Where's Walbany?

So I got my Waldo doll in the mail and we have been getting in to some crazy hijinks together... so much so that I'd thought I add a couple of photos now and again and let you guess where we have been around the area.

So....Where's Waldo in (and around) Albany?

1)

Wish you were here.  It kept reminding us of the chocolate waterfall in Willy Wonka.

Want to take in this gorgeous view?  Go here.

2)

At first I thought it might be a little disrespectful to Uncle Sam to have Waldo pose by his grave, but then I saw the bejeweled nutcracker someone left there and thought Waldo was just as patriotic and rocking his red, white, and blue with a tad more taste. To find out where Waldo is I WANT YOU to click here. (It is truly one of the coolest/spookiest cemeteries I have visited.)

One Room School House

Look what I found while just driving around town.  

"Little Red" as it is affectionately called, may be the only one room school house operating in the state (maybe)...but definitely in the county (Rensselaer).  The dueling signage seems a little non committal.

Anyway, it's currently being used for Grades K-2 in the North Greenbush School District.



If you are so inclined, you can read more of a history here (look under 2008).

It's as if it was ripped out of a page of Little House on the Prairie, minus Nellie Oleson, who had a prominent and reoccurring role in my nightmares.

Pass It On SCORE!

I can't begin to imagine what a difficult decision it was to give this away, but I want to assure the  person who was risking something by selling this at a children's consignment sale to know that Elvis has found a very happy home...second only to Graceland.


Thank you. Thank you very much.
 
The Pass It On Sale continues until this Saturday, with half price sales starting tomorrow.

Where's Waldo?

Waldo: The Original Hipster (and I am apparently not the first to think so).

I just ordered one of these guys to help spice up our family photos.

I originally got the idea here when I found him hanging out on the roof across the street from San Francisco's MOMA.

Wahoo! I can't wait. Our vacation photos will never be the same.

Mother's Day Bouquet

Here's a cute little gift idea I found on Albany Kid and Capital District Fun (two great blogs for families and kids in the area).

Kids can build their own Mother's Day Bouquet for $5 at participating Price Choppers.

From the site:

Show Mom she's special and Build a Bouquet for Mother's Day at participating Price Chopper locations May 8. Children 12 and under can make a 3-bunch bouquet for $5 plus tax. Kids pick out flowers, colored tissue and a ribbon. Then they can sign and attach a personalized card!

 You can find participating locations right here.

Yaddo

I have a confession to make.  I'm a mom and I hate playgrounds.  There, I said it.  I don't hate them enough for me to deprive my children of their God-given right to swing and slide, I mean look... here's proof.

But if you gave me the choice between going to the Crossings one more time or listening to my enginerd husband explain the intricacies of his latest research, I'd be hard pressed to choose.

I'm not sure why they irk me so much, but for some reason I just prefer finding places to have fun that have nothing to do with that bouncy purple dinosaur.(My kids don't always let me get away with that, but I sure do try).

Enter Yaddo.

If you have never been there, you should go, and if you have, you know that there is something magical about the place.

The rose gardens, the statuary, the pergola (I had no idea that's what it was called), the fountains... it's all the little details that give this place a special  feeling that's hard to find in a schoolyard, and even sans twisty slide, my kids love it. It's just a great place to wander around and feel like you've walked into a scene from The Secret Garden.

We just went last Wednesday, and while the flowers have yet to bloom, the fountains are still dry, and the statues are still boarded up, we still managed to have the best time.  The gravel paths alone entertained the kids for at least a half an hour with all their digging, and burying, and carrying on.  

Here are some of our favorite parts:

The entrance gate.  We must spend at least 20 minutes hanging out here while the kids get me to guess the 'secret password' so I can get in.  Usually, I give up and just go around the side.

The pergola...or the place they like to pretend is from The Sound of Music. (In the song Do-Re-Mi, Fraulein Maria and the kids run through something kind of like this, and my kids have since made that connection) Note all that glorious gravel.

The steps (there are several sets of these that you can't see in this picture). 30 minutes of up and down, up and down and they still aren't tired.  The nice thing, too, is that you can stand in one part of the garden and see your kids all the way on the other side.

