The Renaissance Festival {Summer Bucket List}

Today was the day for our long anticipated trip to the Sterling Renaissance Festival! We were both pretty excited. With tickets in hand we arrived at about 1 o’clock to enjoy the fest. This was my first trip but Harrison came a few years ago with his Dad.

I have to say that at first it was a bit overwhelming, there was a huge crowd, lots of vendors and people in costume every where. After a little bit I realized that was all part of the fun and really enjoyed myself.

The first stop was for a snack since we were both starving. Luckily I had looked on there website before the trip and printed out the list of different foods. They are even vegetarian friendly with hearts next to those items. I let Harrison choose where to go since he had been there before. He chose peasant bread for a snack. Peasant bread for those of you who don’t know is fried dough with butter, then you can add fruit, honey, syrup, cinnamon or garlic to it. I had honey and Harrison had garlic. So much for my diet!!

Next we stopped in a shop that sold shields and weapons, all handmade. Harrison chose the Painted Double Bladed Axe. Here he is making his angry face with his next axe.

Then he went and threw daggers, shot a crossbow and threw darts. He made a least one at every stand.

Then we stopped for a lemonade and watched the Queens parade go by. There were musicians, towns people and jokers all with the queen. They all were a lot of fun to watch and to listen to how they talk.

We walked around and saw everything there was to see and looked in all the shops. We even spoke with one townsperson who convinced Harrison that he should have some ale! On the way out we stopped in the little gift shop then headed out.

What a great day! Has anyone else been to a Renaissance Festival this summer? How did you like it?

Blueberry Picking {Summer Bucket List}

This morning Harrison and I met up with some friends to pick blueberries. Last night we has a major storm and half of the town was hit by flash floods so it was a bit soggy out. Today it was cloudy but not raining so we had great picking. There was hardly anyone there with us so we had the run of the field.

The kids may have eaten every other berry they picked but we each ended up taking home about 4 pounds. Now we are going to freeze them with our other berries to use for smoothies and ice cream. We should be set for a while with all the berry picking this summer.

Did anyone else pick berries this summer?

Niantic Trip

This past weekend Harrison and his friend we to his Dad’s family reunion. He Dad was unable to get the time off from work so Harrison’s Grandparents nicely offered to take the boys. Here is another interview with Harrison similar to his Toronto trip:

Me: How was your trip to Niantic?

Harrison: Good

Me: How long did it take you to drive there?

Harrison: 6 Hours

Me: Where did you stay in Niantic?

Harrison: The Niantic Inn

Me: What did you do while you were there?

Harrison: went to the beach, swam in the ocean and the pool, ate lots and went to camp Niantic

Me: What was your favorite part of the trip?

Harrison: Swimming in the ocean

Me: Do you want to go back to Niantic?

Harrison: Yes

Me: What do you want to do next time?

Harrison: Go back to the beach and stay longer

It is funny that his favorite part was swimming in the ocean. Before they left both he and his friend said they didn’t like the ocean and they were staying on the beach, no way they were going in any more the ankle deep. His Grandma told me when they got back that they swam out in the ocean and then didn’t want to come back in!

Here are some photo’s his Grandparents took from the trip.

To the Zoo {Summer Bucket List}

Today was a beautiful day outside, a great day for the Zoo Trip!

Harrison and I went to The Rosamond Gifford Zoo today, we are members so we go a lot but there were babies that had been born and we had not see the new octopus either.

The Octopus was really impressive and they had a zoo keeper right by the tank to tell us all about her. I was totally unaware that they are so smart! The Zoo Keeper said that they keep her brain active by putting her food in jars and that she opens them to get it. She also changes color and texture to match her surrounding, we saw her turn from brown to white while we were there.

This is the new reindeer who was born on May 4, so cute.

The opossum has an amazing story. A man went to move a dead opossum from the road and found a baby in the pouch! The man got her to a wildlife rehab and after two weeks she was well enough and went to the zoo. She is used for education at the zoo and taken to schools. The said that Alice is very lucky. Interestingly a while back a man called the vets office where I work with the same story and I gave him the rehab number. Looking at Alice today I wondered if she is the same opossum.

……..and her are few others from today

Picnic {Summer Bucket List}

Well…… Sort of

The plan was to have a late dinner picnic and watch the full moon come up from our picnic blanket. What we ended up with is rain and thunderstorms. Typical CNY weather lol. So we still went to the park but we traded in our picnic blanket for a picnic table in a veranda. We went early so we didn’t eat under the moon which is ok because the cloud coverage is so thick we couldn’t see it anyway.

