Posts from — May 2011

We overindulged at our charitable auctions and ended up with a week of soccer camp scheduled for the same week as our Lake Placid trip. So I’m giving it away!

It’s SOCCERTECH. According to the director, “This is our 12th year running the camp. All staff members are certified teachers employed in N. Colonie, S. Colonie or Mohonasen. We have 5 high school varsity coaches and 4 ex-professional players on staff. We focus on learning the game through fun games and activities.”

For 6-13 year-olds, the camp runs July 5-8 from 9 am to 3 pm at Lisha Kill Middle School in Colonie.

For 14-16-year-olds, it runs July 11-15 from 5-8 pm at the Colonie Soccer Complex.

The giveaway is for one (not both) of these programs. To enter, just add a comment to this post with a favorite summer destination or summer camp before Monday at 5 pm.

Thanks to SOCCERTECH for donating the week of camp!

Did you get outside for some of those precious hours of sunshine today? We let the girls stay up a bit too late, and then when they did come in, they were filthy. I had to set up a foot-washing station at the kitchen sink before sending them upstairs to brush teeth. In fact, they were lined up on the counter and J was singing It’s a Hard Knock Life. Which seemed rather iroic, since they were still up at 8:20 pm and I was lovingly soaping up their tootsies and spraying them clean with warm water.

It’s Niska-Day weekend! That’s a big deal at our house. This will be the first time in years that we won’t be marching in the parade. Here are M and I with the nursery school banner years ago.

But there’s some other stuff going on, too, of course.

All Weekend:

• Schenectady Light Opera Company is presenting Carousel.

Friday, May 20th:

• At 11 am, kids under 6 can enjoy a Preschool Picnic while watching a movie at Bethlehem Public Library.
• There will be a Chime Choir playing at 4:30 pm at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.
• It’s Art Night Schenectady from 5-9 pm.
• It’s a Family Movie Night at 7 pm at the Guilderland Public Library. They’re showing The Secret of Kells.
• The Albany Legends are playing basketball at 7 pm tonight and again through the weekend.
• The Empire State Youth Orchestra is playing jazz at 7:30 pm at the College of St. Rose. $6/a
• The Octavo Singers are performing at 8 pm at Union College. It’s free.
• Take a Moth Census at 8 pm at Five Rivers.

Saturday, May 21st:

• It’s National Kids to Parks Day.
• It’s Niska-Day with a fun run, parade, carnival, and fireworks.
• Celebrate World Turtle Day at 10 am at Five Rivers.
• From 10 am to 1 pm, Albany PAL is running a Bike Rodeo at the Boat Launch under the Bridge at the Corning Preserve.
• From 10 am to 7 pm, it’s the Main Street Spring Fling in Amsterdam.
• The Children’s Museum at Saratoga will close at 2 pm today.
• Take a Wildflower Walk at 10 am at Thacher Park. Call to reserve.
• My Place to Play is having an Indoor Beach Party from 10 am to 6 pm. Admission is $6 if you pre-register by Thursday or $7.50 at the door.
• From 10 am to 4 pm it’s LupineFest at Albany Pine Bush. It’s free.
• It’s Little Wonders of Science from 11 am-noon at the Schenectady Museum. The theme is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and it’s free with museum admission.
• At 11 am, there’s a family gardening program called Sowing Seed of Summer Fun at the Guilderland Public Library. It’s designed for kids 4-8. Family registration is required.
• Go on a Treasure Hunt at Grafton Lakes at 1 pm. Parents will need to help, but kids 5 and up will enjoy this adventure.
• Take a Twilight Kayak at Moreau Lake. They don’t list a specific time. Kayak rentals are available first-come, first-serve, so call to reserve and get details.

