Blackberry Farm and Splash Country

On Sunday we took a trip to Blackberry Farm and Splash Country. In Aurora. About an hour away. We went with my sister and brother-in-law and their 2 kids.

Blackberry Farm is a pioneer village with museums, hands-on activities for the kids, a carousel, train ride, pony rides, farm animals, and a wagon ride. We spend about 3 hours there and the kids loved it. The kids watched a woodcarver (the husband tried to steal the tools :), they carded wool, they saw a toad in the pond, and they pretended to milk a cow (it wasn't a real cow and just water came out). Everyone really enjoyed the trip!!

A really old log cabin with some really young kids! Aren't they adorable?

Not the best shot of me but here I am am with 4 out of 6 of the kiddos. Little T absolutely refused to turn around. Did you know they had picnic tables in the 1800's? Just kidding!

I usually prefer not to put pics of myself but I included this for one reason-my 4 year old nephew took this shot! Can you believe it? I think he has a future as a photographer!

Now some shots of the pony rides:

The family on the train ride. The next one is of Baby M sitting on the train next to Daddy.

Splash Country is an adjacent water park to Blackberry Farm. You can get tickets for both parks for just $3 more a ticket. It was well worth it! The water park wasn't too big but it was perfect for the kids. It has water slides, a lazy river, a pool with 0 ft. depth. We stayed for 2 hours but the kids could have stayed until it closed!

Ok, so not a lot of pics from the water park. Baby M would not look up at the camera! Just notice the old school bathing suit-that suit has been around since I was a kid. No, I didn't wear it! But I did put it on my dolls and my mom gave it to my kids to put on their dolls. So when I couldn't find a suit for Baby M and was packing up stuff to go on this trip I saw it lying on the floor on a doll. Voila! It fit perfectly. And since it's from the 80's, she's right in style!

After the water park we went to a park called Jericho Park and had a BBQ. We brought everything with us-grill, food, ice, plasticware, chairs, bug spray, pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. Actually, that probably would have been helpful too. But too heavy.



Anyway, we had a great time. There is a lake there and the kids loooooved watching people fishing. My girls are certainly NOT squeamish-they told one fisherman when he asked if he should keep the fish he caught or throw it back-"keep it!" He was impressed. I think they would have eaten it right there on the spot if we had grilled it!



It was such a super pleasant day. Everyone behaved and had fun. What more can you ask for?



Ok, this post has taken forever (putting pics on takes such a loooong time-why?) Time to go make fish tacos for dinner and check to see that the kids haven't totally destroyed the house.

The weekend in a nutshell and Happy Purim!

This weekend was soooooo busy. It's not usually how I like to spend my weekends since it's my only time to get anything done. But sometimes I have to be busy and this was one of those times.

It started on Shabbos (Saturday) when I went to synagogue for the first time in a long while. The weather was yucky and I didn't really want to go out in it but I had no choice. Parshas Zachor awaited (when they read a certain part of the Torah out loud and everyone over bar mitzvah has to listen to it being read). Anyway, I experienced two interesting/funny things there. The first was watching a small child carry a plate of cholent (stew) and drop some on the floor. Even though he had a whole plateful left, he sat down on the floor and scooped it up and ate it from the floor. I guess he couldn't let a drop go to waste!

Also, at the synagogue this week was a get-together for a group of special needs teenagers. My bro-in-law was one of them. It was nice to see him and some of his friends. During kiddush (after prayers, blessing over wine-we eat food) one of his friends (who shall remain nameless) saw us and came over to us. He doesn't really know us but he saw me holding baby M and tried to take her from me. He refused to give me his name (we had to ask B, my bro-in-law) and then he wanted to sit right next to me. He kept trying to grab the baby and when my husband and I let him hold the baby he wasn't exactly gentle. I had to let my husband handle it because this was a big boy and he wasn't listening to a word I was saying. It was such an interesting experience. A few minutes later a counselor came over and distracted the boy by helping him get some more food. I have such respect for these counselors who give up their time to work with these kids. I know my bro-in-law gets so much out of these social gatherings-it really helps him establish and maintain relationships. Also, watching my husband interact with this boy reminded me what a great guy he is. Everyone in a family is affected by a special needs sibling and I think my husband has learned so much from B. He'll be upset that I am saying this, but he has a certain sensitivity to people with differences that most people don't have. It was nice to see him in action.

Then yesterday when running errands, I got caught in a thunderstorm. A monster thunderstorm! I really looked ridiculous! My wig was ruined, my clothes were dripping wet, all the food I bought at Sam's Club soaking! I was crying and totally felt defeated-I had to go home and change instead of finishing all the other errands I had to do. Not the best moment of the weekend.

Finally, last night I went to a dinner for my children's school. It was downtown in a fancy hotel. I very much did not want to go. But it actually was nice. I got to sit next to a great friend and we had tons to talk about. My kids were in the video they showed-they looked cute (and like they were behaving)! The food was ok and they gave out chocolate which is always a good thing.

Today, I have seen Big T put on a Purim play at her school and am getting ready for the big P-day! Still gotta put the Mishloach Manos together but it should be pretty easy-we are taking the easy approach this year.

Happy Purim to everyone!

I will survive!

No, that song was not sung. But many other songs were sung, dances danced and acting acted.

I'll give you 3 guesses-where was I?

Ok, I'll just tell you, I went to Erev Shira last night. Sara has a great post about this (and hopefully the link works-I'm still a beginner). I couldn't not write all my thoughts about this evening of song (that's what erev shira means).

First, and foremost it is always wonderful to see kids perform-they work so hard and feel so proud. It is also amazing to see what the teachers are able to accomplish with kids of all varying talents, levels, and abilities. That being said I feel like I truly understand the meaning of the word sacrifice because I really and truly did not want to go! I kept trying to find excuses not to go; I have a cough, it's too late for the kids, etc. But my second grader begged me and begged me and I finally said yes. I wanted her to see her friends from school perform and I also wanted her to be able to talk about the performance with the other girls that went to see it. ( I am trying to be a better mom-but that's probably a post for another day). I also took L who is in first grade because I couldn't leave her out.

The message of the show was important and actually something that I would like to incorporate more into our family. Seeing the good in things that don't always appear that way. Making lemonade out of lemons. That sort of thing. I got it, but I'm not sure my girls did. Because after every scene they had at least 2 minutes of transition time when the stage was black and nothing was happening and then a loooooong song or dance. Could someone tell me why it has to be that way? My girls could not follow the story line with all the interruptions. And we were a terrible audience-everyone including adults talked all the time. What's up with that-aren't we trying to teach our children how to be respectful?

We didn't even stay the entire time, by 9:oo I just had to get my kids home and in bed. Especially considering L had lost all interest by that time and was waiting outside the auditorium because she was so bored. But that meant that Big T was upset because she wanted to stay until the end. There's just no pleasing more than one child at a time.

I would like to give a compliment to Big T. She gave lots of compliments to relatives of the girls who were performing. She was very sweet and she paid attention the whole time. Even L who had a hard time sitting didn't disrupt the performance.

So, I guess I could say it was $28 well spent. Time spent with my daughters watching something wholesome and relatively entertaining. Of course, this morning neither wanted to go to school because they were tiiiiiiiired (said in super whiny voices). Well, I wonder why?

P.S. The amount of balloons people brought to give to the performers could have carried me right up out of there-they filled the whole entryway. It's not Broadway people!