So it didn’t go as planned but we still had a nice time and that’s what counts. Has anyone else had picnics this summer?

Holiday in Homer {Summer Bucket List}

Harrison and I spent the afternoon at the annual Holiday in Homer. Crafters from all over come out for this event to show and sell there items. There was also music, games and a horse drawn cart ride. The weather was perfect for it since a cold front moved in last night so it wasn’t to hot. I also was lucky enough to find the most wonderful gift for my Mom’s birthday, I know she will love it. Sorry no more details on the gift till after her birthday, don’t want to ruin the surprise!!

Sand Art!

Our Snack

The most wonderful Alpacas. The owner has 56 of them and invited me out to the farm. I am so excited to go.

I don’t think Harrison is really sure about the big guys.

Toronto Trip {Summer Bucket List}

Last weekend Harrison went to Toronto with his Dad, since he doesn’t give much detail without a lot of prying I decided to “interview” him about his trip. This seemed to work much better!! Here is my interview with him:

Me: How was your trip to Toronto?

Harrison: Good

Me: How long did it take you and Dad to drive there?

Harrison: 8 hours

Me: That’s a long time! Where did you stay in Toronto?

Harrison: At Jeffery’s (his Dad’s cousin)

Me: What did you do while you were there?

Harrison: We went out to dinner at Duff’s and I had chicken wings, we went to the mall, we went to the Ontario Science Center, and on the way home we went to Niagara Falls.

Me: What was your favorite part of the trip?

Harrison: The Science Center

Me: What did you do there?

Harrison: I played 160 video games, learned to fly like a bird by putting wings on and flapping, I did tree identification and got them all right. Oh and we got lost in the Science Center.

Me: What did you think about the falls?

Harrison: I thought they were big and wet! I bought a horse mask there (photo below)

Me: Do you want to go back to Toronto?

Harrison: Yes

Me: What do you want to do next time?

Harrison: Go to Lego Land and the drive thru zoo

And that is all I got out of him before he wanted to go back to playing lol.

Here are some photo’s his Dad took from the trip.

Ontario Science Center

This is where he said he played 160 video games.

His horse mask. Since the trip he has been wearing this around town and getting some very odd looks.

Niagara Falls

Till next time Toronto!!

 

Dinner Cruise {Summer Bucket List}

Harrison and I went on the Dinosaur BBQ Dinner Cruise on the Erie Canal this evening. The cruise is done by Mid-Lakes Navigation, this particular cruise leaves from Dutchman’s Landing in Baldwinsville. We had an amazing time and can’t wait to do another cruise with this company. Below are some of the pictures we took. This post is pretty picture heavy but I wanted to share the best photos.

The Emita II

A blue heron that had just flown in front of the boat.

Family of Mute Swans

Harrison and I aboard the boat.

Harrison with the Captain

Lock 24, this lock is the 2nd most popular lock. The difference in levels is 11 feet. They pump water in to raise the boat up the 11 feet to go through then on the way back the water is pumped out to drop back down. It was pretty neat to see.

Onondaga Lake and the city of Syracuse in the distance.

View from the boat on the way back to dock.

#HappyFamMvmt

Taste of Downtown {Summer Bucket List}

Harrison and I spent Saturday afternoon at the Cortland Taste of Downtown. For $10 each you get a wine glass and tickets for sampling. So with tickets in hand we spent the afternoon walking along Main Street stopping at the restaurants and sampling the different dishes.

With 33 different places to stop there was a lot of choices! Some locations were serving alcohol (for the wine glasses) so we skipped those but still had lots of samples. There was everything from drinks to main dishes to sweets, something for everyone. There was even a few new places we had not tried before.

Harrison really loved the frappe at Downtown Deli and the quesadilla from Hot Tamale. I think my favorite was the “Spinner” calzone at D.P. Dough. I think we will have more restaurants to add to our weekly take out night.

This was one of the things to do from our Summer Bucket List and I think it will be on the list for many years to come.

These “Taste It” signs were on all the places with samples

Trying the burgers at Macho Burger

Harrison’s Camp Review

Told by Harrison to me.

I had a good time at camp. I made new friends and had a lot of fun. My favorite part of this week was the field trips. The field trips we took were to the Museum of the Earth, Bird Lab, Nano Tech Lab and to the Space Museum for a planet presentation.

This week we also did lots of experiments in my class. We did rockets and mentos in soda.

As a sole group all the classes went swimming, did a scavenger hunt and tye-dyed shirts.

I really like lunch time to because all the food was really good and you can have anything you want.