Spring Break

I'm skipping ahead on April here a little bit due to the fact that I want to keep caught up and Spring Break is OVER!  No point in holding back on this post and then making more work for myself later, right? Right!

So our Spring Break plans were changed for a bit.  Originally we were leaving Friday for Rhode Island and were going to spend 4 days in New England and then 4 days in New York State.  Unfortunately Leah got sick on Thursday with a stomach bug.  So I canceled the New England portion of our travels till later in June.  By Sunday, Leah was feeling better, but it also gave us time to relax from school, pack our stuff up, and have a more chill trip.  Much nicer than "PACK!  GET UP!  GET IN THE CAR!" like my normal craziness.

We spent Saturday relaxing.  We went to the movies in the afternoon so Astrid could see Beauty and the Beast.  I got the girls their requested ice cream snacks and myself a boat of nachos, and as soon as we sat down, they both ate the nachos so I had to get more.  I had to laugh.

We also went over to the Walmart and got egg dying kits and made Easter eggs.  Astrid found a kit that made Viking eggs (whenever she gets real feisty, we blame her Viking blood) and we found a pearlescent kit for Leah's eggs.  It was a nice way to spend the day. 

Easter Sunday, we got up early, as Leah was powerfully excited for the Easter bunny to have come and dropped off so many goodies.  She woke me up first, then Astrid.  Soon there were candy and toys flying.  Astrid got a gallon of white glue to further her slime making activities, which was a big hit.  She immediately went back to sleep till 1pm.  Leah and I made the traditional Christmas lasagna (?) and then woke Astrid up for what we were assured was a highlight of Danish Easters everywhere:  the Easter Egg roll.  This involved finding a suitable hill and chucking our eggs down them to see who could roll the farthest.  We assigned 1st place 3 points, 2nd place 2 points, and 3rd place 1 point.  We each got 2 rolls--one at the cul de sac at the bottom of our street, the other down a hill in a local park.  We all wound up with exactly 4 points.  A perfect Easter tie!

Afterwards, we came home, ate dinner, and packed up for leaving.  The plan was to get the girls up at 4:30AM so we could be in the car by 5 and drive to Destiny USA, the seventh largest shopping mall in the US.  Unfortunately, my alarm didn't go off, and Astrid woke me up at 5:42.  I'll give my ladies credit though, they were in the car and ready for action before 6:00!!  They watched Ice Age most of the way north, as I had gotten Astrid a box set with all 5 movies in it a while back, and they slept and played on their screens a little bit.  We made it to the mall in Syracuse NY by 2:00 and had 2 hours to spend before driving north to my dad's, as he was expecting us for dinner around 6.  Leah was immediately starving to death, so I got her lunch.  Astrid said she wasn't hungry, so I got her a milkshake and me a sandwich, and she proceeded to eat my lunch.  Are you sensing a theme here? :-)

After a quick bite to eat, we headed to Nordstrom Rack to check out the cheap cosmetics, then Ulta, Sephora, Macy's, and two other make up peddlers that Astrid was dying to check out.  Leah and I skipped out on a couple and walked down to the Lindt store and got free samples of chocolate.  When Astrid was done shopping, we got in the car and headed home to Oswegatchie NY.  PopPop had prepared a truly traditional Polish Easter dinner for us--ham, kielbasa, pierogies--and then we played some Yahtzee and watched Forensics Files, Astrid's new obsession. 

The next day, Tuesday, we headed up to "town" to show Astrid the sites.  She got to see the hospital where I was born, the first house I lived in (which is for sale now!), the school, the post office, the bank, and the new grocery store.  Dad decided we should take a walk in the woods and abandoned his car at a locked gate near the back of the lake.  We walked for quite some time, seeing a beautiful waterfall and lots of nature.  Astrid was excited to hear a woodpecker.  Then we went to my friend Elizabeth's coffee shop, Coffee Fever, for WiFi access so Astrid and Chris could maintain their streak on SnapChat and we all had a nice lunch.  Afterwards, I fell asleep for a while, and then PopPop and Leah made a pizza before PopPop loaded Astrid into the car and took her across the border to Canada for some English country dance lessons.  I cant' say too much about what they did there other than obviously English country dancing (think the kind of dancing you see in Jane Austen movies), but Astrid said she had a great time and it was lots of fun.  They stopped for burgers afterwards and were home by 11:00.

When little sister gets tired, big sister gives her a lift.

Entering Canada

On Wednesday, we headed back to Canada as a family of four.  Dad had a full day planned starting at a llama farm.  Some years ago, he got Leah a little stuffed llama while he was up dancing in Spencerville.  Last year, she asked him for a husband for "Llamie" and he went through hell's half acre to find the creators of the llamas and get her a new one.  Unfortunately, he bought another girl.  Leah was very disappointed that he couldn't look the llama in the eye and know it was a girl.  So he decided to take her up to the farm and have her pick out a boy llama of her own.  We arrived and the lady who owned the place had it locked up for the day, but there was a sign on the shop that we could come to the house for help.  Imagine her shock when 4 bedraggled Americans were standing there, cash in hand, ready to buy some llamas.  Because, of course, as soon as Astrid saw that there were 2 llamas, she couldn't let one be left behind, so Dad bought her the other llama, who is also a boy.  We went and looked at the alpacas and llamas on the property and then headed to Ottawa.  (For the record, Leah's llama is named Dave and Astrid's is called Jasper.)

