Travel | Pure Sugar

Dreaming of Warmer Weather

April 4, 2013 9:31 am \ 1 Comment \ Carol B.

It may be April but it is still so cold outside! I dropped Jake off this morning and the thermometer read 28 degrees… brr! The weather definitely has me thinking of vacations, preferably to warmer places. Imagine hopping on a Kuwait Airways jet, bound for the Middle East. What an exotic vacation that would be! Not sure I’m up for a trip to the Middle-East, though.

Honestly, I’m kind of jealous of friends who were able to get away to warm beaches stateside over spring break. Oh, it would be wonderful to don flip-flops and enjoy tropical drinks while watching the waves roll in and out. I know it’ll warm up here, eventually though.

I’m not sure if we’ll be going on a summer vacation this year. We’ll have to see how busy things are with my husband’s work schedule. He has some business travel planned for the summer so if we do go away, it will likely be something close by — maybe a long weekend somewhere. Often we go to Lake George, but it would be fun to try somewhere new.

And if we don’t do anything, that’s OK too. Honestly, sometimes travelling with three kids is a lot more work than it is relaxation. And packing… that is probably my least favorite part of any trip! Then, of course, there is the mountain of laundry when you get home. Hmm… Maybe a “staycation” is a better option right now. Take the kids to the lake, hang out on the deck with an iced tea, order take-out for dinner… yup, I think that’ll do just as well.

Posted in: Travel

Lake George in the Off Season

November 12, 2012 5:10 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carol B.

Yesterday we took the boys to Albany ComicCon — a smaller, much more manageable comic book show than the big one in the city. Laura came too, and was a real trooper, braving the crowd all in the hopes of seeing Spider-Man (which she did!). Afterwards, we surprised the kids with a little sidetrack before going home, though. We figured since there is no school today in honor of Veteran’s Day, we’d spend a little extra time together as a family.

We usually go to Lake George at the end of the season (on Labor Day), but this time of year it is really the off-season. It was so weird seeing all the stores emptied and locked with “See you in the Spring!” signs hanging in doors and windows. Even the McDonald’s in town was closed! But some stuff was open, and really all I wanted to do was walk around the lake so I didn’t care much about the shops. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be up in the Adirondacks. Mid 60s in early November? Why yes! I’ll take it! It was such a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

A co-worker told me about The Mystery Spot, something that was in her kids’ book Weird New York. We’ve been to Lake George so many times — I can’t believe I’d never heard of this, even though I have walked over this spot on every trip! (Though Drew tells me we discovered it on our first vacation there when we were still dating — but I can’t remember!) If you stand in the middle of this circle and talk or even whisper, there is this weird reverberation.

“Local Indian legend says that it was the spot that an ancient god called Katchalototail had appeared at a long time ago and since then his wisdom still echoes around the lake.”

It’s not exactly an echo, but definitely some bizarre sonic anomaly. We all got a kick out of it! Definitely try it if you’re up there.

Posted in: Travel \ Tagged: adirondacks, family, lake george, mystery spot, new york, ny, travel, vacation

A Visit to the New York Botanical Garden

October 15, 2012 2:30 pm \ 1 Comment \ Carol B.

What a weekend! I have so much to tell you about, but I thought I’d start by sharing some photos I took yesterday. While Drew and Jake were at ComicCon, my mother-in-law suggested the rest of us spend the day at the New York Botanical Gardens. I’d never been there and she certainly didn’t have to convince me — I was so excited to finally visit!

We saw the gorgeous Monet’s Garden exhibit, as well as the Haunted Pumpkin Garden (very non-spooky, very fun, and great for children). Noah had a great time planting buckwheat seeds and dissecting an owl pellet, while Laura enjoyed playing in the outdoor puppet theatre and just looking at all the incredibly creative pumpkin sculptures.

Seeing all these beautiful plants makes me wish I was a better gardener! Just gorgeous stuff. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

I could have spent the entire day wandering around. If you live in the metro New York area and you’re looking for something fun and Halloween-y to do, this exhibit was a lot of fun, plus the grounds are just so beautiful. We plan to go back for the holiday train show and I can’t wait for that!

Posted in: Family, Hudson Valley, Travel \ Tagged: autumn, Bronx Botanical Garden, fall, family activities, halloween, hudson valley, nature, NY Botanical Garden, science

Old Sturbridge Village

August 7, 2012 9:23 am \ 2 Comments \ Carol B.

Any kid who grew up in Western Mass. is all too familiar with Old Sturbridge Village. They’ve gone there on a field trip at least once, but more likely multiple times. And by the time they graduate from high school, chances are they are pretty tired of the colonial New England stuff. I know I was! But then I grew up, moved away, renewed my love for all things old (and especially colonial) and I’ve been dying to take my kids there.

Last week while we were up in WMass, I wanted to make time to see my good friend Jenn. And when she suggested we spend the day at OSV, I think I was more excited than anyone! Old Sturbridge Villlage is a living museum. The people who work there are all dressed in costume and their jobs are showing what life was like hundreds of years ago. Once you walk through the doors, it’s as if you’ve stepped back in time. (I kind of wanted to hole up in one of the houses and live there!)

We saw a shoemaker, a blacksmith, and a potter.

We saw women dying and spinning wool into gorgeous yarns. Aren’t the colors yummy?

Some handmade quilts were hung over a split-rail fence to air out (I love this picture so much I had to make it my new blog header!).

There’s also a working sawmill, but it wasn’t operating while we were there. The water levels are so low this year. It definitely makes you wonder how people would have handled such a dry summer back in the 1700s.

And there were, of course, plenty of chickens wandering around! I still really want a few chickens, and seeing these guys did not help, LOL… Is it weird to think that chickens are cute?

