Category — Misc. Local Businesses

J’s been going to gymnastics at DC Gymnastics, and she likes it very much. But its location, near West Gate Plaza in Albany, is a serious schlep for us. So I was super-excited to hear about Cartwheels Gymnastics Center opening in Clifton Park.

We went to try out a class recently.

The first and most obvious thing? The place is new. Everything’s shiny and clean, and it all smells like fresh paint and fresh carpet. It’s almost overpowering, really. But it’s also a sharp contrast to most of the area gymnastics places, all of which show their age in grime of various degrees and the smell, let’s face it, of sweaty girls and old chalk.

It’s a smaller space than some of the more cavernous gyms, but there’s still plenty of equipment packed into the c. 4,000 square feet, including balance beams of various heights, uneven bars and some practice bars, a trampoline and Tumble Trak, a floor exercise mat, and rings. An additional 2,300 square feet of space with a vault and other equipment is in the works and expected to be opened within the next month or two.

J joined a group of about 12 or 14 girls with two coaches, including one of the co-owners, Dana Marion. According to Jason Dammer, the other co-owner, they have a maximum ratio of 8-1 for school age and 6-1 for pre-school.

J liked both coaches, although she was a bit impatient with some of the other girls in her class. Like other gymnastics classes she’s attended, the coaches assign different stations so that the gymnasts can stay busy working on different skills instead of waiting on line. Since the class was new, some of the other girls didn’t snap to as quickly and efficiently as my exacting 7-year-old would have liked!

For me, the smaller space and the fact that there was only one class occurring while we were there was a welcome change of pace. It was much easier for me to actually listen and hear what the coaches were saying. At both DC and World Class Gymnastics, the kids are usually so far away from the parents’ seating area that there’s no hope of knowing what is happening. This appealed to the control freak mama hawk in me, although at the rate they’re going, I can imagine that there will be simultaneous classes in their future.

Cartwheels is planning on doing a summer camp, although they haven’t settled on a schedule yet. They’ve also planned Open Gym times occasionally, which means that kids can work on different equipment in a self-directed way, but with coaches present to spot and advise. They did this last Friday from 6:30-8 pm, and it cost $10/member or $15/guest.  If you’re interested in any of these, check out the Cartwheels Facebook page for updates.

Over the weekend,  The Daily Gazette included a list of Schenectady County hikes. I compared it to my list of Family-Friendly Hikes and realized that I was missing some, so I updated the page for you. At the bottom I’ve also included a couple of my favorite local nature-appreciation blogs as well, just in case you need a little inspiration.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of new businesses opening that offer physical fitness indoors where it’s a little warmer. When I was checking into the hikes, I stumbled on the TU’s Outdoor blog’s post on a new rock-climbing gym, The Edge in Halfmoon. There’s also a new gymnastics place, Cartwheels in Clifton Park, which is scheduled to open later this month.

Or maybe you’re excited about the cold, and you’re all about ice appreciation? Then I’m super-excited that the Empire State Plaza has officially re-opened the free ice skating rink. Yippee! Check out the details over at All Over Albany. Speaking of blogs sharing the free joys of winter, Nippertown‘s got the list of free concerts at Schenectady County Library. I will try to remember to add these to my listings as I go, but I’m linking up in case you want to mark your calendars for something special.

And completely off-topic, was anyone wondering how that Baby Eewok cloak-sewing went? No? Well, sorry. I’m showing you, anyway. Here’s one:

The second one, with its lovely pattern, is a little more formal (Eewok also borrowed an American Girl headband for this one). The seamstress elf who created both fashions sent little J some extra fabric scraps because she’d heard that J was crafty. J got to work immediately and put together a new blankie for Baby Eewok. It’s hard to make out in the picture, but the blanket is outer-space themed, with two stars cut from the cloak straps as well as a floral-ish planet.

J was super-excited to hear that there is an elf who loves crafting and Star Wars as much as she does.

