloween Parade for the 6-and-under crowd at 10 am and 1:30 pm.
• At 3 pm, the East Greenbush town hall is hosting a Halloween Parade for kids ages 2 to 5.  They’ll trick-or-treat through town offices.
• At 4:30 pm, Clifton Park will have a Halloween Parade at Clifton Common.
• From 5-8:30 pm, Glens Falls is hosting Boo To You, with horse & wagon rides, crafts, performances, and more.
• It’s Troy Night Out from 5-9 pm.
• At 6 pm Cohoes is having a Halloween Parade.
• The Wilton & Saratoga Springs branches of the YMCA are hosting Harvest Festivals tonight.
• From 5:30-8:30 pm, it’s the annual Halloween at Howe Caverns. $10/adult, $5/kids 12 and under–no coupons or discounts, but it goes to charity.
• Fort Ticonderoga is having special Garrison Ghost Tours from 7-10 pm on Friday & Saturday.  Another listing including Thursday, too, but it wasn’t on their website.

Would you believe that we’re still working off the last of the apples from our apple-picking outing?  I know!

One of my very favorite salads is a mesclun-apple-cheddar cheese-walnut salad.  Yum.  I throw on a very basic little vinaigrette of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, water, salt & pepper, and a tiny smidgen of honey.  I’ve been having one of these every day for a few days now.

Meanwhile, J’s been begging for caramel apples.  But, she stipulated, she wanted real caramel, not the ones that you unwrap and melt.  This is the problem when you make tasty foods:  suddenly your kid is too much of a snob for the store-bought.

Now, don’t get me wrong:  I usually do go with the store-bought caramel apples, the ones where they’re already flat little caramel pancakes.  But I happened to have wooden sticks among our craft supplies, and Cute W has an unbelievably yummy Caramel Corn recipe, so I decided to see if we could use it for gen-u-ine caramel apples.

The caramel recipe is from Cute W’s family.  We usually do half and half on the sugar, and I’d even be open to more or darker brown sugar, but this is tradition, here.  When he makes it for caramel corn, he pops about 1 cup of kernels to make about 4 quarts of popped corn.  Here it is:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups mixed white & light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup, like Karo
• 1 t. vanilla

Melt the butter, sugars and syrup in a pot and bring it to a boil.  Let it boil for 7 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

What I love about this is that a candy thermometer is not involved.  I like cooking and baking, but candy-making completely intimidates me.  I once spent a hellish afternoon attempting to make traditional pull-candy in oppressive heat with a crowd of impatient children and muttering parents surrounding me, and I still have flashbacks.  So, pretty much if I read any reference to a thermometer in a recipe, I reject it immediately.

We had decided to make a few caramel apples and some popcorn, because M and Cute W are more enthusiastic about the popcorn option.  We were sort of winging it, and if I had to do it again, I’d let the caramel cool a little more before letting the girls dip the apples–there was some serious sliding-and-pooling by the caramel–still delicious, but not optimal aesthetically.

Then I put the rest of the caramel on a half-batch of popcorn.  This is usually the most stressful part.  It starts out quite liquid and boiling, painfully hot, and as you’re mixing it, it swiftly turns to (yummy) cement.  I find it better if there’s actually no one in the same room with Cute W when he makes it.  Oh, also, he usually carefully clears the unpopped kernels of corn, a crucial step that I forgot.  If viewed optimistically, one could argue that the peril of possibly breaking a tooth at any moment only made eating the caramel corn more exhilarating.  Whatever.  It was worth the risk.

So, all three girls were munching and salivating (the peculiar challenge of attempting to eat a caramel apple can cause even 40-year-old women to drool.  Or, you know, theoretically, I bet that it could).

Then I started taking pictures and M groaned, “Mo-MEE!  Is that for the blog again?!?”  I admitted that yes, it was.  She rolled her eyes for about 15 seconds, then came up with a craft to share.  Behold, Caramel Apple Dude:

Actually, with the popcorn hair, it looks more like a Popcorn Marie Antoinette.