Sunday, May 22nd:

• The Children’s Museum at Saratoga is closed today.
• There’s a free Wildflower Walk from 9-10:30 am at Vischer Ferry Preserve.
• Junior birders can learn about Bird Banding at 9:30 am at Thacher Nature Center.
• From 10 am to 3 pm, it’s the Great American Pet Festival at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds. Pony rides, a bounce house, on-site adoptions.
• It’s the Montgomery County May Fest at Fonda Fairgrounds (a 40-minute drive northwest) from 10 am to 4 pm.
• Go on a Scavenger Hunt at 11 am at Moreau Lake.
• At noon it’s Family Yoga at Breathing Room in Delmar. It’s $20/family.
• There’s a Free Electronics Recycling Day at Clifton Park Center from noon to 4 pm. Yeah, okay: I know that this doesn’t particularly sound like fun. But recently two different friends ran into each other at some electronics recycling event and people were literally waiting for hours to recycle, so I thought that there might be some readers who are interested.
• At 1 pm, learn about Alien Invaders! The Truth about Invasive Speciesat the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology.  Pre-register; it’s $2/non-member.
• Take a Wildflower Walk at Dyken Pond at 2 pm.
• It’s The Magic of Bill Blagg LIVE! at the Palace Theatre at 3 pm. $25/adult,  $12.50/child.

Okay, when I was looking for a Niska-Day photo, I found this one, and it was just too unbelievably adorable. It had to be shared.

Their Aunt T sent the fab-o sunhats. I don’t think that the two of them ever wore the hats simultaneously again. Also, I’m pretty sure that I ditched this borrowed stroller pretty quick: the stadium seating just didn’t work for us.

Today J said, all those sayings are wrong. Which sayings? Well first, she explained, instead of March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb, we had a lion, and then a few days of lamb, and then more lion, lion, lion. And then, the April showers are bringing May showers instead of flowers.

Yeah, I’m feeling a little bit disgruntled with the weather, too.

Are you starting to feel a little caged in? I’ve heard about two new indoor playgrounds, Shooting Stars Childcare in Clifton Park and My Place to Play in Schenectady. My Place to Play is having an Indoor Beach Party from 10 am to 2 pm on Friday and from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday. Admission is $6 if you pre-register by Thursday or $7.50 at the door.

Meanwhile, if you’re still hoping for a pretty day soon, the TU’s On the Edge Blog has a post on local mini-golf courses.

And if you’re in summer planning mode, I missed a camp. The Language Learning Institute offers summer camps for ages 5-16 learning French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

Yesterday it was completely pouring outside when the girls were scheduled to walk home (yes, they walk home by themselves). I had Mommy guilt. I actually got in my car and started the engine to go pick them up. Then I remembered that last time I’d gone to pick them up, 1) it was really only because I was afraid that the other mothers would judge me for letting my children walk in the rain, and 2) they’d tossed their backpacks in the car and said “no thank you” to a ride.

So I turned off the car and went back into the house. Fifteen minutes later they arrived home, soaked and jubilant.

I spent the day avoiding the rain and ignoring the basement. Instead, I went into Summer Planning Mode. We’re going to have some serious fun this summer.

We’re starting off right with another week in Lake Placid! We are so excited. There was a bit of drama involved. First we thought that we wouldn’t be able to get the house again, because we thought that it wouldn’t be available for a week.  We mourned and became resigned, only to find out that that it was available! Hooray! Then there was the auction itself (this was offered for a church fundraising auction event). We put in our bid and then Cute W got up and announced to everyone that there were leeches and M started calling out that one of the boats leaked. We were causing a scene. But we won. Then it turns out our friends couldn’t come join us. . . which was sad. But then we found out that some of our cousins can join us, so now we’re happy. More than happy. When I told the girls, they shrieked with joy and all the blood rushed to their faces in an alarming manner. So, we’re psyched.

After Lake Placid, town camp starts. It’s every morning from 9 am to noon for five weeks. At a cost of $25 per child per week. For those of you keeping score, that’s $1.67 per hour. Yeah, baby! Sure, sure, sure. . . they won’t be conducting experiments in a lab or learning how to do tricks on a trapeze, but the girls love hanging out with friends and especially the big-kid counselors. And every afternoon, we’re likely to report to the pool for some chill-axing:

At the end of town camp, we’re voyaging beyond the comfort zone. M is going to do a week of sleep-away camp at Wa Wa Segowea in the Berkshires. It’s a Y camp that’s smaller (and less expensive!) than Chingachgook. M is unbelievably excited. I’m impressed by her bravery. Not that I’m telling her: I’m afraid that would scare her.

