Tuesday, July 8, 2014

New york - week 1

I would have NEVER guessed three months ago that we would be in New York.  Chad was approached at work and asked if he would like to travel to New York for an extended period.  We knew he would be gone for weeks at a time, which would be difficult.  We also knew that this was an opportunity he couldn't pass up work wise!  We would have never, ever travelled to New York for the summer or experienced anything new like this.  What an amazing opportunity for the kids - and for us, as a family!

It is hard to believe we have been here for just over three weeks now!  I better get busy with my updates!  Right now we are in Saratoga Springs and it is beautiful.  The weather is perfect, huge trees are everywhere!

Here is a glimpse at how we spent our first week in New York.  Fair warning - there are A LOT of pictures!

This was the first time the kids have flown on an airplane.  Caleb did fly when he was an infant, but I asked him and he doesn't remember ;-).  They were so looking forward to flying and will not forget it anytime soon.





Poor Ella fell asleep and missed her very first take off...


We landed at O'Hare and scrambled to find our connecting flight.




Chad picked us up at the airport and we went straight for pizza!  We then headed home to the apartment and the kids walked in to find all of this!  Chad had been secretly buying new roller blades, helmets, hula hoops, water toys.  The apartment complex has lots of open, grassy areas.  There are 3 ponds with water fountains.  One pond has a large track around it, perfect for roller blading or bike riding for the kids!


That weekend, we walked around downtown Saratoga Springs.  We walked through the park and ate ice cream.  


It is so pretty here... trees everywhere!




The kids rode on the famous Congress Park carousel.


We didn't bring any toys with us to New York.  We thought we should leave them home for Uncle Christopher to play with.  We picked up a few toy essentials at Target - Nerf guns.  Thanks for the traveling money, Papa!



The next day was Father's Day and Chad had the entire day planned out.  We went down to the Saratoga Springs race track to see a horse jumping competition. Track season hasn't started yet, so you are able to walk around and watch all the horses - for free!



We then drove to the Welcome Stock Farm to attend Sundae on the Farm.  This is a family run dairy farm and we went on a tour of their new state of the art milking barn.




The cows are all micro chipped and this new technology allows all the cows (200+) to be tracked and milked in 7 minutes!

Did you know that a dairy cow produces (on average) 7 gallons of milk per day?!



Olivia jumped right in and introduced herself to the cows.


 Ella and Caleb weren't so sure...





We learned how much cows eat and drink.



We sampled chocolate milk.


And the best part - the baby calves!




The calves were very friendly and gave very slobbery kisses!





 

We ended the dairy farm tour with a horse carriage ride.


The kids were determined to swim that first weekend.  They got on their swimsuits and ran to the pool. This is the view from just outside our apartment.  We are steps from the pool!


Without much hesitation, they jumped in - and were in complete shock of how cold the water is here! Keep in mind we usually swim at the "froggy pool" in Texas - and it is heated!



After going out for dinner one night, we came home to a huge flock of wild geese.  This pond is directly to the left of our apartment, steps away from our front door.


So naturally, Caleb ninja crawled so he wouldn't scare them away.



Olivia tiptoed all the way over to them... and they all ran away.  Bummer!


We ate out at a few local restaurants.


We stopped for a little treat.  There are lots of little ice cream shops all around!


Ella has been busy drawing in her journal.  She drew this picture of Maleficent.  Little did she know we were about to surprise them with a drive in movie.


There is a drive in theater minutes from the apartment!  We were able to see TWO movies for $30!


We snacked on pretzels, hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy.



The first movie was How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Very cute story!


Maleficent was the second movie!  Such a good movie.  We have watched it three times!


The kids have been sleeping in even though the sun rises at 5 am!


And we visited the pool every day - sometimes twice!



What a busy first week!!!

2 comments:

  1. WOW!!! What a fantastic start to your summer in NY!! Chad really made your first weekend there full of fun and surprises. It is very beautiful there I have to say. Much greener than here--a different green--like Wisconsin green. Your summer home looks really nice inside and out and the kids are having a ball in the pool even if it is cold. Caleb must really feel the cooler weather there--he is in his favorite hoodie a lot! Bet he can't wait to feel good old Texas heat again. (95 today with light breezes!!) So happy you all are enjoying your extended vacation and Chad must be so happy to have his family with him. That is the nicest part being all together. Keep posting all you are doing. LYLALALYLM!!!!!

    (By the way--you do know where those darling little calves are ending up don't you? Don't let the kids know-it makes you so sad to think about what we do to baby animals)

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  2. Yeah, I don't like the calve thing. Maybe they are keeping them for their dairy farm?
    It looks like everyone is enjoying their vacation. It looks so nice. And I bet Chad is so happy you are there. I'm so glad you are taking lots of pictures so we can see what you are doing on your vacation.

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