Hand Washing

Yesterday, whilst shopping at Target (my home away from home), my daughter uttered the seven most dreaded words to hear at any large shopping center... or any place other than home for that matter...'I have to go to the bathroom.'. (yep, seven.)  Of course we were at the far end of the store so we had to haul it all the way back to the front while she did the potty dance and let everyone we passed know the purpose of our mission.

Anyway, while my son and I waited for her to be done, we saw another mother with two young kids come out of a stall and walk directly to the door.  Wait, what?  No soap..no water... no hyper-speed hand dryer, nothing.

Please tell me this is not normal. If so, it makes me never want to touch another public surface for as long as I live.

When I was growing up in the 80's, there was a huge anti-littering campaign going on. You know, the whole 'Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" thing, and I don't know about the rest of you, but that stuff worked on me. I am still absolutely floored when I see people throwing fast food bags out the window or leaving diapers in parking lots (ahem, Wal-Mart). I can just imagine Woodsy the Owl silently weeping on a branch somewhere.

Subsequently, I think that there has been enough hand-washing propaganda out there for at least the last five years for people to know that's just what you do.  I mean, it's in all the potty training books for kids. Elmo even says it, for God's sake.

Now, I'm not tellling you that every time I need to wash my hands I stand there singing "Happy Birthday to You" twice while scrubbing as per the CDC's instructions, but I do use soap and warm water, and frankly I feel pretty good about that decision. I also make sure my kids do the same.  But after seeing this little display of hand-washing negligence, it has made me question things.  Am I just setting us all up for a lifetime of being compulsive hand washers or is it just ok to know that the pee-pee is off my son's hands after we leave the bathroom?

I know that when I am crammed in a stall with two kids, there is nothing that will prevent my 3 year old son from touching every surface in there.. and there is not enough hand sanitizer in the world to combat that little germ fest. Surely it's better to actually wash the yuck off of your hands first, if the option is there.  Is that so wrong?

Kids Bowl Free

It's time again to sign up for the Kids Bowl  Free program.

Here is a description from their FB page

The "Kids Bowl Free" is a summer bowling program that is sponsored by select bowling centers across the country.

Kids receive 2 free games of bowling everyday during the summer. There is no cost to participate. Parents may purchase a Family Pass from $24.95 (one-time payment) that covers up to 4 adult family members and provides 2 games of bowling everyday throughout the summer.

 Find a participating lane near you right here.   

Thanks, Karin!

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.

Indian Ladder Farms

Has it already been a week since I last wrote?  I'm blaming my allergies. 

Anyway, for all you die hard Indian Ladder Farms fans out there (and I know you are there), please make note that they open tomorrow!

Here are some other highlights.

-Baby Animal Days go from May 8-23rd. Closer and cheaper than Hancock Shaker Village, if you didn't get to see them there.

-Enroll your child in Barn School.

-Mother's Day Brunch on May 9th at The Yellow Rock Cafe. (Reservations strongly recommended).

- Pick your own begins in June with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries (oh my!)

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.

Happy Birthday, Small-bany!

It's hard to believe, but a year has already passed since my first post here on Small-bany.

What did we do to celebrate?

Why, visited some of our favorite places here in Small-bany, of course.

1.  We spent the first part of the morning at the Albany Art Room.  If you have not had the chance to visit here, it's definitely worth stopping in.  For $7/hr, your child can have fun painting, stamping, beading, collage, etc. and basically making a mess (I mean, unleashing their creative energy)  in a place made just for that.  They also offer classes for children and adults, summer camps, a pottery studio and space for birthday parties, baby showers,  and any other kind of celebration.  

(*Note:  I just learned that if you visit the Art Room during the week of April 20-26, all profits will be donated to 'Make Art 4 Art' to benefit Albany City School's Art Programs.)

2. Stop #2 took us to the Corning Preserve.  We had a picnic by the river, enjoyed a bike ride along the path, and took a little pit stop at the playground.

3. After all that exercise, we headed on over to Emack and Bolio's. I wouldn't normally indulge in ice cream twice in two days, but I was feeling festive... and hot.  The ice cream here is definitely more pricey, but you get what you pay for...good quality ice cream made with good quality ingredients.  May I humbly suggest the 'Deep Purple Cow' (black raspberry ice cream with white and dark chocolate chips and blueberries).  While you are here, check out the Mosaic studio, outdoor garden, as well as their schedule for live music on Friday and Saturday nights. It's also a great place to have a birthday party.