I know what you’re thinking!  Katie’s not a shopper!  And she’s cheap!  She’s always saying that!  And, yes, it’s true.  But by chance I’ve stumbled on two more shopping destinations, so I’m doing one more post.  And then, I’m done.  No really:  I’m serious.  So if you have a store to tell me about, I don’t want to hear it unless you are also hosting a completely free family-friendly event.  With food, a bouncey-bounce, face painting, pumpkin slingshots, and alpacas.  I’m kidding!  Ummm, mostly.

A friend was inspired by the Upper Union Street post to write me about her neighbor’s business, Beastly Buddies.   Its creator Anee Teekle makes “boutique quality” costumes for children, and, my friend gushes,  she “genuinely loves what she does and making kids happy with her costumes.  I thought it would be a perfect time of year to help her get the word out on your site, with Halloween coming”.

The Beastly Buddies warehouse is located  at 301 Nott Street at Erie Boulevard in Schenectady, on the third floor.  My friend reports:

The warehouse is open Thursday and Friday 3:30 to 6:30pm, Saturday 10-3 and Sunday 12-3 (closed MTW).  The warehouse is 20% off regular priced inventory.  I recently went there and was blown away by how big it was.  There are tons of costumes and all kinds of dress-up clothes, wings, hats, wands, headbands, capes, accessories, etc.  It’s definitely worth the trip!

I thought I’d pass the word around for those of you who haven’t pulled together a costume yet.  If you check the website, check out the Accessories, which could practicall make an entire costume.  In case you happen to be, like me, cheap.  And if you are super-craftily making your kids’ costumes, way to go!  I salute you! And  I would never mock your efforts like some people.

Speaking of celebrating important seasonal events, you may recall that I had a birthday recently.   Now, if you’re a regular, you know my neighbor Mary.  Of course, she was too thoughtful and generous, and she’d gotten me a lovely sweater because I admired one of hers.  It was one of those ginormous sweaters made by someone in South America, with a bunch of pretty colors.  It was very nice.  I was happy with it.  No:  Mary thought it was too big.  It was a little too big, but it’s rare to feel like a super-hotty in a warm sweater, anyway, so I was okay with it.  There was more discussion and pondering, and it was decided that we’d go on a shopping expedition together to weigh the multitude of options at The Sweater Venture in East Greenbush.

There were a ton of sweaters, ranging from the ginormous multicolored numbers to items that were light and dressy and elegant.  In fact, if you go to the website, it looks like just a ton of ski sweaters, but there’s actually much more variety than that, as well as some pretty jewelry.  Oh, and it seemed a little bit cheaper at the store, plus there was a nice selection of clearance items, and they weren’t the kind of clearance things where you say, “Well, no wonder nobody wanted this!”

They also had cutey-patootie kids’ sweaters and slippers.

I also always appreciate it when a store has some space and/or toys set aside for little kids:  it just feels more welcoming, even if my kids are getting over this stage.

They’re also big into fair trade,  so once again I can contribute to world peace through delightful self-indulgence!!  Yippee!!

I wasn’t entirely convinced that I needed to come along with Mary (and her husband, too:  he acted as chauffeur and then read a book in the car!  apparently this is a typical day for them).  But I’m glad that I went.  We enjoyed chatting. I really liked the first sweater, but I love-love-love the new one that I picked out, which had been on Mary’s “short list” when she’d gone on her own.

I had already gotten a gorgeous hand-knit sweater from my parents for my birthday, so if you’re trying to find me sometime this winter, just look for the chick who’s looking fabulous and toasty warm!

