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Posts Tagged ‘Spring Break’

Wordless Wednesday: Sucrerie de la Montagne (Visit to the Sugar Shack)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2014| 2 Comments »

The girls and I are having a blast spending Spring Break in Ottawa. Weather aside- snow in the middle of April!!!!, it has definitely been a trip down memory lane. The girls have not been back in almost three years and it is wonderful to watch their reactions and share experiences with them. We have visited the Canadian Museum of History, a place where we spent tons of hours passing time when they were little, a wave pool (something we do not have in NYC) and today a maple sugar shack in Quebec.

The Sucrerie de la Montagne is in Rigaud, Quebec. It is an old school maple sugar shack where they tap the trees without lines and bake bread in a monster brick oven. It is in a gorgeous location up in a mountain and is exactly the escape that we needed. After a tour of the facilities we ate a family style feast of pea soup, fresh bread, sausage, bacon, meat pie, ham, egg souffle, mashed potatoes and beans. For dessert there were pancakes with maple syrup and maple sugar pie. I probably should have run home 😉 We had a great time and may have bought a few treats to take back to the city.

Hope you enjoy the pics. I have to go and rest up for more eating and a trip to the sky zone (?!)
Happy Wednesday!! Here’s hoping Spring weather comes back for the break!

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Wordless Wednesday: Spring Break Shenanigans

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The girls and I have been having tons of fun on these first few days of Spring Break. Of course there have been a few arguments and “I’m boreds” here and there, but for the most part we are enjoying our  time together. And, we are counting down the hours until our whole family heads to Washington DC. Here are a few pics that capture some of our Spring Break moments. Hope you are all having a wonderful week no matter what you are doing. Happy Wednesday!

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I’m Bored!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 25, 2013| 3 Comments »

I'm Bored

It is that time of year again… the week and half of Spring Break. And while it is a welcome break from homework, test prep, homework, afterschool activities, homework, test prep, making lunches and the hustle and bustle (nagging) of the morning rush to get out the door it also means that it is time to entertain or at least occupy the kids. What mother or father doesn’t cringe at the whiny kid voice of “I’m bored!!”?? Seriously, it is worse than nails on a chalkboard. In my mind “I’m bored” translates to “I’m spoiled” because seriously, most kids I know including mine, do not have it too rough and have plenty of things to do around the apartment 😉

But, that being said, I really do look forward to planning some cool activities for the kids and I to do over Spring Break. I mean we live in NYC, how freakin’ bored can we be????!!! We will be spending part of the break out of the city as we head to Washington, DC. on Friday for a long weekend and we are all pretty excited. This is the first time we will be there as a family and we can’t wait to explore all of the amazing sites. It seems to be a pretty popular NYC ‘weekend away’ destination as we know at least 5 other families who are also going to DC for the weekend. Until we head out on that adventure I have planned a few fun things to do in the NYC area for the next four days. If you are racking your brain for some things to do, take a peek or feel free to share your own ideas. Also if you have any MUST DO’s for Washington, please share those as well. Most of all, Happy Spring Break, have fun and don’t forget your patience, sanity and if all else fails, reach for the wine 😉

My Spring Break Ideas:

*visit the new Whale Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History -the AMNH never disappoints and we can spend a couple of hours there or most of the day, plus Shake Shack is right around the corner- YUM!

*we are going to spend a girls day shopping, the girls are at the age where they are actually excited to browse through the racks of clothing and they both need some new clothes for spring. We may even pretend we are tourists and head on into Times Square & mid-town to go to American Eagle 77 Kids, American Girl and other shops on 5th avenue. Mommy might need a drink at lunch 😉

*this week at Grand Central Station (that is turning 100 years old this year) there are many cool events including performances by “Heard NY” where dancers dressed like beautiful horses give two performances a day in the grand hall. Definitely not something to miss.

*we will be going to see “The Croods”. Looks like a hilariously fun family movie, one that I am actually looking forward to seeing.

*we will also be getting ready for Easter by visiting Michael’s and getting dye and decorations for eggs, that is about as crafty as I get. And of course, we will have to visit Barnes & Noble because everyone needs a new book to sit down and read when the weather is crummy- we are expecting snow today!!!!

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*hopefully the weather will start warming up and we can do one of our favorite activities in the city, exploring parks and playgrounds in different neigborhoods- www.nycgovparks.org

*if we are feeling especially adventurous we can do some day trips out of Manhattan, a friend of mine just told me about the Spa Castle in Queens where children are allowed to go with their parents to enjoy the hot/cold tubs and relax. Now that definitely sounds like my kind of mom/daughter day! Maybe I can even sneak in a massage…

*another quick trip is to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. Just jump on the train and you can walk from the station to the aquarium. Norwalk is a pretty waterfront town to explore with great shops and restaurants too!

*a couple of great resources when looking for things to do with kids in NYC are: Time Out New York Kids and Mommy Poppins, they always have up to the minute ‘what is going on in the city’, be sure to check them out for ideas, including neighborhood specific ideas.

Worst case scenario, we will just have to get out and pound the pavement… you never know what you might find on the streets of NYC! It is always an adventure… and I am sure we will be able to find one! 😉

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Spring Break: Day One

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on April 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Well, Spring Break has officially started. We decided that rather than put the girls in camp during this week I would keep them home with me for the week. We did this for a few reasons. One, I thought that they could benefit from some un-scheduled down time. They have been working really hard in school, the winter has been really long and I thought that they just needed some good old fashioned relaxation. Two, it would be an un-neccessary expense since I am home. Camp in NYC is not cheap. And three, travelling at this time is also unbelievably pricey so I figured since we were still newbies to Manhattan we could once again, be tourists in our own city and explore all of the amazing things Manhattan has to offer.

By 8:30 this morning with both kids fighting and driving me crazy, I was seriously wondering if I had made a monumental mistake.

But, after a second cup of caffeine and a phone call to a friend who was in a similar kid crazed predicament I managed to turn the day around and start off on our adventure way uptown.

Gorgeous NYC morning

For those of you following you know that I recently fell in love with Fort Tryon Park. So, we decided to take the kids up to 190th and let them play at a new playground and explore a different neighborhood in the city. They climbed the jungle gym, swirled around on the tire swing, played a bit of soccer and the older girls even tried their hand at making a make shift bird’s nest. After about an hour the kids started getting hungry so we headed down a few blocks to find a place to eat.

Scooting down the street

I now know why Washington Heights is called “The Heights”, phew, there are a lot of hills. We definitely got a workout by going  up and down and up and down. And I may have gotten us lost so I we had to do a few more up and downs than was required.

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Street View- W. 187th St.

Apartments built up from the stone ridge

We had a great lunch and then we decided to go for a scooter ride back in Fort Tryon Park. All was going well until the girls went bombing down a steep hill and two of the girls had a wipe out. Luckily no one was seriously injured, just a few scrapes and bruises. After the tears were wiped away we headed back to the subway and home. The girls are now currently hanging out of the couch- tired, hungry and not arguing. And I am one tired mommy. Mission accomplished. Only 7 more days left… Oh, and did I mention it is supposed to rain? Well, we will just have to see where our adventures take us next 😉

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