We packed in quite a bit, considering we had 5 kids in tow (4 rambunctious boys and one strong-willed 3-year-old). Still, we did not get to see it all so I’m looking forward to going back another time.

I do have a few Groupon vouchers for a place here in New York called Museum Village, so I think we’ll take the kids there soon. I’m curious how it compares and how things were different here in NY versus Massachusetts all those years ago!

Posted in: Travel \ Tagged: colonial, history, new england, old sturbridge village, western massachussets, wmass

2011 radio city christmas spectacular

December 9, 2011 9:15 am \ Leave a Comment \ Carol B.

When I was a little girl, I’d watch the Rockettes in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and wish I could dance like they do. Alas, I am terribly uncoordinated and can’t really dance at all. So I simply hoped to see them live at Radio City Music Hall someday.

Back in 2008 we had the opportunity to take Jake (who was then in 1st grade) to see the show and I think I was more excited than he was! It was everything I hoped it would be. So this year I wondered if it would still be magical for me, having seen it so recently. Well let me tell you, it was even better and totally blew me away!

Before I get to the photos of the show, I just have to share this pic of the chandelier in the lobby. I asked Drew if we could get one like it for our dining room. (Ha! I think I have as good a chance of that happening as I do finding gold bars in my Christmas stocking.)

How beautiful! The entire theatre is gorgeous and makes me think of old-timey New York. Love it! The show itself is just bigger than life. At the risk of sounding super cheesy, it took my breath away. And being the sap that I am, I found myself getting teary randomly during the numbers. I don’t really know why, but yeah — I was one using her sleeve like a tissue because I forgot to take actual tissues.

The grand finale is the living nativity and it gave me chills and — yes — made me cry again. You don’t have to be Christian or even believe in God to get emotional during this last act. (At least in my opinion.) With the live animals (including camels!), the slow movement, the music, the lighting… it’s just breathtaking.

It’s not a cheap day out, I’ll be honest, but it is worth every penny. They boys loved it and to hear their ooohs and ahhs and see them riveted during certain scenes… well, you just can’t put a price on that. I’m already looking forward to Laura’s turn

Posted in: Family, Holidays & Entertaining, Travel \ Tagged: christmas, nyc, radio city, rockettes

rockefeller center tree and sak’s window display

December 8, 2011 10:18 am \ 1 Comment \ Carol B.

Sorry I didn’t get this up yesterday! (Though I doubt anyone was really waiting for it, LOL!) It was just one of those days and we’ll leave it at that. Anyway, the next leg of our NYC trip was taking the boys to Rockefeller Center.

We were there on Tuesday and the tree wasn’t going to be lit until the next day, but since you can barely see the lights during the day it didn’t matter much. The tree this year is really fat. I have to say it looked prettier in some of the night time photos I’ve seen than it did when we were there. Nevertheless, it was very impressive!

The area was bustling with television techs getting the area ready for the lighting. I pretty much just tried to stay out of their way. Across the street we saw Radio City Music Hall. I love the neon any time of year, but it’s extra pretty with the lights and trees.

Sak’s Fifth Avenue is right there, too. Their window displays are always so inventive and, well, gorgeous! This year’s display tells the story of a little girl named Holly and a magical discovery of the Bubblemakers.

I was rushed through by some little old ladies, so my photos aren’t the greatest, but hopefully you get a hint of how beautiful it is this year!

I’ll conclude tomorrow (really I will) with the absolute highlight of the day: the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!

Posted in: Holidays & Entertaining, Travel \ Tagged: christmas, nyc, rockefeller center, sak's window display

i ♥ new york (especially during the holidays)

December 6, 2011 10:54 am \ Leave a Comment \ Carol B.

Last week, the kids had two half-days of school to allow for parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon. We decided to keep them out of school on one of those days (I know, I know…) in order to take them into New York City for the day. This would be Noah’s first visit there! When Jake was in 1st grade we took him to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, so of course we had to do the same for Noah.

We kept it a secret from them, as we are known to do. Poor Jake was stressing out because normally I’d be rushing him out the door to get to morning Math Club on time and he couldn’t understand why we weren’t in the car. So Drew just told them we had something else in mind.

First they thought they were spending the day with Grandma because we pulled into her driveway. But when we simply dropped off Laura and headed to the train station, they began to seriously wonder what was up! Both guys were so super excited when they found out what our plans were! Noah has been wanting to go on a train ride for such a long time

When we got into Grand Central, the first thing we did was show them the ceiling and Drew explained how when he was in high school, it was so black he never even knew the constellations were painted on it. Then, when we were engaged and he was working in the city, they were doing the restoration and he said how unbelievable it was to watch the transformation. Next up was the Whispering Wall – always so cool, no matter how many times you’ve done it!

Normally we would have walked up to Times Square, but it was pouring rain, so we took the subway. The boys had a blast at Toys R Us and couldn’t believe that there was a ferris wheel inside. I think this was the first time I’ve ever been on an indoor ferris wheel!

We looked at the Lego section at least 25 times.

And Noah was in “Hot Wheels Heaven” as he put it!

We let the boys pick out a small Lego set and also got them one of these Myachi things someone was demo’ing (think: Hacky Sack for your hands). When we left the rain had let up so we grabbed a hot dog on the street and started walking up to Rockefeller Center. (I only wish I’d had the common sense to wear some sensible womens wide shoes instead of my heeled boots, but that’s the price we pay for beauty, LOL!).

I’ll continue tomorrow with Part 2 of our day in the city!

Posted in: Family, Travel \ Tagged: christmas, grand central, new york, nyc

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