So, perhaps a bit more academic than pure fun, but I’ve put together a list of places that rent musical instruments in our area. It’s below, and it’s also included, now, in the Big Ol’ List of Links as well.

I’m adding the section because I ran into troubles with my own attempts at renting M’s cello. Our school handed out a paper with a list of different businesses, but they didn’t offer any editorial comments. They’re Switzerland. They’re neutral. So if, like me, you happen to be clueless about this sort of thing, they were not conveniently handing out clues. So. I made a random guess that, since the businesses were not alphabetized on the sheet, the order in which they appeared might provide secret hints about their quality. That information remains uncertain.  I tried calling Cellos 2 Go a couple of times, and no one ever got back to me.

I ended up renting from John Keal Music. Over the course of a couple of months, I found them irritating. I didn’t like that they told me that I needed to bring my daughter with me when I rented, and then when I schlepped my children there, no one looked at her or spoke with her, anyway. I didn’t like that they had unfriendly “Watch Your Children!” signs in their store. Believe me, I am in favor of adults watching their children. I just prefer it when we’re all offered the benefit of the doubt before being admonished, because a sign like that makes me super-tense about my children’s and my own behavior. It’s just unwelcoming. Once home, we found that the bridge may or may not have been put in incorrectly (this was a matter of debate: long story), and then it fell off for no apparent reason, and then one of the strings was so frayed that M’s cello teacher sent a snippy email requesting a replacement. Also, as I recounted these misadventures to People Who Knew About Cellos, they all rolled their eyes about John Keal and said that they were absolutely fine for other instruments, but not for cellos. So I gave up. In their favor, I will say that they were quite polite when we decided to cancel after the trial period, they picked up the cello at M’s school, so I didn’t have to schlep there, and any of these little issues, I was told, might potentially happen with any cello. I asked those eye-rolling People Who Knew where I should get my cello, and they suggested Francis Morris.

So, we met up with Francis Morris, who is based in Great Barrington but generally treks to his Colonie office once a week. Turns out that the rental cost was lower, and he spent quite a bit of time chatting M up, adjusting things to ensure that she could hold her cello comfortably, and praising her successful rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb after only 3 months of school lessons. We went home and ran into one little issue, which was that her end pin was so spiky that it was gouging our hardwood floor, and when I called to leave a message requesting guidance, Francis jumped on the phone to ponder with me the relative merits of a spiky end pin, a rubber stopper thingy, or a strap to hold the cello in place as if she were a concert pianist. In the end, he popped a rubber stopper in the mail to me right away: problem solved. M and her teacher both think that this cello’s working better for her than the one she had before.  Phew.

Anyway, that’s my own very limited experience in the world of Musical Instrument Rentals. If any of you have had experience with any of these places–good or bad–or if you know of other places that I should add to the list, I’d love to hear it, and I’m sure it will help anyone who’s Googled up this post.

Places in the Capital District to Rent Musical Instruments:

A Violin Shop (Schenectady: violins, violas, and cellos)
Blue Sky Recording (Delmar: strings, wind, drums, & bells)
Burnt Hills Music Store
Cellos 2 Go (Schenectady)
Drome Sound (Schenectady: sound, lighting, & DJ equipment, percussion, wind, & string instruments)
Francis Morris Violins (Colonie: violins, violas, and cellos)
Hermie’s Music Store (Schenectady: band instrument rental)
John Keal Music (Albany:  strings, wind, & drums)
Kniskern Music House (Clifton Park)
Rock Bottom Guitars (Scotia)

Don’t forget about the Trendy Tots discount this week. Scroll to the next post for more info.

I’ve been so discombobulated by the holiday and related travels that I’ve lost track of time, and I forgot to remind you that Natalie at Trendy Tots in Schenectady is offering a special discount to all of you.  If you go from Tuesday December 27th to Saturday December 31st, you can get  20% off  your purchase if you tell them that Katie from Capital District Fun sent you. I visited Trendy Tots and told you more about it in a previous post.