This rock garden is in the wooded section in the back of the gardens. Granted, it's not much to look at now, but there is a mermaid statue, ferns, and tall pines that make it very fairy-tale-esque.

The Yaddo Gardens are open to the public seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to dusk and is very easy to find.  Here are some directions.

*They also have a very clean port-a-potty which has come in handy on several occasions.

Purple dinosaur rating:  None. Just the way I like it.

Yankee Candle Flagship Store

Candles...yet so much more.

While visiting some friends in Holyoke, MA, they decided to take us to the Yankee Candle Store in Deerfield. I wasn't quite sure what the big deal was, afterall, we have a Yankee Candle at Crossgates (you can smell it from the parking lot). But, boy oh boy my friends, this was not your average candle shop.  It is one of the flagship stores and it's Fuccillo HUGE!  As soon as you walk in they give you a map to the place, and you can still get lost.

I'm not really a fan of the candles.  I find them to be overpowering and overpriced, but I guess I get their appeal and am sometimes pretty impressed that they can emulate some of the smells that they do.  I mean if you have a candle called Storm Watch and it actually smells like what I'm assuming thunder smells like, that's pretty impressive.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that you don't have to like the candles to like the place,  and the kids will LOVE it.  Here are some of the highlights:

Elevated model train track that winds its way around the store.

Year round Christmas Village, for those of you who feel the need to buy ornaments in the middle of July. (Plus they have a snow machine, so every 4 minutes there is a snowstorm inside) A real live Santa IS included (of course since Christmas is not for another bajillion days, Santa was chilling in some jeans and suspenders and making paper crafts with the kids)

Make your own candles.  Kids can make candles in the shape of their hands or mix and match wax beads to make a custom jar. If  I made a candle it would be called ''Meltdown". Get it?  Candles melt... my kids have meltdowns. That's perfect. It would smell like a cross between crayon wax and frustration.

Candy store(s) and Toy Stores.  Kids love that kind of stuff.

-Big food court and live entertainment.  The live music was a little annoying, but the kids were invited to perform on stage with the singers, so at least someone got a kick out of it.

Candles - Yes, they have every kind of Yankee Candle flavor you could ever want... even 'New Releases'. (I'm sure there are people that get into that...just like the latest Beanie Baby.) Their website reports over 400,000 candles in over 200 scents.  That's anything but SCENTS-less (badum-cha!)

And guess what? If you aren't sold on the place by now,  Trader Joe's is only minutes away.

Open every day 10 am- 6pm
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 10 am-5 pm
Closed Thanksgiving & Christmas

Check out their schedule of events here.

Get directions from Albany here. Sure, it's a little bit of a drive, but you can make a fun daytrip out of it.

Thomas on the Big Screen

If you haven't caught this already, you still have one more chance!
 
THOMAS & FRIENDS: Hero of the Rails Movie

10 AM at Movieland in Schenectady
$5 for all seats. (What a steal!)
Saturday, March 27th

If your kids are into the crazy hijinks of this train and his friend-gines, then check out this description:

The British children's series Thomas & Friends follows the animated adventures of a helpful locomotive named Thomas the Tank Engine as he and his train buddies work the rail lines and teach kids about the spirit of teamwork. This cartoon movie breaks new ground in the series by providing voices for each individual character (previously, the tales were narrated by a single storyteller) and introducing three new friends: a train named Hiro, a steam engine named Victor, and a crane named Kevin.

The trains talk?!!  New characters?!!  This is groundbreaking stuff, guys.

Spring has Sprung

For Bahai's, the first days of spring is also the beginning of our New Year, or Naw Ruz.

For the last few weeks, to help usher springtime into our home, we cut some long branches from our forsythia bush and put them in water.  The kids have enjoyed the day by day unfolding of the buds, until the blooms finally made their appearance...just in time for all the sunshiney warmth we have been enjoying!

Happy Spring, Albany!  It's like a whole new city out there.

Swap Meet

I love how there are so many cool people in the area who are dedicated to bringing on the sunshine. If you haven't already seen this blog, Our Yellow House, you should definitely check it out. A little dose of happy creativity to get you inspired.

So, the cool project she is proposing is a mail swap. You can read all the details here. Sign up and get ready to make and receive some pretty mail this month.

Yet another way someone is turning 'ice' into 'ice cream'. Love it!