Day #3 of the DeGaetano Staycation - let's stay local!

After two days of doing a good bit of driving to see some sites, we decided to make day #3 a bit more mellow - we stayed in Syracuse and did some fun things in the area. We started the day off with some good ole' mini golf...

The girls were enthralled - we get to wack a ball around with a club? Awesome!

Dad showed Maria how to putt...

...and then showed Josephine...

Unfortunately, Josephine was not interested in using any "technique", and preferred to just going around chopping at the ball tomahawk style (it was actually really funny looking!)

We had fun, but the girls pretty much lost interest about half-way through. Josephine started just running around, alternating between throwing the ball all over the place and dropping it in the hole by hand, all while yelling "Woo hoo!". Maria ended up walking around making bouquets with the weeds that were growing in random places. Ah, these girls - Lou and I didn't worry about it too much - we finished out the course while the girls did their thing - bottom line is that we went there to have fun, and fun was had by all!

Part 2 of Staycation Day #3 - Chuck E. Cheese!

After mini-golf, we had some lunch (Taco Bell for us and Wendy's for the girls - and let me tell you, now I remember why I almost never eat fast food - yuck!) and then headed off to Chuck E. Cheese - Maria has been wanting to go there for months, so she was so psyched!

The first thing the girls went for was the big play structure they had there - it was so cute to see them following each other around through the tunnels and laughing together!

My little animals!

Maria peeking out at us

Maria even got me to get in on the fun (is it me, or does it look like I have no eyebrows in this picture?)

Chuck E. Cheese made his appearance, and Maria joined in with him for a few dances!

All in all, although it certainly wasn't the Chuck E. Cheese of my childhood (do you guys remember that place - it was HUGE!), the girls knew no different, and they had a great time - the only hard part was getting them to leave!

More Chuck E. Cheese

Nothing like taking a ride next to a big plastic Chuck E. Cheese...

And a good round of the classic skee ball!

Maria and I rode on the virtual roller coaster (you sit in a big metal contraption that moves while you watch a video that someone took while riding a coaster), and although she thought it okay, I was left wishing I could go on the real thing - hopefully, by the end of this summer, I will have!

This mini-merry-go-round (the horses were pint-sized, as you can see) remained a favorite for Josephine the whole time we were there. She requested over and over to "ride horsies", and even got to the point where she would go running across the room and climb onto the thing herself everytime she saw it start up -crazy girl!

The end of Staycation Day #3

Maria has been begging us to do a campout in our backyard, so for the end of day 3 of our staycation, we granted her wish...

We cooked hamburgers on the grill, and set up a tent in the yard (you can see it in the background of this picture)...

Lou kept the grill hot while I got the girls in their PJs, and after we set up the beds in the tent...
...we roasted marshmallows over the coals in the grill!

Mmmmm, so yummy! Oh, how I love roasted marshmallows and s'mores!
After finishing our sticky treats, we brushed our teeth and headed off to all sleep in the tent together. The girls got such a kick out of our backyard campout, and are already asking when we will do it again!

Sylvan Beach

Day #2 of our staycation was spent in Sylvan Beach village, NY. Day #2 of our staycation was spent in Sylvan Beach village, NY. It is such a neat little village, with cute shops, cottages for rent, restaurants right on the lake, a playground, a great beach with waves and everything, and an old fashioned carnival right behind the beach!

We hit a bit of a problem when we first got there, though. Before leaving, I noticed Lou putting our dog, Daisy (the 8-lb wonder) in the van. I told him that dogs are not allowed on the beach, but he insisted that they were. I again informed him that I was quite sure that there were no dogs allowed on any beach that I had ever been to, and that we would be really stuck if we got all the way there (40 min drive one way) and found that to be the case. He said that he was bringing her and that was that. Well, wouldn't you know it - as soon as we got onto the beach, I saw some signs in the water, all along the beach - take a look for yourself...