Did you know that 4th graders can ski or snowboard for free at many New York State resorts with the $20 NY 4th Grade Ski & Ride Passport Program? Kids can get a free learn to ski passport or 3 free lift tickets (with an adult ticket purchase) to each of the participating mountains for $20 (or both of the deals for $39). I heard about this awesome program from Sandra at Albany Kid–thanks, Sandra! I’m finally getting around to putting our application for M in the mail tomorrow. Now all we need is some snow. Yeah, I said it. I’m ready.

Oh, and speaking of outdoor winter fun, did you already hear that the Empire State Plaza skating rink will reopen this year? They were aiming for January. I’m excited about this, and I couldn’t remember if I’d mentioned in here already. But hey, free! And thus worth another mention as a  super deal for you!

Hey! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent yesterday with family, too, and we really enjoyed the weather. The grown-ups spent all day and into the night around an outdoor fire pit drinking wine and continuing to eat too much, while the cousins  constructed a tree fort/pirate ship. Pretty ideal.

Today I went to the Albany Institute of History & Art for their Gift Fair and Family Festival. I was a judge for their Saturday afternoon LEGO® Building Challenge. Last year was the first year, I think, that they combined the Gift Fair and Family Festival, and this year was the first that they’ve tried the building challenge. It seemed like a smashing success to me, and the event continues tomorrow. I think just about any family would enjoy it. But why, you ask?

Not a competition piece: this is a re-enactment of Lego creativity by me because this afternoon I was too busy attempting to determine which structures deserved which award to take photos myself.

Well first, it’s all free.  The permanent exhibitions, if you’ve never seen them, include an assortment of stuff, including sculptures, Hudson River School paintings, colonial artifacts, and the kid-pleasing mummy. One of the current temporary exhibitions is Kid Stuff: Great Toys From Our Childhood, and there are plenty of hands-on opportunities, like playing with cars on a track, pushing a slinky down the stairs, and playing with Legos in the exhibit space. There’s also the enclosed permanent kid-friendly space. Registration for tomorrow’s building challenge has closed, but you can get on a waiting list in case registrants don’t show up, and even if you don’t compete, you can check out a couple of cool Lego demonstrations in the competition space (in fact, if you avoid the 1-3 pm challenge time, your child will hardly know that they’re missing it).

Finally, the gift fair means some great shopping. Their gift shop is always great shopping (I am a sucker for a museum shop, and it’s a good one), and for the event, the space is fairly crowded with vendors. That’s where I have to throw in the “just about any family would enjoy it” disclaimer. Because if you have a fast-moving and handsy toddler or preschooler, it will be too stressful for you. There are just too many lovely, lovely things. Come instead during the week, when the vendors have left and the exhibit space will be quieter so no one will be driven crazy when your child won’t stop playing with the cars.

I brought M along, and she browsed while I judged the builders. She really enjoyed walking around on her own like a grown-up through the galleries. I slipped her some money for the  Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for sale, but little did I know that she’d brought her own cash along. Most of the vendors were very friendly and kind to her, and she ended up getting some paper creations from a nice lady from Stacey.

M purchased this paper barrette while I was off judging. "Lovely," I said. "But please don't wear it in the rain."

We had a great time, and I hope it becomes an annual event.

When I was pulling together events yesterday, I noticed plenty of events have different prices for members and non-members. It reminded me that I think that I think museum memberships are a great gift request, especially if you have relatives who want to get stuff, stuff, and more stuff.

If you become a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers, you can get free admission to plenty of other member museums through the Passport Program. We love this! Become a member of, say, CMOST, New York State Museum, or the Schenectady Museum, and you’ll get benefits at museums in Boston, New York City, and plenty of other locations.

