What a great weekend we had in the great state of NY. We stayed with Mike's older brother Steven and his wife Amy, and got to spend time with Mike's brothers Joel and Allen, his wife Michelle, and an "adopted" sister Jen. We had a lot of fun eating yummy fall comfort food, picking pumpkins, shooting pumpkins from a sling shot, riding the hay wagon, carving pumpkins in the frigid NY weather, and laughing together as a family. Missing from the family were Mike's mom, who is serving her mission in Salt Lake, and Mike's younger brother Patrick and his family who live in N. Carolina.
Among the list of classic NY foods that cannot be duplicated by Pennsylvanians-bagels, pizza, cheesecake. We also enjoyed freshly made doughnuts, fresh-pressed cider, homemade chicken pot pie, roast beef, surprise potatoes and carrot cake. (The cheesecake and carrot cake were for Mike's birthday on Sat.)
We drove up on Thurs. night so that we could have an extra day to relax and catch-up. We went on an "educational field trip" to a butterfly conservatory about an hour north of Endicott. It was fantastic.
Besides having over 600 butterflies in about 350 different species, they had cute quail and 5 or 6 tortoises.
Serena could keep her eye on this guy.
They also had some cute iguanas. This guy was climbing up the window, we're not sure what he was after.
This guy makes me laugh. He didn't move hardly at all, but just his appearance has personality! These guys change color depending on their mood. If they are really calm and relaxed, they are dark green. This guy is coming down from black which means he was really upset. Maybe he needs some anger management!
They also had beautiful birds (all the varieties are ones that don't eat butterflies!). This one was my favorite, I think it is called a black-headed Dactus.
Now onto the stars of our show, the butterflies. They were so friendly we had them landing on us.
Another turtle.
This one has glass in it's name because it is see-through.
Hayden asked a good question (as part of his education), "How do the butterflies eat?" The owner showed us the stem that they stick into the sponge to drink from. Something I didn't know is that they taste with their feet so they know what they have landed on is something they can eat.
This is my little butterfly!
Hayden asked a good question (as part of his education), "How do the butterflies eat?" The owner showed us the stem that they stick into the sponge to drink from. Something I didn't know is that they taste with their feet so they know what they have landed on is something they can eat.
This is my little butterfly!
This is the grand finale picture taken by brother Steven. In fact, he took a lot of the pictures throughout this post.
After the boys had wilted from lack of sleep and a warm, moist environment, we went outside in the crisp fall air to eat a picnic lunch.
I love this serious picture of Hayden. He is looking so much older.
After the drive home and some preparations, we enjoyed Amy's delicious comfort food-pot pie.
Amy made Mike a carrot cake for his birthday.
Then we made popcorn and enjoyed a classic, The Great Pumpkin.
After eating pumpkin muffins and visiting with Joel who had appeared in the middle of the night, we ventured out to the Cider Mill. Hayden drew pictures later that night illustrating how the doughnuts and cider are made. They also have lots of varieties of apples to buy.
This is the cider being pressed.
We look forward to those warm doughnuts every year!
Then it was off to our next tradition, Iron Kettle farm.
You can't quite tell in this picture, but Hayden is exactly 4 ft., Connor exactly 3 ft., and Serena exactly 2 ft.!
We all went on the hayride this year.
This is Allen and Michelle on the left, and our friend Jen on the right.
Amy, Steven, and Joel.
I love taking pictures in the pumpkin patch. Unfortunely, it was afternoon and Serena was exhausted. The funniest thing about this picture is that when I put her down and walked away to take the picture, everyone around turned to see her and said, "Awe!' Jen drew a picture of that later in the night too.
Connor and Hayden picking out their perfect pumpkins.
They added a new game this year, pumpkin launch. It was fun to watch the boys do that.
Hayden and Uncle Joel.
After that we made one more traditional stop-to Tony's pizza. Then went back to Steven and Amy's house to visit, eat Jen's yummy cheesecake, and carve pumpkins in the frigid cold.
We love when Joel plays for us.
This is when the kids were coloring their masterpieces. Following is Mike's.
Actually, Mike, Hayden, Joel, Steven, Amy and Jen were the only brave ones enough to stay out in the cold to carve a pumpkin. This first one is Hayden's, the next one is Amy's.
It's Tinker Bell!
On Sunday we were lazy and tired. But Jen was busy finishing up a lovely dinner she made of traditional roast beef, surprise potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry fluff.
After the boys had wilted from lack of sleep and a warm, moist environment, we went outside in the crisp fall air to eat a picnic lunch.
I love this serious picture of Hayden. He is looking so much older.
After the drive home and some preparations, we enjoyed Amy's delicious comfort food-pot pie.
Amy made Mike a carrot cake for his birthday.
Then we made popcorn and enjoyed a classic, The Great Pumpkin.
After eating pumpkin muffins and visiting with Joel who had appeared in the middle of the night, we ventured out to the Cider Mill. Hayden drew pictures later that night illustrating how the doughnuts and cider are made. They also have lots of varieties of apples to buy.This is the cider being pressed.
This is a picture of the doughnuts.
We look forward to those warm doughnuts every year!
Then it was off to our next tradition, Iron Kettle farm.
You can't quite tell in this picture, but Hayden is exactly 4 ft., Connor exactly 3 ft., and Serena exactly 2 ft.!
We all went on the hayride this year.
This is Allen and Michelle on the left, and our friend Jen on the right.
Amy, Steven, and Joel.
I love taking pictures in the pumpkin patch. Unfortunely, it was afternoon and Serena was exhausted. The funniest thing about this picture is that when I put her down and walked away to take the picture, everyone around turned to see her and said, "Awe!' Jen drew a picture of that later in the night too.
Connor and Hayden picking out their perfect pumpkins.
They added a new game this year, pumpkin launch. It was fun to watch the boys do that.
Hayden and Uncle Joel.
After that we made one more traditional stop-to Tony's pizza. Then went back to Steven and Amy's house to visit, eat Jen's yummy cheesecake, and carve pumpkins in the frigid cold.
We love when Joel plays for us.
This is when the kids were coloring their masterpieces. Following is Mike's.
Actually, Mike, Hayden, Joel, Steven, Amy and Jen were the only brave ones enough to stay out in the cold to carve a pumpkin. This first one is Hayden's, the next one is Amy's.
It's Tinker Bell!
On Sunday we were lazy and tired. But Jen was busy finishing up a lovely dinner she made of traditional roast beef, surprise potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry fluff.Serena was amazed at all the food in front of her!
Before leaving we stopped at the park down the street from their house and had lots of fun taking pictures again.
Before leaving we stopped at the park down the street from their house and had lots of fun taking pictures again.
Mike was having fun with this shot!
Steven took some great pictures, but I have to post them later when we get them.
Steven took some great pictures, but I have to post them later when we get them. Thanks for a wonderful weekend family!