I was a little concerned that J was going to be horribly sad and lonesome without her big sister M, so she’s going to be an adventuress, too, and go to a Girl Scouts Day Camp with her BFF during that week. After all of that fun, we’ll take a week to recover and do some more lounging:

You would think that that’s plenty, but we ended up as the high bidders at our nursery school auction on deeply discounted summer camp with TSL Adventures. Cute W and I were surprised with that one, and I wasn’t sure that the girls would be interested. But one of the weeks in August has a theme of Myths and Legends, which is an excellent fit, because M’s all about Percy Jackson lately, and J’s always been a fan of fairy tales and folklore.  I mentioned it, thinking that, with all of our other plans, I could always offer the gift certificates as giveaways on the blog if the girls were lukewarm about it. But they thought it sounded great. So they’ll have one more week of camp, followed by another week of slobbing about.

And, no: I’m not offering a photo of myself sprawled out by the pool. You don’t want to see that.

Oh my gosh, you guys. I just looked at weather.com and the whole week is just rain, rain, rain. At least maybe I’ll get that basement organized, right? If we do manage to have a decent day, you should probably go scouting for some wildflowers. All the cool nature places are scheduling wildflower walks this coming weekend, and you figure that they know when to look, right?

Here’s what I’ve found for this week:

All Week:

• It’s still Baby Animal Days at Indian Ladder Farms, but it will end on Sunday.
• Carousel is playing at Schenectady Light Opera Company on Thursday to Saturday at 8 pm.

Monday, May 16th:

• The Delmar La Leche League is meeting from 9:45-11:30 am at Bethlehem Public Library.
• Take the Lake Ann Hike from 10 am to 2 pm at Moreau Lake.
• Learn How to Cast from a seasoned fisherman at Moreau Lake from 11 am to noon. Call to make a reservation.

Tuesday, May 17th:

• From 9:30-11:30 am, take the Red Oak Ridge Hike at Moreau Lake. Call to reserve.
• It’s Tuesday for Tots at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. It’s at 10 am-12 pm or 1-3 pm, and the theme is birds.
• There’s an International Folk Dance Band playing at the free concert at noon at St. Paul‘s in Troy.
• Help Your Kids Find Quiet at Breathing Room in Delmar from 8-9 pm. Suggested donation is $5 at this program to teach parents how to help their children calm themselves and cope with stress.

Wednesday, May 18th:

• At 3:30 pm it’s Cooking Around the World at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. Pre-register; it’s $10/non-member.
• Kids 4-7 can Dig a Dino at the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology.  Pre-register; it’s $2/non-member.

Thursday, May 19th:

• Take an easy Potter’s Point Hike at Moreau Lake. They forgot to list a time, so call to ask and reserve.
• At 9:45 am, a group will be hiking from Thacher Nature Center.
• It’s Little Wonders of Science from 11 am-noon at the Schenectady Museum. The theme is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and it’s free with museum admission.
• There’s a Belles and Knights celebration for kids in grades K-2 from 4-5 pm at Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library. Pre-register, then come in your royal attire.

Friday, May 20th:

• At 11 am, kids under 6 can enjoy a Preschool Picnic while watching a movie at Bethlehem Public Library.
• There will be a Chime Choir playing at 4:30 pm at the Children’s Museum at Saratoga.
• It’s a Family Movie Night at 7 pm at the Guilderland Public Library. They’re showing The Secret of Kells.
• The Albany Legends are playing basketball at 7 pm tonight and again through the weekend.

It was an exhausting day.