I’ve said before that I suggest the Steamer 10 pass, which buys you ten tickets to Steamer 10 shows for $90. You can use them with one huge group at a single show, or break it up and use it for a bunch of shows within a year. They have kids’ shows during the December, February, and spring breaks as well as a variety of other family-friendly shows throughout the year.

We recently started getting New Moon Girls magazine at our house, and I love it. More important, both girls are reading it. Of course I’m a huge fan of their recent Girl-Caught campaign, too.

Of course, if you like to go shopping (which, as you know, I don’t), here are some suggestions:

Head to a local museum. The Albany Institute of History & Art is having their Gift Fair and Family Festival this weekend. The New York State Museum is having its annual Chocolate Expo & Holiday Gift Market next Sunday December 4th.

I love this Better World Shopper that’s been making the rounds on Facebook.

GeekMom has a huge, info-packed post on gift-buying alternatives, local suggestions, and spending guides.

Last year All Over Albany provided a last-minute local shoppers’ guide.  Scroll down to the end, and you’ll see links to several posts about locally-made items for sale on Etsy.

Mamatoga has a holiday and local gift guide.

So, anyone have other gift suggestions? Oh, or here’s a question: for people who have kids younger than yours, what do you wish that you’d gotten years ago? I wish we’d bought a sturdy red wagon. Fun and useful in so many ways.

Okay, I wasn’t going to write a post about this. It’s only a grocery store, people! I’ve been muttering that and shaking my fist every time I see ShopRite traffic. Which is, like, all the time. But ShopRite is now my closest grocery store after the Niskayuna Co-op, so of course I’m curious. I even wrote a story about it for All Over Albany a while back. So when I needed bread and milk, I figured it was my opportunity to do a scouting mission. And then I couldn’t restrain myself: I had to take a couple of pictures.

Okay, first of all? It’s freaking insane. There are so many people there.  Cars circling the once-deserted parking lot. In fact, I got the only decent parking available:

If only I still had the bike trailer! Because you can only shove so much into a backpack, right? The other thing that struck me? I didn’t see a single person that I knew. Whenever I go to the store I run into friends, neighbors, or misc. acquaintances. Which makes me think that there were a ton of people who are basically bargain tourists.

I didn’t even look at prices. I figured that everybody’s prices are going to be nutty during the big showdown, so it’s not worth my time until things simmer down. And now I have to confess to you that I actually did a huge price comparison chart for myself a few months ago, and I’d planned to share it (because it was a lot of work, so why not?). But I was too depressed to share. Bottom line: Price Chopper most expensive, Hannaford a little cheaper, Wal-Mart waaayy cheaper.  I don’t know how I missed it before, but All Over Albany does an annual pricing showdown, and they’ll be adding ShopRite to the mix in the future. So I don’t have to.

So, I was checking out inventory. I loved the cheese selection, and they had good crackers, too. They had a ton of Applegate Farms products, which are good if you fall into the eats-meat-but-feels-guilty-about-it category, which I do. Oh! And the olive bar!

That was exciting.

But meanwhile, I was getting twitchy. There were so many people, and there were little clusters of people, like the filet mignon groupies, so it was difficult to navigate. Plus, am I the only person who hates that everything organic and “natural” is segregated? I’m sure that it’s convenient for people who’ll only buy from that aisle, but for me, I end up having to run back and forth between the two, comparing. It’s disorienting, but it’s what many supermarkets do.  I’m pretty brand-loyal for a lot of foods. It’s part of the reason why I’m not great with coupons. So I saw plenty of Muir Glen products, but I was somehow unable to find the basic canned tomatoes, which are a staple for me.  And I saw plenty of Cabot cheese, but I didn’t see Cabot butter, which is our clear favorite. But it’s possible that these were around, and I was just getting too disoriented, agoraphobic, and twitchy to stay much longer.

