Genessee Country Museum

On our last full day in NY, we met up with Marks dear sweet Aunt Carolyn, cousin David, Michael and Oliver at the Genessee Country museum. All the buildings and houses have been moved here to be restored and preserved in a village. Really amazing. 

The Cival War balloon encampment. Back then it was silk and filled with hydrogen. This reproduction was plastic filled with helium. Pretty neat. 

No rides today but the cousins all tried out the basket.

Awesome lunch!

The boys, sleeping "tight". 

A very cool carpentry bench with a craved face. 

School time!

The country store. 

Some houses here are simple settler type cabins. Others are very fancy. 

I thought this post was really neat. 

Sadly on the way out, daddy and Max had a run in with a yellow jacket hole. Dad got stung once on the hand but Max got ten stings :( We are really thankful he did not react badly and once past the initial pain is doing really well. 

I don't have pictures but later in the evening, we met up with Marks good friend from high school and his family at Pineway Ponds park to grill. We had a great time and compared lots of camping notes. They just spent six weeks out west with their camper. 

We got back late to April's but Michael was still there and they had a fire going. We stayed up till 1:30 talking and laughing. Loved it. 

Aunt April's

A fall volunteer in April's garden. She thinks she should weed it. I think it's pretty. I've got to look up the name. 

The kids love being here. It may be small but it overflows with love and fun. 

And here's what the Aunts and Uncles do. Best. Times. Ever. 

Hard for mamas  to get into pictures but here's our goofy selfie. 

Museum of Play

Everyone has looked forward to going here! 

And THIS is what they love the most. Their own Wegmans. No age limit. And they all love it, teenager to toddler. 

Running the bakery. 

And the meat department. 

Checking out. 

Back to the meat department. 

Finally to the rest of the museum! Lots of great play places downstairs. 

Not Arthur. 

Hmmm, nope. 

On to play in the fake snow? sand?

What we really missed was the upstairs. I don't know what they're doing up there but no antique toys, no rows and rows of doll houses. Daddy was very disappointed. 

This place really deserves its own post. Left the museum for...LUGIAS!!!

Home of the gargantuan ice cream cones!

Max has a kiddie, Silas a baby cone.  

This, my friends, is a medium. 

Think they had fun?

Messy face!

Birthday Twins!

Happy Birthday to our 13 and 11 year olds! We now have four teenagers in the house, whew. Birthday party and cookout at Aunt April's and Uncle Shawn's. Always awesome. 

We fit all these kids in their dollhouse! April has the most beautiful gardens. Even now at the end of season she has blooms. 

Leaving Keuka Lake

From our morning hike. It was in the 50s and drizzled the whole time. Charlotte Mason would have been proud. "Never be within doors when you could rightly be without."

Mums and Goldenrod. Much more fallish here. 

Hike through the woods. 

The beach. 

Someone else built this. Of course I bumped it. And made a hole. 

My engineer fixed it. 

Yay!

On our way back for daddies pancakes, eggs and coffee. 

After breakfast we packed up and headed to visit with all Marks cousins and his Aunt. 

We met at the barn on the Hurlbutt farm that belonged to his uncles family. Now the cousins on that side of the family have it and are even using the barn for weddings and events. For fun we called it "Cousin's Day" even though we weren't technically all cousins. It was so much fun to catch up and eat good food. 

After we headed to the grocery store and Marks Dads. We had a nice late evening visit with him and Cathi. The boys even behaved! Well, it helped they were worn out. It has rained for three days and they've been trapped in the Coach. As nice as it is, they need to run! So tomorrow's plan is an all outdoor day on Grandpa Strubles property, exploring the woods and orchards. 

Glenn Curtiss Museum, Hammondsport NY

Very rainy today. In the 60s. Spent the day with my sister and family and nephew at the Glenn Curtiss museum. Mark and I came here when we were dating. We decided that day if we ever had a little boy we would name him Curtiss, after this amazing aviation pioneer. 

Oddly enough, this boy was born with flying in his blood. He had a great time here. 

Meanwhile, this was the favorite spot of the littles. 

Went back to the state park and Curtiss grilled chicken in the rain for us. He's such a great son. By bedtime though we are all feeling frazzled. Our introverts are feeling peopled out and we highly sensitives are feeling their feelings and not sorting out boundries well. The introverts can't set up their tent in the rain, well they could, but they aren't. So we are making do. And hopefully it will stop raining soon so these littles can run. 

I intend to hike to the lake in the morning. Rain or no rain.