This morning we had Tragic Shoe Drama, because J had a brand-new pair of sneakers, but she chose, instead, to put on the sneakers that I’m embarrassed for her to wear because they’ve suddenly fallen apart (admittedly, they were very old). This stealth drama was particularly irritating because she hadn’t made a peep about her Deep Emotional Attachment to her Sneakers when we were trying on shoes at Target the day before. If she had, perhaps I would have taken a look at the sneakers, noticed that they were from Payless, walked a couple of doors down, and purchased the Exact Same Model of shoe in the next size up. In fact, if that had happened, I would have been pleased to discover that they were on super-clearance for $3! Woo, hoo! Alas, because my six-year-old was silently sucking it up yesterday, by the time  she’d tearfully explained her problem and I had a chance to check with Payless, other fortunate consumers had cleaned out every shoe that was remotely close to her size.  Okay, maybe they would have been gone already. But this is a pet peeve with sweet J. At 6 years old I still have to tell her to use her words because even though I joke about being Psychic Mommy, I’m actually not psychic.

Once the girls were gone to school, I did some house cleaning. I have to say that having a gloomy day almost felt like a relief to me. We had a string of so many beautiful days, which was great, but I can’t bring myself to do significant housecleaning when it’s that wonderful outside in the spring. My upstairs bathroom was getting gross and my first floor was in dire need of vacuuming, but through all those glorious days I just kept going outside to do more raking or weeding instead. I knew it was wrong, but how can you look at that beautiful sunshine and go downstairs to organize the basement?

After school, J and her mangy sneakers were at a play date and birthday party, and M, who hadn’t been able to score a play date of her own, was left with me. That’s always dangerous, because it tends to mean Intense Grilling About All of Her Most Burning Questions (I know I’ve mentioned this before, like when she interrogated me about Santa Claus). Today, just to pick a few, she began with, “Why is Abraham Lincoln still such a big deal, when we’ve practically forgotten about most of the presidents?” and progressed through, “So, how big was Osama Bin Laden’s compound?” and continued into, “Now, wait, how many airplanes crashed on September 11th? And wait, they weren’t private planes?”  Some of it felt like too much information, but I’m just not going to lie, and I don’t even feel like it’s right to say that I won’t answer when she’s asking these thoughtful questions and processing the information. The most I’ll do is say something like, well, this part is pretty sad, and I don’t think you need to know the details yet, and if I do say that, she generally agrees.   But by the time she ran out of questions I was pretty much mentally and emotionally exhausted. I do have to say that I was particularly delighted when M jumped directly to feminist outrage when I told her about Hillary Clinton getting airbrushed from that photograph.

All of this was to explain why I’m really too tired to write a post, but would you look at that? I accidentally wrote one.

Oh, my gosh, I’ve had an evening of technical difficulties. First I hopped on the computer thinking that I just had a couple of little items to add to this almost-completed post, and my almost-completed post was gone! Gone, gone, like the proverbial wind. Luckily, I’d done a little back-up maneuver that I do occasionally, even though I never have to use it. Unluckily, since I never use it, I’d never noticed that it doesn’t save any links. Bummer.

All of this was happening while I was on a conference call, and almost simultaneously all 3 of our cordless phones ran out of batteries, leading me to juggle headsets like a crazy woman in an attempt to stay with it. I was cut off at least four times, plus my sluggish batteries made it appear as if my access code was slurred, so I’d type in “3051″ and the computer voice would ask, “You typed 3330555551. . . is that correct?” Incidentally, angry typing only exacerbates this problem. In case you were wondering.

And then, then, I was almost done–the post complete, the call wrapping up–when my cat walked across my keyboard and changed things that I don’t know how to fix. If Cute W were home tonight, he would probably figure it out in less than 5 minutes, but I chose to walk away from my little Netbook and head to an entirely different computer. I’m sure that if W weren’t around I would be more competent in the computer, automotive, and home improvement arenas. His massive manly skills make it easy to remain incompetent, and the truth is, I know that I should regret this laziness on my part. But I don’t. It is just another reason why I so cherish my marriage.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve found for this weekend. Please do add any items that I’ve missed in the comments.

