Category — Winter

Sure I was grousing about the snow, but when I went outside this morning, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit giddy.  The giddiness subsided a bit over the next hour and a half of clearing driveways and sidewalks, but still:  this is a quality snowfall.  Perfect packing for snowpeople and snowballs, enough for a quality fort and for snowshoes to work effectively, and the temperature:  warm enough so that hopefully the kids will have more staying power than usual.  I know that this is a repeat for some of you, but here’s a roundup of past snow posts for you:

Click to find:  local sledding hills,  farther-away tubing spots,  the recipe for snow ice cream, some places where you can rent snowshoes in the Capital District.

Have fun!

We went sledding today, and I have to tell you:  I am not good at sledding. You would think that there’s not a great deal of skill involved.  I mean, children do it quite successfully.  Not me.  I always get nervous and start wiggling around, and that throws the sled off course, and next thing you know we’ve managed to turn around and we are going backwards.  Or we’re pitching over to the side.  Or we’re running into a tree.  All of which happened this afternoon, once on the same run downhill.

I was particularly nervous today because the sleds were fast.  The last few times we’d gone, our scratched-up plastic sleds barely moved, so we’d be chugga-chugga-chugging to get started.  So this time I decided to be clever and utilize some simple household items.  First, I rubbed the sled bottoms with a votive candle (unlit), and then, in case that didn’t help, I sprayed the bottoms with Pam cooking spray.  In retrospect, if I had wanted to use the scientific method, I should have given each sled only one of the two treatments so that I could compare and contrast and, possibly, produce a bar graph.  But we all know that if I’d done that, there would be fights over who got which sled.  Whichever item did the trick, the sleds were frighteningly fast.  We were just at the local school, where the brick and concrete are not too terribly far from the bottom of the hill, and I’d always thought it was safe.  Until today.  Today I was so relieved that no one was hemorrhaging that I even pulled the girls on the sleds for most of the way home.

Anyway, the fresh snow the other day inspired me to look into local tubing possibilities.  I found a few, although they’re more of a trip than I’d hoped (of course, you can always bring your own tube anywhere).  And then, while I was at it, I realized that I might as well create a section for skiing/snowboarding/tubing day trips on the Big Ol’ List of Links for You.  If you click, scroll down to the bottom for Winter Day Trips.  Here are some tubing spots:

• Glimmerglass State Park (Cooperstown) has tubing on weekends Jan. 9th to Feb. 28th from 11 am to 4 pm.  $5/day, but you’ve got to walk up the hill.
• Gore Mountain in North Creek (northwest of Lake George) has tubing at $16/2 hours.  Children must be 36 inches or taller to use the lifts.
• Sawkill Family Ski Center in Kingston has tubing at $15/1 hour or $20/2 hours.  There’s a 42-inch height minimum.
• Tubby Tubes Co. in Lake Luzerne (near Lake George).  Rates weren’t posted  online, but I have  heard that the slopes are mellow/small kid friendly.
• West Mountain in Queensbury, near Glens Falls has tubing that’s $16/adults and $8 for kids under 6 for two hours.  Kids are not permitted to ride with an adult.
• Willard Mountain in Greenwich (east of Saratoga) has tubing for 2 hours for $15.
• Windham Mountain is west of Hudson (a good 90 minutes from me near Schenectady), and it has tubing at $20/2 hours.

Considering how inept I am with mere sledding, we’ve thus far skipped out on snow tubing, ourselves.  But I’d love opinions, if anyone’s been to these places or others.

And finally, for still more outdoor fun, those oh-so-helpful folks at All Over Albany have created a list of places to ice skate outdoors.  Hooray!  This is one of those things that was on my list of things to do, so I am particularly grateful to them.  Go check it out.

I know this seems crazy, but February break has flown by for us.  Tomorrow I’ll have weekend activities, and then we’ll all be back to the old routine.

We went to Thacher Nature Center‘s annual Snow Day for the first time ever.   It was absolutely worth the drive–they were all about packing in the fun.

First, we went on a whopping 1-mile snow shoe hike in which the average kid age was probably 6.  All of the grown-ups were discussing the value of peer pressure, because many of them would have conked out if it weren’t for the couple of older dynamos who kept them motivated.  It was the first time on snowshoes for both of my girls.  M had a lovely time, but J struggled a bit.  Honestly, she could have kept up, but she was walking along noticing the splendors of nature while the rest of them were in it for speed.   Two or three times I gave up and put her on my shoulders just because I didn’t want to hold the whole group back–we were that far behind.

So the kids were snow shoe maniacs, and they even all voted to take the longer route (the “full schoolhouse”, if you’re a regular), but it was getting to be a teensy bit of a death march for the youngest by the end.  Luckily, at the end of the long march there were. . . .