This past year has been a lot of fun, and I hope I can continue for another one.  I have met some great people, got a chance to write for All Over Albany (thanks, Mary and Greg!), and best of all, I was able to discover some really great places and things to do in the area (the whole point of this little experiment!).

Thank you  to everyone who reads this blog and has contributed their ideas and comments.  It's been a lot of fun and I really appreciate your support.

Here's to another year of getting out of the house!

The Old People's Mall

Four score and seven years ago, when I was a high school student, I balanced a couple of jobs at what in my hometown of Whitehall, PA (holla!) was known as the 'old people's mall'. (To prove how long ago this was, one of my jobs was at Waldenbooks (remember those?), and the other was at the Dollar Movie Theatre, and at the time that I quit they were playing Jurassic Park).

This was not the cool mall that all the high school kids hung out at on a Friday night, but the quiet mall that smelled like stale pretzels and dirty fountain water. And of course, it was filled with old people.  Well... never really filled... I guess that's why they liked it.

Anyway, today I found the equivalent of that at the Rotterdam Square Mall.  I think that any mall with K-Mart as an anchor store automatically qualifies.  This mall was one of the more depressing places I have been in a while.  Empty storefronts, empty food court, and more "Cash for Gold" kiosks per square footage than I've seen anywhere else.

It does have all your key mall stores... FYE, Hot Topic, Victoria's Secret, and a bunch of those places that sell wolf t-shirts and woven hats from Guatemala.  It also has a Gap Outlet, which is a bonus (for me anyway), but it's certainly not enough to take away from the dreariness of the whole place. Even the Easter Bunny looked like he was crying beneath his costume. (Sidenote:  the guy taking the pictures of the bunny looked EXACTLY like the comic book guy in the Simpsons).

My kids,on the other hand, noticed none of this bleakness. Why, you ask?  Because it has one of the most impressive collection of pay kiddie rides in all the land.  I was just at Crossgates last week and noticed they took theirs away, and the one at Colonie Center pales in comparison.  This place has everything a little kid could want.  The ice cream truck, the fire engine, a race car, and little merry go round, I could go on.  Of course, being the stingy mom that I am, I conveniently have 'run out of quarters' at this point of the trip, so the kids have to busy themselves with the rides without all the jerking back and forth, but they are happy enough to play.

The highlight for me was the magic tree named "Molly" (complete with British accent), who rhymes in couplets and has a change machine in her trunk.  That particular attraction is free and the kids must have pressed the button fifteen times to hear her sing 'Zipadee-doo-da'.

So, if you happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods, check it out.  By no means am I implying that you should make a special trip... if you did you would just be disappointed.  However, if you need to sell some gold and are over there anyway, make a little pit stop. Your kids will thank you for it, and it just might be the highlight of your visit. No, it definitely will be.

Balloon on a Spoon

For my son's 3rd birthday (last January) we bought him a bunch of mylar balloons from the Dollar Store.  The store had run out of all the birthday ones we were choosing, so we ended up getting him a motley collection of Valentine's balloons. Since V-day was still a month away at that point, they had those in spades.

Anyway, fast forward two months and some of these balloons are still hanging around. (Talk about stretching your dollar). I tied a spoon to one of my son's favorites so it would prevent me from having to jump up and get it everytime it hit the ceiling.  Ingenious, some might say, however, this thing is starting to freak me out.  With the spoon attached it is about the exact height of a small person. It floats around the house doing its own thing and it has those weird eyes and goofy grin...and I I'm never expecting it to be there, so I keep scaring the bejeezus out of myself whenever I bump into it.

I'll get up to go to the bathroom at night and jump because I think there is someone in the hall. I'll start talking to it because out of the corner of my eye I'll think its one of my kids. This morning I actually shut my bedroom door because I felt like someone was watching me, and when I looked up, there he was staring me down.

Tomorrow, I think I am going to introduce our little friend to a pair of safety scissors . This has gone on for far too long and this little love monkey has overstayed his welcome.