All Weekend:

• It’s New York Heritage Weekend.  Here’s a list of Albany events, in Schenectady Mabee Farm is hosting its Revolutionary War Re-enactment and Voorjaar Fest, and in Troy, the Rensselaer County Historical Society is holding a Troy History Highlights Tours.
• It’s the Saint Sophia’s Greek Festival in Albany. Greek food &  entertainment, children’s rides. $3/person, kids under 12 are free.
• Capital Area Productions is presenting Hairspray at Genet School in East Greenbush. It’s $10/person.
• At Steamer 10, it’s the C.A.S.T. production of Cinderella Tales.
• Saratoga City Ballet presents Little Red Riding Hood and Other Works.
• The Saratoga Automobile Museum is hosting its Spring Invitational Auto Show. $10/adult, kids under 12 free.

Evening of Friday, May 13th:

• Kids up to age 6 and their families can Jump To the Library at the Bethlehem Public Library at 10 am.
• Go on a Full Moon Hike at Moreau Lake State Park. Dang, they didn’t list a time, again. Call to find out and reserve.

Saturday, May 14th:

• Do some Birding from 7-9 am at Albany Pine Bush. Pre-register; it’s $3/person, $5/family.
• From 10 am to 2 pm, the City of Schenectady is hoping that folks will come out and help them clean out that massive pile-up of trash near the baseball fields that’s left over from the mountains of snow that melted there. I aspire to make it with the girls, at least for a while.
• They’re showing a Star Wars marathon from approximately 10 am to 5 pm at the Bethlehem Public Library.
• It’s Creative Art Day from 1-3 pm at the New York State Museum.
• At 1 pm, go on an Aquatic Adventure at Up Yonda Farm. It’s $4/non-member.

Sunday, May 15th:

• Go Pulling for Pesto from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at Thacher Nature Center.
• It’s the annual Cherry Blossom Craft Festival at the Congregation Gates of Heaven in Niskayuna from 10 am to 3 pm. Bouncey bounce, games, and food.
• From 12-4 pm, it’s Living History Day at Ten Broeck Mansion. Hands-on demonstrations, pony rides and other activities. The event is free.
• Malta Community Center is holding a Snow White Tea from 2-3:30 pm. Kids ages 2 to 8 are invited to dress up and come. Pre-register; cost is $12/resident, $13.50/non-resident.
• Go on a free Discovery Hike at 2 pm at Albany Pine Bush.
• At 3 pm, the Empire State Youth Orchestra is playing a free string concert at the College of St. Rose.

Update: If you’re checking this list after 2011, you should check out the KidsOutAndAbout.com Summer Camp list. You can do a search by topic or by week to find a summer camp!

Time to get ready for camps again, and there are tons of them.  This year, I’m not searching like a crazy person. I’m just updating the links (in fact, I’m not even double checking my description, so click the links to double check details like dates and age requirements if you’re truly interested.  I’m also only adding additional camps that I’ve stumbled over in the last few weeks.  Before I head to the main list of camps, I thought that I’d tell you about a couple of other camp sources that I didn’t include, just because it started to get too overwhelming for me last year. These are:

• Town camps.  Last year, I skipped these entirely. Then a bit later, I felt compelled to tell people about some of the town camps because they were just so fabulous, so now I have a town section at the bottom of the list. My girls have gone to Niskayuna town camp and enjoyed it.  In my town, it’s cheap.  You might check with your own town first.  Residency is often, but not always, a requirement.
• Anyplace where you can pay for a lesson, it is also likely that there’s a camp.  Some of these made it to my list, either because they’d already emailed me, or they’re popular, or whatever.  But if there’s someplace you’re interested in, check out their website or give them a call. This also goes for daycare centers. People’s work schedules change for the summer, so some daycare centers offer summer camp-style programs.
• Super-specialized sports camps.  If you’ve got a kid doing sports in high school and they want to train in their sport, it’s better to just ask their coach.  I started to track these a bit, but there are just so many, and I have no expertise whatsoever.  Generally I include sports camps that are 1) potentially for little kids and/or beginner/dabblers, or 2) offered with a variety of different sports and/or non-athletic programs, or 3) fun  in several different locations, since that makes life convenient for parents.
• I also generally skipped camps that don’t have updated information on an easy-to-link-to website.  I mean, come on, people!  Show a little motivation here if you want people to shell out cash. The exceptions might be if someone handed me old-fashioned photocopies, or, say, the coach happens to be M’s teacher.