S’mores at a campfire!  Woo, hoo! The perfect antidote to whining.  Because your can’t form whines around all that gooey marshmallow deliciousness.

Thus recharged, we headed back into the nature center for a smorgasbord of craftiness, including plaster of paris animal track molds–an unbelievably easy craft with a satisfying end-product that will no doubt slowly crumble on their bureaus for years to come.  They stamped some bookmarks, they cut some snowflakes, they lingered wistfully in the gift area even after I reminded them that we’d just purchased the experience.  Which was priceless. There was actually a cute necklace I would’ve liked, too.

Last up was the storyteller, and I felt a bit bad for her, because when she started we’d already been there for 2¼ hours, so everyone was running out of steam.  After two stories she paused for a drink, and the place emptied as all the kids went running to retrieve their plaster animal feet.  We stayed for one last story–alas, she lamented, she’d been building up to the best one.  Sure enough, it was a story of a woman who acquired heroic superpowers through farting.  I’m not kidding.  M almost went into laughter convulsions.  J, who was less familiar with the myriad terms for gas, enjoyed herself once I gave her a whispered vocabulary lesson.

It was a good time that incidentally also wiped us out. J fell asleep on the ride home and M & I came home and immediately ate a snack.  And then after the snack,  I made myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Perhaps you’re thinking that this whole outing was all about us, since it won’t come again until next year.   But, see, next year I’ll tell you and I’ll remind you all that it was very fun.  Also, two other items:  we drove past some lively sledding at the Tawasentha Winter Recreation Area just off Rte. 146 in Guilderland–looked very fun, and I didn’t have it on my original list.  Also, the snowflakes that we were cutting were specific patterns, 9 of which you can obtain from Dave here for free.

Finally, you’ve probably heard–possibly from one of the many Facebook groups?–that Thacher’s in danger of closing.  They’re asking people to make calls–because phone calls carry more weight and are quicker.  In the past people have mocked me for “acting like the New York political system actually works”, but what else can you do?  Give up entirely?  Because apathy just lets people get away with not paying attention to you.  I’m not saying that I think it will help, necessarily–I’m just saying that I feel morally obligated to try.  Anyway, if you think Thacher should stay open, call  the Governor Paterson at 474-8390 or your local legislators (use Find My Senator for Senate or  Member Search for Assembly) or the New York State Parks Department and tell them.  I know:  a bunch of places are under threat. . . . so if it’s not Thacher that you love, pick one of your favorite parks or not-for-profits and make a call.  I freakin’ hate the phone–believe me.  I once cried because my mom asked me to order a pizza.

But I’ll call if you will.

I’m getting the sense that people are starting to feel a little bit antsy about exactly what the heck they’re doing for February break, so I’m going to try to publish a list on that a little earlier than I’d originally planned–I’ll probably just try to compile the weekend events and the week events at the same time.  I promise–there’s plenty.

Also, hooray!  We’re finally getting some snow around here!   For those of you who are new or sporadic readers, now’s a good day to check out some old posts–one’s on Sledding and the other’s on Snow Ice Cream.  Because what kid doesn’t like to eat snow?  If you do go and look, please add comments if you’ve got some more snow hill suggestions!  I slapped that post together and haven’t added much to it because we’ve been relatively snow-free, so if you’ve got more places or strong opinions on the places listed, we’d love to hear them.

Wow, when it’s this cold, I just want to stay inside.  Luckily, there’s lots to do this weekend, but the freezing weather and a visit to Mohawk Commons last night reminded me that I have another list I’m working on, which I like to call  “Indoor Desperation”.  You know–for when you must get out of the house,  but it’s cold or rainy and so you’re looking for something indoors.  Now, I already have a list of Indoor Playtime spots on the Big Ol’ List of Links, but some days you just have an hour to kill, or you’re feeling cheap, or whatever.  So if you have suggestions that you think might be appropriate for the Indoor Desperation list, please do email me.

One of my best timekillers-with-little-kids has always been that strip in Mohawk Commons that includes Old Navy, Petsmart, and Barnes & Noble.  Years ago, now, Old Navy had that cute talking dog.  Last night I visited, and they had some groovy game projected on the floor that had kids kicking a virtual ball around.  In fact, one family was so busy playing that I didn’t even get a chance to try it out.  So if you need to kill some time (or you’re dying for a pair of flipflops), Old Navy is your destination.  Then, of course, Petsmart has animals.  With the under-six set, you can spend an hour there, especially if they’re grooming dogs or they have the cats out for adoption.  And Barnes & Noble!  So many fond memories from around the Thomas table.  Like the time I told 3-year-old M that she had 5 more minutes because J had a pooper.  And, like, 3 different adults stumbled over each other to offer to watch M so that I could go change the pooper right away.  Wow, thought I, she must smell extraordinarily bad.  Poor little stinkball.