On the bright side, if you’re working with a gluten-free diet, they had a huge selection:

For gluten-free people, it’s worth a drive. And I found my well-loved but difficult-to-find Red Zinger herbal tea. I actually said out loud, “Yeah, baby!” when I saw it. I haven’t seen it in stores in years. Although lately I’ve become a Bengal Spice girl. Ummm, numm, nummm. . . .

Okay, wait! Now I’m distracted, and I have to go make myself tea! So in closing, I’m going to go with. . . pretty good. But I’m reserving full judgement until prices and shoppers settle into normalcy.

Meanwhile, for a more complete, foodie-oriented review, check out the post that Daniel of the Fussy Little Blog wrote for All Over Albany.

Also the TU’s Parent 2 Parent blog (God, I hate it when people say “2″ instead of “to”–that’s new, isn’t it?) has a post about ShopRite becoming a teen hangout. There wasn’t much to the little cafe, actually. But of course the kids are hanging out there, because there aren’t too many places to go. They deserve a place, and it would be terrific for the whole community, I think. Coffee and snacks for mamas with little ones in the morning, business folks for lunch, kids all afternoon, families for dinner: yes, please.  Richie & the Fonz had Arnold’s, Brenda & Dylan had the Peach Pit, even Arthur & Buster have that ice cream place that they walk to all by themselves. Can some enterprising business person please open up a family-friendly hangout that doesn’t feel sticky everywhere like the Friendly’s always did? Seriously, people, can someone please get on that?

I mentioned that on Thursday we were preparing for clothes shopping. At the time, I’d hoped that we’d spend the morning sorting clothes and the afternoon shopping. Alas, the sorting took longer than expected, and we ended up too exhausted for a big shopping trip. We ended up taking one trip to Justice and JC Penney in Clifton Park last week, partly because we needed to get a birthday present, too. Today, the girls and I made our annual back-to-school mall pilgrimage.

—-Update:  Okay, since posting this there’s been a hullabaloo about JC Penney’s crappy misogynist shirts like “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me” (which has been pulled) and “My Best Subjects: Boys, Shopping, Music, Dancing” (still available as of this update). I tried to send an email, but the email wouldn’t go through (hoping that tons of people are complaining, too!). So I called customer service and spoke to a nice lady named Becky who told me that they’d all received a memo so that they could apologize to callers about the pretty homework t-shirt. I said something like, please tell me that you’re pulling all of this stuff, because otherwise I’m going to have to make my daughter return her new favorite. When I told her about the “My Favorite Subjects” tee, I could swear that she made a little gasp of her own when she pulled it up on her computer. She gave me the phone number for the corporate office, which is 972-431-8200. There I spoke with Christine, who was not particularly helpful, but politely told me that everything was being reviewed. Let’s hope so.—–

After taking stock, the “to buy” items were jeans and casual shoes for both girls (they wear jeans constantly), a dressy outfit for M, and something cute for the first day of school. The girls always want to go to Justice, but we rarely find much except their beloved smelly shirts. We often have good luck at The Children’s Place, and today was no exception: $10 Jeans! Yes, please!

Here are some of the highlights:

M begs for a long sweater every year, and then she wears it. A lot. This is in contrast to the sweater dress that she begs for every year, then wears, like, once. This year I made a pre-emptive strike and told her that I would not buy a sweater dress as her dressy think. Pants and a nice shirt instead, because she’ll actually wear that. I hope. Anyway, this sweater’s from Crazy 8.

Here’s M’s dressy shirt, from JC Penney.

Among the ten dollar jeans, J managed to ferret out $22 jeans. But they were so cute that I couldn’t resist. Ditto the shirt.

And then, of course, since the jeans were (mostly) cheap, I bought an adorable scarf for each of them. This is partly because I just love that they can pull off scarf-wearing with such panache. And these are J’s shoes from Payless. We ended up ordering shoes for M from Land’s End. She’d admired them weeks ago, but I’d put her off until today, when I noticed that they’re now half price! Yay!

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.

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!