YMCA Camp Wa Wa Segowea, where M plans to spend a week this summer (sleepaway! I KNOW!)

If anyone’s had experience with one of these camps, please do share your experiences with us–I’m serious.  That would be helpful.  Like, your good deed for the day.  Or if you know of another great camp, let me know. I made this request last year, and so a few of the camps listed have comments that people shared last year. Thanks to everyone who commented with information.

• 4M’s Farm offers a full-day horse camp for kids 7+ years old.  5 one-week sessions. Sarah just commented that it’s “absolutely wonderful. After one week my daughter participated in a horseshow where she even did a small jump, and they stayed busy all day doing “horse stuff”, like cleaning stalls, cleaning the horses hooves. . . the owner is super patient.”
• Afrim’s has its Multi-Sport Action Camp for 3- to 11-year-olds, or Go2Goal [soccer] Academy for 6- to 14-year-olds.
• The Albany Academies have classic camp, sports, basketball, academics, SAT prep, & Driver’s Ed.
• Albany Art Room has camps from 9 am to 2 pm for kids ages 5 and up.
• Albany Indoor Rockgym has Climbing Clinics for ages 9 and up.
• The Albany Jewish Community Center runs a variety of camp programs all summer for 3-year-olds up to teenagers.
• Albany Rowing Center has a morning rowing camp for students in grades 6 and above.
• The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy has a variety of camps.
• Bethlehem Children’s School has camp all summer, full day, for k-8th graders.  You can sign up by the week–each has a different theme.
• The Brown School has programs for kids in nursery school up to 6th grade.
• The Campus Children’s Center funs a daycamp for school-age children.  Associated with SUNY Albany, university-affiliated families get priority registration.
• Candyland Activity & Enrichment Center in Schenectady has camp for (potty-trained) kids ages 3-7. It runs Monday to Friday, with session from 9 am to noon or 1-4 pm. $95/week.
• Capital Area Productions (theater) has 1 one-week full-day camp in Albany.The Children’s Museum of Science & Technology in Troy has full day camp from the end of June to the beginning of September for ages 5 to 14.  You can register for a week at a time, based on schedule/theme, including some girls-only sessions.
• The Cicotti Center has full-day camp all summer for school-age kids.
• Cohoes Music Hall has an August Broadway camp.
• College of St. Rose Summer Academy has a variety of programs kids  for grades 6 to 12.
• Congregation Ohav Shalom Nursery School has camp starting June 13 for kids 5 and under. Camp hours are 9:30-1:00 with wrap around child care from 8:00-4:00. For more information, people can contact Amie Bloom at 489-4894–Thanks, Amie!
• Emma Willard School has a summer camp for girls 6- to 13-years-old.
• Frozen Ropes is running baseball and softball summer camps in many locations.
• The Girl Scouts run a variety of day and sleepaway camps nearby.  You can also spend a weekend of “family camp” or a mother-daughter overnight.  Girls don’t have to be scouts to attend.
• Greenbush Child Caring is running a camp for grades k-8.
• Hayner Brothers Sports Barn in Halfmoon has baseball, softball, & sports camps.
• Heldeberg Workshops has a variety of camps for school-age kids. Last year two different readers commented about Heldeberg. Juliet said, “My 5 yr old  loved it. It was a great introduction to real camp. The leader was great with the kids.” Jennifer said, “Heldeberg really is about the best in wholesome, educational fun. Yes, it is short (only a few hours) and the kids spend almost as much time on the bus as at camp. This was at least our 6th year attending. My little guy thinks of the bus as half the fun. Blacksmithing, archery, world of music, world of science, woodland indians–all really great programs with adult leaders.”
• HVCC has camps for ages 4 to 16 athletics, academics, theater, technology, & circus theatricks.
• Indian Ladder Farm has a Barn School with different theme weeks, most appropriate for ages 7 to 14. Thanks, Jodi!
• JMU4Kids offers a variety of summer camps for school-age kids in Rensselaer, Albany, & Loudonville, including Extreme Camp and Harry Potter Camp. Rebecca, a reader, commented, “We love the jmu4kids camp. . . phenomenal staff . . . so many camps to choose from – performing arts, circus, sports, adventure, extreme and day camp. There is something for everyone and your kids can try out all of them if they like. Plus they get to swim every afternoon – with lessons available if needed. The price is great and the peace of mind to have my daughter at such a great place while I go to work (after 8 years as a stay at home mom) is great!!”