Anyway, we’re heading out to store up an insulating layer of fat, ourselves.  On Saturday mornings, we usually split up for classes and then spend a little Quality Time and lunch as a date, 1 parent per child.  But this week my cute husband has another engagement, so we girls are headed over to the Golden Phoenix.  While it’s not overwhelmingly authentic, the buffet has kid delights like dumplings and mandarin oranges and jello, while I get some Mongolian barbecue.  And we all appreciate a self-serve ice cream machine.  And J could easily spend half an hour at the little fish pond if I ever let her–it would be great for killing time if we ordered food, but there’s no need to kill time.  Nothing like a buffet for immediate gratification-yum.

Stay warm!

Okay, I know, I’ve been the slacking blogger lately.  Originally I thought that I’d be home much earlier yesterday, but with the crazy weather, plans changed.

In case you were wondering, yes, it was warm and pouring rain on Monday at Jiminy Peak.  It was monsoon-like.  We took a walk that morning and it was so warm and so wet that I had no hope at all about any more skiing (we had skied a bit on Sunday night, and M & her dad rode the mountain coaster).  Everything was closed, and when we finally found a sign that said “Arcade Open”, my friend went to check it out and saw some guys bailing water because it was beginning to flood.  There was a big group of us and everyone else was more optimistic than me, so I stayed, even though the prospect of just hanging out all day with the promise of only-possibly-skiing-on-Tuesday seemed pretty bleak.

We had a wonderful time. I feared that Monday would be a Day of Television, with 2 tv sets in each suite, but they actually didn’t watch too much.  The kids, who ranged from a 5^th grader to a 4-year-old, enjoyed traveling as a pack from room to room.  For quite a while they were all hanging out in the large balcony area over the hotel lobby while the grown-ups sat just downstairs chatting by the fire.  Whenever the noise level got too high (or disquietingly quiet, for that matter), someone would pop up to check on them.  They also loved swimming—the outdoor pool and hot tub are warm enough to be comfortable, while running out through the chill made it seem somehow forbidden and thrilling. Really, the only drawback was that by the time Tuesday came, everyone was getting tired.

Amazingly, it got colder and they made snow and groomed the hills like crazy, and we had a lovely and warm day of skiing on Tuesday.  M says her favorite part of the super-fun weekend was ski school.  In our group, 2 out of 3 kids enjoyed it.  Both of my girls improved quite a bit.  If I were a regular skier there, I might have been disappointed that so few trails and lifts were open, but since I ski so infrequently these days, it was just fine for me.

But most of all, it was a great deal and very easy for families.  We stayed in the Country Inn for $175/night.  It was a suite with a kitchenette, so the grown-ups had their own bedroom with a king-sized bed and the girls shared the pull-out couch in the living room.  Paying for two nights got us the suite as well as free lift tickets for all four of us for 3 days.  It was right at the bottom of the hill, so we paid $0 for food—we brought everything potluck.  The kids loved “shopping around” to see who had the best snacks.  Yes, we dropped cash on ski school–$110 per child, which included rentals and lift tickets—and on the mountain coaster.  But for me, what I hate is when you’re on vacation and there are all sorts of incidental expenses that you didn’t plan for, and that didn’t happen.  We got four vouchers to make up for Monday, and we can’t wait to go again.

Incidentally, we usually go to Mt. Snow, Vermont, where we have family.  There’s actually a deal this Sunday:  you get one free kid’s lift ticket per adult ticket purchased.

Get a bowl full of clean snow.  Add milk (or cream or half-n-half) until it’s wet enough, sugar until it’s sweet enough, and vanilla.  I always have the economy-sized imitation vanilla for wintertime.  We don’t do exact measurements–it’s a lot of dumping and stirring, really.   So it’s a good kid activity.  Usually by the time you’ve got it perfect it’s more like snow ice cream soup, but my kids and I love it.  J will say in July, “I can’t wait until we can make snow ice cream again.”

This morning we got some new snow that’s perfect for snowballs & snowmen!

Or snowgirls!  Note the eyelashes.

So I had to run out of the house this morning, and I felt pretty guilty when someone called my house because I had not yet posted where to go sledding. (Jeez!  Who would do that?  I mean, really?  What a freak!  And yes, I’m kidding.  About the freakishness.  Someone actually did call me.)

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to share what I know on sledding hills, but I have two problems:  1) I don’t know all that much, especially beyond my neighborhood, and 2) it’s hard to judge a sledding hill unless you’ve been there when there’s snow and people sledding.

But I’m going to operate under the assumption that a little bit of information, including much that is secondhand, is better than none.  Please, by all means, add suggestions in comments.  Okay?

