NY Road Trip Day 3: Strong Museum of Play

Most of our road trip plans involved outdoor activities.  Since I'm a California girl, it didn't occur to me that rain might interfere with our plans.

Well, we're not in California anymore.  New York's weather forecast called for thunderstorms all day, so we had to come up with a backup plan.  Instead of driving to Niagara Falls today, we headed into Rochester to visit the Strong Museum of Play.

We gave each of the kids $10 at the beginning of the trip, and told them they could spend it any way they liked (and pocket what was left at the end).  Anna and Todd chose to spend part of their money on a carousel ride at the museum.  Anna says that $1 ride is one of her favorite parts of our trip.

Some of the museum displays asked thought-provoking questions, such as, "Is a motorcycle a toy?"  Daddy and Daniel say yes; Anna says no.  By the way, don't assume those lighted numbers are an accurate tally.  We saw kids voting a dozen times apiece, and each counter resets when it reaches 9999.

The museum also had a butterfly garden, which was my favorite part of the day.  I could have spent hours watching dozens of exotic butterflies flutter around the greenhouse.  In a world where you're lucky to see a single butterfly in a day, I was enchanted by the sight of so many of these beautiful creatures flying around us, often just a few inches away.

The kids also enjoyed the temporary Wild Kratts exhibit, where you could color a fish on paper, scan it with their special scanner, then watch the image swim around the ocean reef projected on the wall.

Our last stop was the pinball section.  Daniel bought a bunch of tokens and played nearly every machine in the room, but Anna and Todd preferred an old school machine called Swing Time (in the background of the above photo). I stuck with the Lord of the Rings machine.

Of course, Daddy's favorite machine was the Star Wars one. :)

We played pinball until the museum closed, and more than once I thought of my Dad.  When I was a kid, my family would go to Camelot for pizza every Friday, then Dad would buy us tokens to play the arcade games.  My dad loved to use his tokens to play the pinball machines.

New York Road Trip Day 2: Glass and a Pageant

Our first stop on our New York State road trip was the Corning Museum of Glass.

The gift shop on the first floor was a fascinating attraction in its own right, but I'm glad we didn't stop there.

The live glassmaking demos were really interesting . . .

. . . I loved these giant, glowing glass "raindrops" . . .

. . . and Engineer Daddy really liked the technology and fiber optics section.

Our other destination today (and the event that inspired this whole trip) was the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  This spectacular dramatization of Book of Mormon stories has been presented every year since 1937, but it will come to an end next summer, and we wanted to see it while we had the chance.

I didn't take many pictures during the performance, mainly because I wanted to enjoy the show.  It was an impressive production with an enormous cast, and it showed how the abstract principles of Christ's Gospel played out in real people's lives.  It was fun to watch for an hour, but it also inspired me to be a better person when I get home.

NY Road Trip Day 1: Books and Wishes

Who's ready for a road trip?!?

Our family took off for New York State this morning.  I'm so glad I married a man who likes to drive, because I'd rather sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the scenery.

The kids played with their squishmallows . . .

. . . and read books or played with quiet games.  I hope Todd has learned to like chapter books by the time we go on our next road trip, because he went through our bag of car activities much faster than I hoped he would.

When we reached our first hotel, he was really happy to get out of the car.  We ate dinner at a hip little sandwich place (I loved my goat cheese and chutney sandwich--most of the other Hendricksons went with fried chicken) . . .

. . . then we strolled down the street and found this fun little fountain.  The kids tossed in pennies to make wishes.  Anna wanted to tell me her wish, but Joy said part of the game is that you aren't supposed to tell.

Back at the hotel, the kids discovered that a closet makes an excellent changing room when the bathroom is occupied.

Good night!

Seeing Bunnies at the Library

The kids and I went to a local library today . . .

. . . to see a petting zoo they were hosting.  We got to pet goats, sheep . . .

. . . and some chickens.

One of the hens laid an egg while we were there, which the kids thought was pretty cool.  But everybody's favorite part, hands down . . . 

. . . was the bunnies.  Those Mini Rex Velveteen rabbits were so incredibly soft.  Everyone who touched them (including yours truly) couldn't help exclaiming about how soft they were, even though we'd heard a dozen people say the very same thing already.  The girls are both asking that we get a bunny after we move into our house.  That happens every time we go to a petting zoo.

As we were getting ready to leave, Joy noticed a local television station interviewing kids about their petting zoo experience.  When they finished, she asked them to interview her too.  You can watch part of her interview on the station's Facebook page.

Skating Sisters

One of the funny things about moving is that as you go through all of your stuff, you find treasures you forgot you had.  It's almost like Christmas.

For example, today we unpacked some boxes from our apartment storage unit, and found our old roller blades.  Joy put on my adult pair, and started gingerly skating for the first time in years.  Pretty soon, she was gliding effortlessly along our driveway.

When Anna saw the fun she was having, she put on Joy's old child-size rollerblades and began scooting back and forth in our mud room, where there were plenty of things for her to grab onto if she lost her balance.  Next time, we'll bring her helmet so she can go skating out front with her big sister.

Earning Our Lollipops

My kids love coming to Trader Joe's with me . . . 

. . . so they can find the store's hidden toy alligator and earn a lollipop.  Every TJ's has a toy mascot for kids to find, but unfortunately, our Maryland store let the kids do the hiding.  That sounded like a fun idea at first, but we quickly learned that the kids who find it tend to hide it someplace that's incredibly hard to spot, like stuffed behind some bread on the very bottom shelf.  The TJ employees will still give you a lollipop even if you can't find the toy (which was most of the time in Maryland) . . .

. . . but my kids and I agree that it's more fun to earn a reward than ask for a handout.

Ravenclaws Riding the Range

Our family spent part of Independence Day at our newly acquired house . . .

. . . learning how to use the riding mower we bought from the home's former owners.  On a side note, I like Phillip's Gryffindor shirt, but let's face it, our family would probably all have been sorted into the brainy Ravenclaw house.

Anyway, it was fun to watch Daddy "riding the range" on our mower.

Once he got the hang of it, Joy asked for a turn.

It was a win for everybody: less yard work for Daddy, and a step toward driving for Joy.  We hope the novelty won't wear off for her anytime soon.