Category Archives: Fun

by Barbara

Delicious Autumn!

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

I love Fall!  I love everything about it, from the colors, to the smells, to the chill in the air, and especially all the fun activities that come along with the season.

This past weekend we probably fit in three weekends of activities.  Sometimes it feels like there is not enough time during the day, but this weekend I felt like the days just wouldn’t quit.  It was great.

Saturday morning we went apple picking at Whittier Fruit Farm.  When we got on the wagon, Craig was about to take a photo, when he turned to me and asked me if I had put the memory card back in the camera.  Opps.  So the rest of the time Craig and I were taking turns walking around with a very heavy, expensive necklace.   Yay, for my iPhone.  It saved the morning, we were able to take some photos. Besides, the camera mishap Dagny had a great time picking apples and running after me.

By the time we got home it was time for lunch and for Dagny to take a nap.  When D woke up three hours later… Hello! I love her long naps.  We decided to go to Powers Farm, this time with both camera and memory card in tow. We thought since the weather looked like it was going to rain at any moment, that the place wouldn’t be crowded.  It seemed others had the same idea.

We have a feeling this is probably going to be Miss D’s last hayride at Powers for a few years.  Last year she was oblivious to the things on the ride, this year we could sense that she was very much aware.  We tried to make the ride as positive as possible with spiders dangling from the trees and such.  There were lots of nervous laughs from her, but no cries.

Dagny totally confuses me.  She has entered the phase where she is scared of things.  She is frighten of shadows at night in her room.  We had found ways around that fear to put her at ease, even thou there are nights she wakes up at 3:30 am crying and when I go in to her room she practicality flies into my arms.  We noticed that she was not totally comfortable on the hayride.  But then, and here is where the confusion comes in, she loved the tepee.  Where it’s dark with things dangling, spooky music, and older kids going around screaming “BOO”.  She asked us to go through it countless times.  What I have learned from my daughter is that she is unpredictable.  I will never stand in her way in experiencing things, but will always be there when things get rough. I am just happy that her fears at this point don’t prevent her from trying things.

We were finally able to coax D away from the tepee and visit with the animals.  She loved feeding the deer and so did her Mommy.

Dagny probably picked up 50 percent of the pumpkins that were there.  She really wanted to bring one home.

Little D and I.

Here is a photo of the three of us that I just love.  All the stars lined up for this photo!

Because this is the season for visiting farms, Sunday, we went to Gro-Moore Farms in our old hood.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year we were limited by Dagny’s age.  This year Dagny could participate in most of the activities offered.  For insistence she went down this ridiculously big slide… A LOT!

When she got to the bottom, she was catapulted out.  My heart stopped every time.  She just got right up and went back to Craig so he could help her walk up to the top again.  People around me were laughing at her reaction and told me she was a tough little girl and brave as well.  She amazes me.

This year’s “tattoo”, Dagny picked a spider and decided to put it on her hand.  When we were driving home, she pointed to her hand and said “Look Mommy it looks like the sun.” Later in the night she got scared of the spider and I had to remove it.

We ended our visited with Dagny painting a pumpkin she picked out.  I think it came out great.  It’s currently displayed on our mantle proudly.  She was so excited that I put it there, she ran up to Craig pointing and said “Daddy, look my pumpkin!”

Here it is. I love it. Check out the plate.  I think it looks like a happy face.

Now I am exhausted.   I am going to rest up for the coming weekend.

Barbara

by Barbara

Bounce House, Tutu, And Toons

My little girl on Sunday morning after a night of partying with her friend, Greta, at the neighborhood block party.

Here is Dagny right up front in her first mosh pit.

And, finally here she is in the bounce house, which was a huge hit with her and all the kids.

The three of us had a wonderful time at our first neighborhood block party.  It was very nice being able to get together with our friends, the Reeds.

Barbara

by Barbara

O Good Weather, Where Art Thou?

This is the question I asked all weekend.  This past week the weather was amazing, in fact, I’m dared to say it was really hot, like turn the A/C back on hot. All week I was checking my trusty Weather Channel App on my iPhone hoping it would change its mind about the cold front. It’s hard to believe when its 90 degrees that the following day it was going to be in the 60’s. That’s just not a nice thing of Mother Nature. I was really excited that the water in the pool was warming up all week, and the thought of going into the pool one more time this season sounded wonderful. But it was not meant to be, and as I found out nothing worked out just as I thought it would.  But I think it worked out for the better in the end.

One of the things we planned on doing this weekend was to go to the New York State Festival of Balloons in Dansville, NY. Saturday, we got in the car and drove all the way down there. We knew the outlook wasn’t looking good, when we didn’t see any hot air balloons as we were getting close to Dansville. When we arrived we asked the nice lady at the gate if the balloons were going to be blown up. She said she couldn’t guarantee that it would. We were so bummed hearing that. The reason we decided to go was to show Dagny the hot air balloons, she was so excited the whole drive down. Parent lesson #1, don’t tell your child you’re going to see something, you’re not 100% sure if you can deliver.

