Month: February 2014

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Summer Schemes ‘n Dreams

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Y’all, I’m COLD.  There’s snow coming down (again) outside my window, I’m on my fourth cup of tea of the day, I’m wearing layers IN THE HOUSE and I’m about to kick another tube of hand lotion.  At the moment, I’m not sure it will ever be warm again, although at least I have it better than the Ingalls family during The Long Winter.  I’m employing my usual techniques for riding it out: plenty of tea, good books, warm blankets, and a pile of knitting to keep my lap warm.  Still, it’s SO ridiculously cold that the only thing that will really, honestly warm me up is planning for the summer ahead.  (If there is a summer ahead.  Right now, it seems a bit like taking a leap of faith.)  It’ll be my first summer in New York State since… oh… 2003 or so, so I want to make it count.  Here’s a bit of what I’m looking forward to this summer, if it ever actually comes:

  • Hiking Letchworth State Park.  This is tops on the list.  I’ve never been there, but it’s called “The Grand Canyon of the East” and it’s not far from Buffalo, so this must be on the agenda.  We’re thinking we’ll invite Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Grace to come along and make it a big family affair.
  • A wedding in Boston, and hopefully, seeing my pen-pal Katie for an afternoon while we’re there.
  • Climbing at least one or two Adirondack high peaks.  Cascade and Porter are two of the easier climbs, and can be combined into one excursion, so they’re good possibilities.  And I’d love to see the view from atop Mount Marcy.
  • Visiting Greycliff, which looks like it would be beautiful in all seasons, but especially in summer.
  • Taking in the scene at Larkin Square and Taste of Buffalo.
  • Renting kayaks and exploring the Canalside area.  (I’m not sure if this will be something Peanut can do with us by the time she’s two, or if we’ll need to call on Grandma to snuggle her onshore.)
  • Running the Fifty Yard Finish Half Marathon.
  • Making – and drinking – homemade lemonade.
  • Taking in a performance at Shakespeare in the Park… maybe.  (Or maybe this is something to put off until a future year when our toddler will be a little less unruly and more cultured, LOL.)
  • Visiting more of the wineries on the Niagara Wine Trail.  (We’ve already been to Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, YUM.)
  • Taking Peanut to the park and letting her run around to her heart’s content.
  • Sitting and soaking up sunshine.
  • Exploring more hiking trails in WNY.
  • Afternoon sails on my parents’ boat.

What are you looking forward to doing if the weather ever warms up?

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Take Your Child to the Library Day

(Isn’t that every day?)

Hubby’s mom was in town visiting this weekend, and we were hoping to find a fun activity to do on Saturday.  We’d originally planned to attend a winter festival that was taking place in Delaware Park, but the weather was iffy – snow that could turn to rain any minute (and did by mid-afternoon).  So we’d ruled that out and were pretty much settled on staying in and playing all afternoon when I saw a tweet from the Buffalo Library urging everyone to come down to the Central branch for Take Your Child to the Library Day.  They promised games, activities and crafts with an “Oz” theme.  (I wasn’t sure whether that meant “Wizard of…” or Australia, but was intrigued either way.  Turns out it was “Wizard of…”)

We immediately bundled Peanut into the car and headed down to the library.  She loves a visit to the “booka-bookas” any day, but she was particularly thrilled to be turned loose and given free access to the children’s section:

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She especially loved finding plenty of book storage down at her level:

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Most of the games and activities, and all of the crafts, were intended for bigger kids.  There was a play kitchen that smaller kids could enjoy, but Peanut didn’t seem too interested.  The library staff had thoughtfully laid out several baskets of books, so we spent some time sitting at one of the little tables and reading together before Peanut wandered off to check out the offerings on the shelves.  Then there was a lot of this:

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What a fun day!  Peanut usually doesn’t get the chance to sit and play with the library “bookas” because we’re always in a rush to return books or pick up a hold and then get back for naptime.  And we haven’t been able to make story hour because it’s been scheduled during Peanut’s morning nap (which is her big, important, non-negotiable nap of the day).  So spending an hour just wandering around and checking out the bookish goodies was quite the treat for her.  We’re definitely going to have to do this again, at our own branch and on our own time.

What bookish fun did you get up to this weekend?