Kid Central

They have a building here called Kid Central where staff plans crafts, games, and activities for guests. Its include in the stay and available at most of the resorts we've stayed at. It kind of reminds me of the Catskill resorts of the 50s, you know like in Dirty Dancing. On Tuesday Abby and Isabel colored and decorated stuffed bears to take home with them. Daddy made a flower-picture frame-magnet to put on our fridge. Today we made bumblee mobiles. Abby is holding hers. Daddy is still working on his. We also went for pony rides today at the stables. Abby rode on a gentle quarter horse named Shadow. Later in the afternoon, we stopped by Kid Central again for an Ice Cream Social and met up with the new friends from Syracuse. After filling up on the make your own sundaes, we headed to the pool for a swim and some playground time. The Syracuse friends are leaving tomorrow. But the good news is Aunt Madeline and Uncle Kon and baby Eva are coming out tomorrow!

Playground fun in the Poconos

We've met lots of nice families here and made lots of friends. One of the families we've met with kids the same age as Abby are from Syracuse. We have found three cool playgrounds so far but we hear from the other kids there are more to find and play on!

Swimming Fun in the Poconos

So much fun. Abby was teaching Isabel what she learned in her swim classes.There are 4 outdoor and 4 indoor pools here. Three of the indoor pools have a kiddie pool areas.

Sugaring Time --Making Maple Syrup

We tapped the trees outside of school --a little late this year,mid-march,because we were all sick but the sap stilled flowed. We boiled the sap outside of the school. We had two burners cooking. Each pot held about 40 quarts and boiled down for about 5 hours (while adding more sap throughout the day). At the end of the dy we moved what was left to the stove at home to finish it off and can it. We ended up making about 36 pints of syrup. Yummy!!!

What a difference a week can make...

A week ago we had 8 inches of snow, today it was 68 F and sunny!

These are the days that make us love living in Ithaca so much....the girls and I took a hike to Taughannock Falls and had a picnic lunch. It's about one mile hike in to the falls but pretty flat so it's just the right length of a hike for them. We did it, including lunch and play time, in about 2 hours. These are the tallest falls in NYS and with all the snow last week the water is flowing pretty fast. Poor Stan stayed home and worked at the school...he hurt his knee last week playing soccer and can't put any stress on it. He had an MRI this past Thursday and will meet with the doctor tomorrow to see if he needs knee surgery.

Abby and the new obstacle course at school

Having some fun at school on a rainy day .

Toast anyone?

Isabel and the new toast making work in her classroom....

As dictated by Isabel,
"First you put the bread in the toaster."
"Then you wait and wait and wait until it pops up. It's hot so you use tongs to get it out."
"Then you butter it with lots and lots of butter...yummy"
"Then you get to eat it!"