• Kidzart and Drama Kids are teaming together to do a one-week, full-day camp in Colonie or  Clifton Park in August.
• Kidzart has two different week-long, half-day camps at a variety of locations.
• Kindercare has a variety of themed Summer Camps, including options for preschoolers.
• The Language Learning Institute has summer camps in Latham for kids to learn French, Spanish, Italian, or Russian. They’re generally 3 hours a day Monday to Friday for $175/week. They have other programs for kids and adults.
• Malta Montessori has a half- or full-day camp for kids ages 3 to 9.
• Mildred Elly is running a Babysitters Camp for girls entering 7th or 8th grade. Um, what about boys?
• New York State Museum Time Tunnel Summer Camp has 3 consecutive sessions of 2 weeks each that have different science-oriented themes.  It’s full day.
• Niskayuna Wrestling Summer Camp is for elementary to early middle school kids. from 9 am-noon at Niskayuna High School. $40, $25 for additional siblings. Contact Shawn Neely at sneely@niskyschools.org
• The Performance School of Music and the Arts has a variety of programs, including a Sleeping Beauty Pre-Ballet Camp for 3- to 6-year-olds and a Rock and Roll Camp for teenagers.
• Proctors has summer camps in theater, art, music filmmaking and chess. Reader Jennifer says the Jazz Institute is “amazing. . . the kids learn serious jazz–think Charles Mingus–all by ear and give an amazing end of program concert.”
• RPI Summer Camps has a variety of interesting stuff, including Young Actors Guild for kids as young as 6, Creative Writing, Legos sessions for ages 8 to 14, a crime scene investigation program for 7th & 8th graders, and lots of challenging high school programs.  There’s also a football camp.
• Sage offers a girls volleyball camp, a high school art program, and college and law programs for middle schoolers, as well as theatre programs. There are also pre-college programs for older high school students.
• The Saratoga Arts’ Council runs arts camps for kids ages 5- to 14-years-old.
• Saratoga Children’s Theatre has summer camps for ages 6-18.
• Schauber Stables has riding camp for ages 6 to 14.
• Schenectady Christian School has a variety of summer camps for grades 3 to 12.
• The Schenectady JCC has a daycamp and learn-to-swim program for 3-year-olds up to 9th graders.
• Schenectady Museum usually has a summer camp, but I don’t see any information on the camps yet.
• St. Helen’s in Niskayuna has summer programs for K-5th grade, but it’s not obvious on their website.
• St. Pius X has a summer camp for K-4th grade.
• The Sand Lake Center for the Arts has a variety of programs including theater, art, film-making, & movement, for a range of ages, 4 to 18.
• Saratoga Independent School has camps for ages 3-8. Thanks, Michelle!
• The Schenectady County Community College has a variety of summer courses for kids & teens including SAT Prep, Babysitting, Baking, Musical Theater, Aikido, Golf, & Environmental Science.
• The Sidney Albert Jewish Community Center has a wide variety, including “old school” camp and specialty camps.
• Siena College has a variety of athletic and dance camps.
• Skidmore College has a variety of summer camps including sports, arts, music, dance, writing, academics, and traditional recreation camps.
• SKYHIGH Adventures in Averill Park offers camps that improve skills for triathlons–swimming, biking, running– for 7- 15+ kids.
• Soccer Tech has summer camps from 9 am to 3 pm for ages 6 to high school.
• Ten Broeck Mansion has an archeology camp.
• Tiny Tots Tea Room has a princess camp and others.
• TSL Adventures has camp for ages 5 to 12, with a different theme each week. My friend’s son went last year and had a wonderful time.
• Tumbling Tykes offers camps for kids ages 3 to 7.
• There are a variety of Summer Sports Academies at Union College.
• Wa Wa Segowea is a smaller, private YMCA sleep-away camp.
• Woodland Hills Montessori has a variety of camps.
• The YMCA offers a variety of day camps as well as not-too-far sleepaway camps.
• There’s a Young Engineers Academy summer camp for ages 10 to 14 at AnNur Islamic School in Schenectady.