Hopefully you all can see the part on the bottom about "no pets on the beach". Yeah, as much as I love being right (I refrained from saying "I told you so" - the look on Lou's face was all the satisfaction I needed!), we now had a problem with no easy solution. We ended up putting our stuff way in the back of the beach, so that no one would yell at us about the dog, and one of us had to stay with her at all times, while the other one played in the water with the kids. I was more than a bit annoyed that our family day turned into dog babysitting day, but we made the most of it, and it turned out all right. I hope Lou learned his lesson - I am ALWAYS right :)

We packed peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, and as you can see, Josephine thoroughly enjoyed hers. Of course, she didn't eat much of the bread - she mostly just opened up the sandwich and licked off all the peanut butter and fluff. Oh well.

Under this blanket is Josephine, sleeping. She took a great nap, and I can't blame her. I can't think of a more relaxing place outdoors to fall asleep than on the beach, listening to the waves...

Despite the dog situation, we stayed all day, and had so much fun playing in the sand and waves! We will definitely be going there again!

As much as we hated to leave the beach, it was time to go make our dinner (we packed some charcoal and hot dogs, since there was a picnic area right next to the beach, with a gorgeous view of the lake.

More fun at Sylvan Beach

After our scrumptious dinner of hot dogs and peas and carrots, we headed off to the carnival for

some fun on the rides - well, the kiddie rides, that is... This one is always a favorite - the girls loved "driving" their own boat!

This ride was supposed to look like old fighter planes. Josephine seemed excited at first, but then started to climb out right before the ride started. She kept saying "want out" over and over , so we took her out. Then she said "want ride", so we put her back in...at which point she started climbing out again and saying "want out", so we took her out again. Of course she changed her mind and asked to get back in...we said "no" at that point.

Ahh, there's nothing like seeing your sweet little girls riding in a tank, is there? Again, Josephine attempted to get out...

...but she ended up staying in and having a good time. Look at her face as she swings that gun back and forth - scary!

The girls went on a few more rides, and then we headed back to the picnic area for dessert - I had made some mini-strawberry/blueberry pies the day before, and we enjoyed them as the sun started to go down. It was a great end to a terrific day! Aren't you just on the edge of your seat to see what we do tomorrow?

Vacation time!

Since we are too poor (new house, new car, you get the picture...) to have a proper vacation, we decided to do a "staycation" this year, meaning that we will stay home and spend Lou's vacation doing days trips to see the sights in the surrounding area. Monday, day 1 of our staycation, was spent at Fort Rickey, a large petting zoo in Rome, NY. It is such a cute place, with lots of animals to see, feed and pet - they even do live informational shows with random animals (porcupines, wolves, snakes, etc.) every half hour.
The first thing we did was feed the deer - the girls had a blast doing this!

After we finished feeding them, we were allowed to open the fence and go in and pet them - they were so cute (the animals and the kids)!

This was like a dream come true for Josephine - she loves animals! (then again, what kid doesn't?!)

Next were the tortoises (yes, tortoises, NOT turtles - I learned about the difference between the two from Zoobooks!) - not as fun to pet as the deer, but it was still cool for the girls to be able to get so close to the animals all throughout our visit.

Maria and Josephine loved to watch these guys moved around!

By the way, just a note, there were tons of animals in this place, but I don't show them all here - I only included the best pictures!

More Fort Rickey

What's not to love about a place that lets you hold baby goats? It was so cool, and their little bleating noises were just adorable. Too bad Josephine kept chasing them and cackling at them like a witch...they didn't seem too fond of that! Another funny thing that happened was when one of the mama goats came up behind Maria and started chewing on her hair - Maria just sat there frozen, not knowing what to do. Don't worry, I was there to pull her spit-soaked hair out of the goat's mouth!

The girls just loved holding these baby goats, and Lou seemed to not mind it too much, either! There's just something about seeing kids' faces light up when they see baby animals - priceless.

Giving the llamas a snack. These things were ravenous, the brown one practically jumped over the fence when Maria offered it some food!