Some suggestions:

• The Albany Times Union lists reader-voted best sledding hills, an the consistent winners are Frear Park in Troy, Capital Hills Golf Course in Albany, and Sand Creek Middle School in Colonie. See votes for 2008 and 2009.
• Lincoln Park, near the DMV in downtown Albany–park on Morton Avenue across from the Stewarts Shop on the left.  Lincoln Park and hill are located right there above the city pool.  Also, the tee-bird golf course in Moreau, north or south . The south, hole #4, has the best two sledding hills of them all. This is located off of Reynolds Rd.  Both of these suggestions are from this cool sledding site.
• www.Saratoga.com has a list of best sledding hills
• www.Albany.com includes sledding hills in their “best of” lists—you have to scroll down a bit
• Rosendale Elementary School in Niskayuna—bear left and go behind the school
• The Schenectady Municipal Golf Course—take Golf Road away from Central Park and park near the clubhouse
• Blatnick Park in Niskayuna
• Collins Park in Scotia has a small hill good for little kids, with the added bonus of the library to warm up and a Dunkin’ Donuts for cocoas both in walking distance

Okay, I made this whole entire list and then I accidentally deleted it and cursed repeatedly and meanwhile my children are clamoring to make snow ice cream.  I was going to give the recipe here, but they’re about to flip out.  So, I know it’s getting warmer–grab a big bowl of ice cream and stick it in your freezer and I’ll tell you later–okay?

We had a great time at Central Park today, and it was a pretty good turnout.  When we showed up, there were about 50 people there, and the kids had already blown through the 50 cups of cocoa (Daddy made some at home later).  It was getting a little bit melty on top, so it was a combination ice skating/muck-about-in-the-slush outing. . . should have worn snow pants.  And I brought my fancy shovel, but I guess I was a little ambitious thinking that I could ice skate, help little J, and shovel.  I’m often a little bit too ambitious.  Instead, I sort of shouted out to random strangers that anyone could borrow it and people looked at me and seemed to be thinking, “Wow, I hope that lady who loves her shovel will quiet down and skate away.”  So I did.

Anyway, if you’re inspired, the ice is pretty clear there now.  If you’d like to check out another location, here are a couple to try:

• All Over Albany reports that Van Schaik Park in Cohoes is clear.  Click the link to see it in all its splendor.
• Saratoga Spa State Park: friends report that this is clear and nice and the warming hut is a bonus.
• The rumor I heard is that the Crossings in Colonie clears ice and posts a sign by the road to let you know if you can skate on any given day–I tried to call them to confirm today and I got a machine.
• Capital District Parent Pages says that there’s outdoor skating in Glens Falls at Crandall Park or East Field, but I wasn’t able to find much additional information on these.
• CDPP also talked about Swinburne Park in Albany, and I found a bit more information on that one–click the link.

Looking at my ice skating notes, I stumbled on snowshoe information for Guilderland that I must have misplaced when I was doing that post–sorry!

I’m feeling a little bit guilty that this post is not quite as well-researched as I hoped it would be. . . but I’m tired!  Played tag ice skating with Madeleine and it has worn me out!  Plus, there’s a photo!  That’s a new skill for me.   I think I’m going to go take a nap. . . .

We have groovy modern windows in our otherwise decrepit old house, and one of the perks is that I can open them from the top.  It’s perfect for harvesting icicles.  We lay out a towel and I give each girl the longest icicle I can reach, then go downstairs.  When they yell for another one they know that I’ll inspect first, and if there’s a drip of water anywhere, the icicle shop will close.  This beats the heck out of walking through the parking lot and having to stop eight times to tell J to stop pulling ice off of the bottoms of strange people’s dirty cars.

Another good icy activity for very little kids is giving them a little bit of water in one of those aluminum pans or perhaps a storage container that’s not too precious to you, and then let them dump in sequins or buttons or whatever doohickeys are collecting in the bottom of your junk drawer or toy box.  You can even let them squirt in some food coloring if you are mess-tolerant.  Then put it outside,  let it freeze, and you’ve got a fabulous ice collage.  If you want, you can make a loop with yarn or ribbon by putting the two ends into the water, and then you’ve got a sun catcher that you can hang outside.  Come to think of it, I bet you could make a bird feeder that way, too.  If you didn’t already have a gloppy jam-and-pine-cone one from nursery school like we do.

I like the weekends because I feel like I’ve got you covered from Friday to Sunday, so I can try to come up with more info. on all of the special topics that I aspire to cover:  sledding hills, outdoor ice skating, volunteering with kids, & teensy-weensy baby activities.  I’d actually planned to regale you with hilariously humiliating tales of my early motherhood so that new mothers who are home feeling pathetic would feel less-so, but I’m rethinking it:  this whole out-in-public thing takes a bit of acclimating.  But meanwhile, if you have ideas to share on any of the other topics, send me an email, wouldja?