Some town programs:

• Ballston-Tennis, track and field, summer enrichment
• Bethlehem–Swimming from 2 up, camp from 4 up, open to non-residents for an extra $10. (Thanks Mari for this one.)
• Clifton Park–Programs for kids 2 and up, designed for residents.
• Colonie–Programs for kindergarten and up, non-residents can register after residents have had a chance to sign up.
• Guilderland–Has great stuff, but it’s for residents only and you residents should have received the info. in the mail.
• Malta–Programs for kids as young as 18 months, non-residents pay a bit more (Thanks again to Malta Mama for linking to this one).
• Niskayuna–Programs for kids as young as 3 years (potty trained), resident policy was unclear but I think non-residents can register with some restrictions.

Other sources of information: Kids Out and About has a list of summer camps organized by week. The Albany Times Union has an online Summer Camp List as well.  You can also request a free catalog from the Capital District Child Care Council.

I’m slacking on tonight’s post because I’m working on the updated Summer Camps list for tomorrow. It’s a bit of a project. If you’ve got information that I should know about a camp that you haven’t already sent me, please email me right away.

We had a good day today including a trip to dance with no tantrums from anyone. Toward the end of the day, M started to get a little bit smart-assy, but I tried a new technique of pretending complete obliviousness to anything rude that she did, which had the tremendously satisfying effect of amusing me while driving her crazy.

For example, at one point I was washing the dishes and reminding her to do something in that annoying mother-ish way of mine,  and she hopped onto the stairs so that her butt was roughly at my eye level and started shaking her butt at me. Nice. I pretended not to notice.

Finally she said, “Mom! Look!”

I said, “Oh yes, honey, I see you.”

“But look at my dupa!”

I answered, “Oh, are you showing me those new jeans that I bought you? They look really cute.”

She was clearly frustrated, “No! I’m shaking my dupa at you!”

I, meanwhile, was the queen of serenity:  “Yes, they fit really well! You’re welcome again.”

At which point she huffed out a huge pre-tween breath of exasperation and scampered up the stairs. Not a technique for every day, perhaps, but it was a refreshing change of pace.

Gorgeous day, right?

Apparently we’ve got a string of them in store. So I thought that I’d remind you that we have a list of local hikes that you might enjoy–the link is always over there on the right for your convenience. If you have a difficult time motivating your kids to hike, or if you’d just like to try something new, check out my post on letterboxing. It is very fun.

Finally, if you’re going to be hiking anytime soon, check out Saratoga Woods and Waterways. I love this blog’s gorgeous pictures, and as everything pops out for spring, you can take a look at this blog for information and a preview of treasures that you might find.

Meanwhile, if you’d rather stick around home and be a little crafty, you can still commune with nature at the same time. First, behold this adorable centerpiece:

It’s just some wheatgrass grown from seed in a cute little bucket. It was from the nursery school auction that we attended over a week ago, and it’s still going strong. So that’s a fun little project.

If you’re pondering a garden, check out last year’s post on gardening with kids and start thinking about what crops you’d like to raise. Any favorite crops you’d suggest to other readers? I love me some informative comments!

Finally, another fun little crafting idea that I’ve just discovered is colored sand. Now’s the time of year that you might be heading to the home improvement store to buy yourself some fresh sand for your sandbox. You might want to save a little for crafty projects. Coloring sand is crazy-easy. Just pour some in a baggie, add a few drops of food coloring, seal the bag and mush the sand around in your fingers until the color is evenly distributed. Kids will love the mushing around to make different colors, and then they can make sand pictures by sprinkling over glue, or use a funnel to pour different layers of color into a small container–a used spice jar works particularly well. Of course,  you might just set aside a bag of sand and keep it for a rainy day, since the weather forecast is looking great for now.