There were peacocks walking all over the place, and eventually, Josephine got it in her head that she wanted to "play" with one. She saw one chillin' inside an area surrounded by a split-rail fence, and proceeded to climb the fence to go inside and socialize. Her planned got squashed when Lou yanked her back over the fence, saying something about her getting her eyes pecked out - what a killjoy...

The Playground at Fort Rickey

They had a great play area there, but the ball pit was the favorite for our crew (as much as I loathe those nasty things...). As you can see, even Lou couldn't resist joining in. Is it me, or does he look like he's having severe abdominal pains in this picture?

Okay, can you find the DeGaetanos in this picture? There are two of them in there...

Cutie pie Josephine, with a not-so-cutie-pie runny nose...

Yes, this is Lou tossing Josephine into the ball pit, and she is loving it!

And now it's Maria's turn to get thrown in - what is it with mens' insatiable need to throw their children into the air?

The Rest of Fort Rickey

That is Maria petting a five-foot long red-tailed boa constrictor named "Boris". She was shy at first, but then she really got into it.

Maria the Snake Charmer did become a bit nervous, however, when the demonstrator laid the snake on her shoulder and head!!

Pony rides - yay! Maria was kind of nervous - she kept asking the handler where the seat belt was...

Josephine, however, was right at home on the little pony. She just kept saying - "Ride pony, ride pony!"

Well, the first day of our "staycation" was great! We ended up exploring the Sylvan Beach area later on (just around the corner from Fort Rickey), and it was so cute, we think we will go there tomorrow!

I love two year olds!

Okay, lately I am really feeling that two is my favorite age. I love the way they still have that bouncy baby walk, and everything is so exciting to them. They have so much personality, and none of the mouthiness of older children. They are at that age where everything they say is so cute. I love their goofy broken English. And best of all, they still take naps!
Tonight at dinner we had a real struggle with getting Josephine to finish her dinner. She hadn't eaten very much, and we wanted her to finish. We were going to have ice cream for dessert, and we told her that if she didn't finish her dinner, she wouldn't be getting any (does this sound familiar to any of you?!). She just kept saying "Don't want it" over and over (this is her new favorite sentence, and even says it when people she doesn't know well try to give her hugs). Lou and I kept finding different ways to explain her that if she would just take a couple more bites of dinner, that she could have ice cream. The more she staunchly repeated "Don't WANT IT!", the more we stood our ground. Even when the ice cream was being dished out, she refused to give in. Lou and I started to think that maybe she was a bit young for this line of logic, that maybe she didn't quite get our agreement, and finally gave in when Maria asked if she could share with Josephine.
Josephine took one bite of Maria's blackraspberry ice cream and smiled. Lou asked her "Is that good?" And Josephine, my little two-year-old, furrowed her brow, gave us her little mischievous smiled and replied in a very serious tone: "Dewicious" (aka "delicious"), as if to say "I WON!" Smarter than you think - okay, now that's what I love about two-year-olds...

As of late...

So here is the latest and the greatest from the DeGaetano clan:

The Bobbsey Twins here never cease to amaze me with the trouble they get into. Maria comes up with the great schemes and Josephine is like her own little personal Igor, helping her along the way. In the last month they have:

• emptied an entire bottle of baby powder all over their room
• stuffed almost an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet, causing, of course, said toilet to flood
• "Cleaned" the kitchen floor by pouring water all over it and spreading it around with rags

"Where is the mother while all this is happening?", you may ask - cleaning up the LAST mess they made...

We found a huge patch of wild black raspberries at the end of our dead end street. Here is Josephine looking very serious after eating a large bowl of them. Seriously funny, that is...

Yes, even her hands were dyed red, as well as her belly, her feet, and her bum (yes, she was sitting naked eating a bowl of berries - ahhh to be two again!)

And here is Maria looking like some kind of messed up court jester...(she was helping me hang clothes on the line - hence the line of clothespins on her shirt)

And here is me smiling at you - have a good day!