So, what to do? When we were driving down to Dansville, we passed by Letchworth State Park. As we were driving back to Rochester, Craig suggested we go to Letchworth. It’s been a long time since we have been and Dagny has never. I don’t know how we forgot how beautiful a place it is. As we were driving through the park, Craig mentioned that it looks like the Grand Canyon.  The funny thing is as I was grabbing the link for the park, the first thing it mentions is that it’s renowned as the “Grand Canyon of the East”. Because the weather was on the cooler side it wasn’t super crowded, which we all know we love.

Grand Canyon of the East

Dagny had a wonderful time. Once we got to the park, we told her we are going to see a waterfall. Thank goodness she was excited about that enough to get over not seeing the balloons.

Here are my two loves.

Here are my two silly monkeys.

Dagny enjoying the waterfall.

Mommy & Dagny playing

Taking a break.

Sunday, we stayed at home.  Only thing we did was take a walk around the neighborhood, which is always unpredictable.  As we started our walk, about four houses down from us a woman rushed out of her house with her husband and children following.  They introduced themselves to us.  The lady used to work with the previous owner of or house, and has heard about us and wanted to meet us.  How absolutely sweet of them. We have one addition thing in common, they adopted their daughter too.  This is yet another reason why I love our new neighborhood, you just don’t know what you’re going to experience going for a walk.

Today, we decided to go for a walk through Tinker Nature Park.  We really enjoy going there, it’s such a nice walk through the woods.  In the past when we walked the path, we never once ran into anyone, this time we ran into quite a few.  Toward the end there is a playground that we usually stop and let Dagny play.  I couldn’t believe how many kids there were.  I realized today that I don’t really like some kids.  There were a group of kids ranging in ages  3 to 8.  The eight year old was your typical bully.  He was pushing the kids, which the three  year old learned and pushed Dagny.  I didn’t witness this, Craig told me this later, which is a good thing because I don’t think I would have been so understanding.  What drives me crazy is that the boy’s parents were there while he was being a bully, and the only thing they said was “Boy will be boys.”  Really?  Nice parenting skills. Ugh.  I hate that we will continue to run across parents like these through Dagny’s adolescents. I get that is all a part of growing up, but I hate it.  Dagny is still young enough not to fully grasp any of what went down, but it breaks my heart to think someday soon she will and she will slowly lose the innocence that is a part of her at this young age.

So even though all weekend it looked like it was going to rain any minute, it never did while we were out and about. And even though our weekend was not as what we thought it would be, it all worked out for the best.

Barbara

by Barbara

Vegetarian Post

I know I promised more meat in my next post, but I just don’t think I can deliver.  At least I promise it will not be a vegan one.

Lets go way back to last weekend.

Saturday my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came through town.  They were going to Buffalo for a wedding and they dropped Emerson off at our house and stayed a bit before they headed out.  Dagny also had her first “daycare friend” birthday party to go to.  Emerson was nice to tag along with Craig and Dagny, while I stayed home and caught up with my family. After Dagny got back from the birthday party and woke up from her nap, we all went out to dinner to celebrate Emerson’s birthday that was back in July.  Hey, it’s better later then never!

Sunday, my brother and his lovely lady came back through town to pick up their youngest offspring.  We had a nice breakfast and did some more catching up before they headed back down to Long Island.  I can’t wait for our trip to Binghamton for the Annual Biro Bonfire later this month!

Because the weather was so amazing, we decided to dress up our little one and take some photos with the sunflowers.  This also seems to be an annual tradition.

Here is our little bumble bee.

Cute, huh?  I’d like to think so too.

Later in the week Dagny and I went to Jacob’s house for a play date.  Jacob has the greatest backyard with the biggest sandbox and pool in town.  Even though Jacob is few years older then Dagny, they got along lovely.

They decided to play in the smaller one of his two pools.  And, of course I dropped the ball.  I totally forgot to bring Dagny’s bathing suit.  Jacob was kind enough to let Dagny borrow some of his clothes that he has outgrown.

I promise not to wait a week before I write about this weekends adventure.

Barbara

by Barbara

Kidzapalooza 2010

One of the best parts of summer for me is when my niece and nephew are in town for their annual visit. It is that time again and I am loving it.

I think what I love the most of these two is how they have accepted Dagny into their lives. They don’t find it a burden to do things that a 32 month old finds fun. They just get right in the mix.

I am very lucky to have these three wonderful kids in my life.

We went to the beach earlier in the week. Dagny has been wanting to go and play in the sand for quite some time. She had a great time with her cousins building “castles”. Even though she is still not a huge fan of sand getting on her, she has gotten better with it.

My Mom came along and enjoyed her three favorite grandchildren.

On our way home, Dagny and Erika took a ride on a “horse”.

Saturday, we decided to go to Tinker Nature Park in our old neighborhood. It’s a pleasant walk when it’s really hot outside because of all the trees.

Of course, the battery on our camera died as we started our walk. Boo-hoo. We were only able to take a few.

When did she get so big?

Here she is calling Little Bear. Yes, Little Bear is still very much a part of our lives.

As we were heading to our car a woman stopped and told us there was free ice cream and music in the barn. Um, free ice cream and music? Of course we were up for that.

And, today we (minus Lil D and my Mom) went to see Inception. What a fantastic movie. I had an idea of what it was going in, but it far exceed my exception. People actually clapped after the movie, I can’t remember the last time that’s happened. Go see it if you’re into movies like this. Enough said.

Barbara