Dad decided there was no place we were going for lunch but the Hard Rock Cafe in Ottawa.  We arrived only to find it had closed.  He was so disappointed.  It was pouring rain and miserable outside, so we found a nearby Irish pub and they were celebrating their 25th anniversary and the meals were 25% off, which made up for the extra llama.  That was a nice treat.  On our way back through the market, we saw Obama Cookies and stopped in to get some baked goods.  Such an array!  We each got a cookie and they were delicious. 

Astrid and PopPop outside Parliament

Then we were headed to Parliament for a tour.  It took us a while to find a parking spot as there is a lot of construction going on, but eventually we managed and got the last tickets to the top of the Peace Tower in Parliament for the day.  We made it through security and then enjoyed the tour, although it was stuffy from everyone being damp in the rain, and the tour lasted quite a while on hard marble floors.  It was still cool to go there.  We learned a lot and felt very Canadian!

A haunting photo of Astrid inside Parliament

The "Big Ben" of Ottawa

Then it was back into the car, stopped at a Tim Hortons to import some coffee and a Walmart to grab some treats to mail friends, and back to the US we came.  Unfortunately we got lost and drove around Ottawa for a solid hour before admitting defeat and pulling out a map. We got back to Ogdensburg and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then he turned over the wheel and I drove us home.

Thursday was our last day at Dad's house.  We spent the morning walking along some back roads and bridges that were things I remembered fondly from my youth.  In the afternoon, I took Leah and Astrid up to the school to play on the playground.  Astrid decided to teach Leah to jump the hurdles on the track.  She did pretty well and only ate dirt twice, but Leah decided it was just easier to crawl underneath the hurdles than to go over top of them.  We had a nice dinner together of meatloaf, then more Yahtzee, Forensics Files, and Raising Hope before heading off to bed so we could depart for our next adventure.

The one family photo I got of us all week. LOL

Astrid on Harriet Tubman's Front Porch

Friday dawned still cloudy and that was a little sad, as it had rained the whole time we were there.  I packed up the car, and after breakfast, we bid PopPop farewell--I don't think Astrid will see him again before she leaves.  Then we drove down to Auburn NY to see the Harriet Tubman House.  We arrived at 11AM and of course the tours started at 10:00 and 12:00, so we decided not to stick around.  We went to the free exhibit and read about Harriet's life and times and death, took a couple of pictures on the porch and then drove out to the cemetery where Astrid was made the navigator to help us find Harriet's grave, which we eventually did.  I guess I never thought about her dying or being buried somewhere.  It was kind of neat being there.  Afterwards, we stopped at Jreck's Subs, my favorite place to eat in the North Country, and the girls enjoyed good food before we packed up and headed to Seneca Falls.

Our first stop was the National Women's Rights Historic Park where we saw some exhibits and got some materials.  They had a good display about the suffragettes and park rangers on hand to answer questions.  Then we went down to the National Women's Hall of Fame.  I had been there when I was about Astrid's age, but didn't remember it.  And even being there didn't jog any memories for me!  There is really nothing to it, unfortunately.  All the women who have been accepted into the Hall have write ups on plaques, which are hung around the walls of the place. There are some cutouts of famous women to pose with.  There is a mirror that says "Future Inductee" where you can take a picture, and a wall where you can write who inspires you.  And that is it.  They have recently acquired a building across the canal where they're going to make it a real Hall of Fame with artifacts and exhibits, but for now, that's as good as it gets.  There were many women there I hadn't heard of, and they were very interesting to read about.  Leah wrote two notes on the inspiration wall, and we were basically done.  I bought some materials in the little shop for my Pantsuiters group, and then we headed over to the Seneca Falls Visitors Center.  The girls had a great time there.  There was a room in the basement where there were various simple machines they could use to see how the Erie Canal was built.  They operated pumps and waterwheels and gears and pulleys and levers and stuff.  On the middle floor was a room with all the products that were made in Seneca Falls over the years, and they built creations with Seneca Sticks, which we called pre-Legos. They were literally sticks.  But the girls made masterpieces for nearly an hour!  So I guess there's something to them.

Afterwards, we drove down to the bridge which was the inspiration for a famous scene in It's a Wonderful Life.  In the movie, Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey goes to a bridge to commit suicide, but his guardian angel jumps in first and George jumps in to rescue him.  I found this picture of George praying on the bridge:

And here I am on the bridge just a few days ago:

I was weepy over being there.  It turns out, not only did the bridge look the part, but it had its own story which inspired the movie.  If you look on the bridge, you will find this plaque:

Antonio Varacalli was walking on the bridge and saw a woman go over the side.  He jumped in after here and managed to get her to safety before being swept down river and drowned himself.  Now you know a bit more about George Bailey.

Once we were done with all this fun, we headed out to Cortland NY to stay with my dad's lady friend, Miss Linda.  Miss Linda lives about 3 hours closer to our house and is an absolute sweetheart.  We had a great evening with her, eating pizza, chatting, and watching TV.  I was totally exhausted and went to bed early, but I think Astrid and Linda stayed up for quite a while. 

The next morning we were in the car by 9:30 and driving back to Virginia.  We stopped off at our favorite Wegman's to do a potty break, then hit a Sheetz for lunch and gas and made it back to VA by 7:30.  We were all happy to be home and figure that we have about 5 days of traveling together in close proximity before our little crew goes off the rails.  Astrid and I both like a little alone time. :-)

So that's our Spring Break wrap up!!  We had a great time, even if we weren't sunning ourselves on the beach somewhere like you might picture a typical spring break.  Many thanks to PopPop and Miss Linda for their hospitality!  It was especially nice that they both had normal cats who actually liked being around us. ;-)