If you’d lost track, let me assure you:  Halloween is fast approaching.  Witness the gajillion spooky and costumed activities this weekend.  If the weather’s good, you might want to check the post from the other day about outdoor Halloween fun.  Feel free to make additions & reviews in the comments if you’ve got them.  Here’s what I’ve found:

All Weekend:

• Saratoga’s Children’s Theatre is performing  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
• The Pirates of Penzance continues at Schenectady Light Opera Company.
• Altamont Orchards is having their first annual Pumpkin Festival from noon to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.  Food, music, face painting, hayrides, and more.
• Malta Mama shared that there’s a Halloween Harvest at Gavin Park from 5-10 pm on Friday & Saturday.
• On Friday & Saturday from 6-9 pm, Up Yonda Farm has a Haunted Trail and Barn program.  Haunted house and spooky stories by the campfire.  $8/person.
• From noon to 4 pm at the New York State Museum, they’ll be having a Monster Mash & Bash.  Little kids can come in costume and march in a parade at 1 pm.  From 11 am to 4:30 pm, the over-10 crowd can go through a Haunted House–no costumes, though.
• Steamer 10 Theatre is telling Cinderella Tales on Saturday at 3 pm and on Sunday at 11 am.  You know I love them.
• Cohoes Music Hall is showing Hairspray all weekend.

Evening of Friday, October 22nd:

• From 5-7 pm, there’s a Teen Volunteer Fair at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library.  Older kids can find opportunities to help the community.
• There’s a Halloween Costume Contest for kids and adults (check in for contestants is 6-6:30 pm, contest is at 7 pm) as well as a Canine Howl-o-Ween Costume Contest (check in for contestants is 7-7:30 pm, contest  at 8 pm) at Clifton Park Center.
• From 6:30-8 pm, there’s a Halloween Howl Prowl at the Albany Pine Bush.  Pre-register, $2/person, $5/family.

Saturday, October 23rd:

• There’s a Medieval Faire at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany from 10 am to 5 pm.  $10/adult, $8/students & seniors, $5/kids 4 to 12, kids under 4 free.
• From 10:30 am to noon, Joyful Jumpers is hosting a Harvest Fest.  Crafts, costumes, food, activities–all free, but you have to call to register.
• From 12 to 2 pm, there’s a Children’s Halloween Party at the Colonie Family Recreation Center.
• Chapman Historical Museum is having a Halloween Luminaries Family Activity.  Reservations are required, and it’s $3/child and adults are free.
• The Schodack Island State Park is hosting a Fall Festival with games, a bouncy-bounce, and alpacas.
• Kids 5 and up can learn some Pumpkin Science at CMOST at 1 pm.  $2/non-member; pre-register.
• From 1-3 pm, there’s a Howl-oween Pet Party at Riverview Orchards to benefit the Animal Protective Foundation.
• At the  Open Door Bookstore, Matt McElligott and Larry Tuxbury will be signing their book Benjamin Franklinstein Lives and McElligott will be signing his picture book Even Monsters Get Haircuts from 1-2:30 pm.
• According to the TU’s Parent to Parent blog, the HopeClub (which used to be Gilda’s Club) is hosting a free Autumnfest from 1-4 pm.
• There will be a free violin recital at 2 pm at the Niskayuna Library–it’s not listed online, but it was advertised in the Gazette.
• From 3-9 pm, it’s the Ballston Spa Falling Leaves Festival at Wiswall Park.  A costume contest, karaoke, fireworks, and much more.
• The Crailo State Historic Site will be hosting Spooky Stories by the Fire from 5-8 pm.  It’s $4/adult, $2/kids.
• Between 5:30 and 8 pm, The Farmers’ Museum will be hosting 30-minute “Things That Go Bump in the Night” tour–this is quite a drive way over in Cooperstown, but it’s spooky and historical–yay.  Reservations are required and it’s $10/person.  I heard about this one on the New York History blog.
• Take a Haunted Halloween Hike from 6-8 pm at Moreau Lake State Park.
• From 6:30-8 pm, there’s a Halloween Howl Prowl at the Albany Pine Bush.  Pre-register, $2/person, $5/family.

Sunday, October 24th:

• At the Empire State Plaza, there’s a Festival of Nations from 11 am to 5 pm.  I’m also linking to the TU’s listing, because the official website is the Most Irritating Website in My Recent Memory. $5/adults, $1/kids 12 and under.
• From 1-4 pm, there’s a Chili-Chowder Fest at Wiswall Park in Ballston Spa.  $10/adult, $5/kids 12 and under.
• From 4:30-8 pm, there’s a Disney Halloween Dance Party at the National Museum of Dance.  It’s $15/person.