Where are the Traveling Delanos???

OK, so have you been wondering where the Delanos are?? Why are the traveling Delanos not traveling?

One of the things that I pride myself on is my flexibility. Things change and I take the changes and run with them. So what has changed??? We are now the proud owners of a home with a store-front in Old Forge, New York.

So what happened, you ask?

First - I came back to the Adirondacks, after being away for 14 years. I fell in love with the area again, and remembered why it was always my dream to retire here.

Second - Kent has been thinking about retiring from the military. After being active duty for almost 21 years... he has decided it's time to call it quits. After finishing up his tour in Korea, he will finish his year in Delaware and join us in New York.

Third - Issues have come up in Homeschooling. After starting the kids on the program, we have discovered that things were not going as expected. While Skyler is flexible and would do well with homeschooling, Liam has needs that are beyond what I can handle. I started the kids at the school here in Old Forge and the kids LOVE IT! The school is a kindergarten to 12th grade school. There is one class in each grade and the classrooms average about 16 kids in the class. The opportunities for the kids are amazing. Skyler is taking French Horn to play in the band. The school offers many programs, field trips, and sports.

The best thing that has happened is that they have been AMAZING at getting Liam the help he needs. In New Mexico, I had to fight tooth and nail to get any help at all... and most of the help I got was through the military. There was no help from the school system, and many things were "out-of-pocket" expenses for us. The TOW (Town of Webb) has offered us Occupation Therapy, regular Therapy, Reading programs and more. I think that Liam will do well here... and get to the level that I know he can reach. He thrives with routine, and things are working out well.

And about the store-front in the house?? I will be starting to teach scrapbooking and card-making classes. Eventually I will have a small store to sell Adirondack specific scrapbooking kits, finished scrapbooks, and basic scrapbook and papercraft supplies. For those who have been so helpful on FaceBook with the "naming of the business"... the final name?

PATTI'S PAPER CRAFTS

I am excited to be so close to family, and am getting re-connected with old friends. We appreciate everyone's support... and know that I hope to have many visitors, and fellow scrapbookers here in Old Forge!

And about the traveling? You can't keep me in one place too long. The motor home will be once again used for what it was intended... weekend trips and vacations! And don't worry... I will be blogging as I go!

I've got a mule her name is Sal....

Come on... sing along! We all know some part of that song!


Although the mileage is wrong, and they pull the packet boat (not barge) by horse! Mom and I took the kids to the Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY. We had a fun time.


Barges did not run on this canal... this is a packet boat.




The horses that pulled our boat.



I was a bit disappointed in the village itself. Some of the buildings aren't open, and they have closed the top floor of the Harden Museum.




Sky and Liam in the Harden Museum




Closed




Kitchen furnished with period pieces



The train was a lot of fun, although because it runs on coal, VERY SMELLY.




A peek at the train




Notice the thick black smoke? YUCK!




Mom (Grandma Mary), Sky, and Liam on the train.



The packet boat was well worth the visit. The tour guide played an auto harp and sang songs. She gave a great history of the canal as we cruised up and down. It was a very enjoyable ride.




Playing canal songs.




Hauling us in to dock.



You can visit the Erie Canal Village website here:

http://www.eriecanalvillage.net/

The Victorian Faire at the Erie Canal Village

When we visited the Erie Canal Village in Rome, the Victorian Faire was being held there. It is similar to the Renaissance Fair only from the Victorian era. This is a new Faire, so it was small. There were a few booths with wares to sell, although not many at this time.


The gypsy wares


There were people in costume wandering around, they were in character and it was fun to talk to them. There were fairies and gypsies. They also had a special tea with the queen.


In character

They had a few skits going on in the pavillion. Skyler and Liam enjoyed the Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter's tea party. We enjoyed listening to the music acts that they had going on.

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

We got to see a magician called Magical John. He put on a good show and Skyler went up on stage and volunteered for one of his magic tricks.

Posing with Magical John

John also walked around the Faire performing tricks and juggling. He has a website that you can see here:

http://magicaljohn.com

Magical John

I hope the Faire does well and can expand. It was fun but needed to have more available.

Please read my other blogs for information about our visit to the Erie Canal Village.

Large Scale Railway Society

One of my mom's neighbors is a member of the Large Scale Railway Society and has a huge train layout in his back yard. They open it up to the public twice a year. We were fortunate to be able to be here the day they did.

The boys really enjoyed watching the trains (what kid doesn't?). Mom and I were amazed at the amount of detail in the landscaping. There were lots of plants, scrubs, and even water features.

The group has a website here:

http://www.cnylsrs.com/


They also have a permanent display set up in Drivers Village in Cicero, New York. Enjoy the photos and the video!

Table set up for donations... admission is free,

but it was amazing and I definitely would pay to see it!

The layout

(This one is for you dad....)

Firestation

The logging train

Sky and Liam getting a closeup view.

Dover AFB

I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the base in Dover. It is one of the smallest bases I have been on. The base is split... one side of the highway has the housing area, the other has the rest of the base. There is one main road that has most of the buildings on it. There is a shopette, bowling alley, movie theater, commissary, and BX.

The base has a Family camp. It has only 10 sites, 3 are electric and water, 7 are full hookups. It is way at the end of base... after you go past the archery range, and firing range. It sits right on the end of the runway. Where we were staying we could look out our window and see the huge planes sitting right next to us. There was also an aero-club that has small planes. It sat next to the campground as well.

When we were there, the weather hovered at around 95 degrees... with about 95% humidity. The campground had a couple of trees, but for the most part there wasn't much shade. We ran the air conditioning in the motor home constantly, and it wasn't much help. The sun beat down on the motorhome and it got so hot! UGH!

The one saving grace was the pool on the housing side of base. There was a pool for the housing itself, but you had to be living in housing to swim. The other pool cost $3 per person per day, but it was open to anyone who had access to base. The pool was huge and had a great big water slide. We went there 3 times during the week we stayed in Dover.

Sky in line for the slide

Sky ready to jump in the 5' area

Splash!

Skyler and Liam's swimming got so much better this summer. They both basically got over their fear of the water and actually started to swim, tread water, and float. The slide dumped into the 5 ' part of the pool, so Liam chose to wear a lifejacket while going down it... but he would take it off and actually swim as well.

Liam giving me the thumbs up

from the top of the slide

Liam hitting the water

"That was AWESOME!"

I loved that every 45 minutes they had an adult swim! They made all the kids get out of the water, and no-one under 18 was allowed in the pool. It was great because I got a chance to swim and go down the slide. The kids didn't think it was that great... but they made the best of it by playing in the kiddie pool.

I know we will find cool things to do while in Delaware, when we are there. I have always found good things about every state we have visited or lived in. So... goodbye Delaware for now. We'll be back to explore!

Bowers Beach, Delaware

After spending the day at Rehobeth beach, we decided to try one that was closer and maybe less crowded. We went to Bowers Beach which is about 6 miles from Dover AFB. Not being an "ocean" beach kinda girl, I forgot to check the tides. The beach was at low tide... so much for SWIMMING! We could have walked out a mile and it still would have been knee deep.


Bowers Beach at low tide

Even at low tide, the kids enjoyed the beach. We were talking to a guy that had a camp on the beach. We learned all about the beach. The beach is a mating beach for horseshoe crabs. About 5 weeks previous he said there were about 2,000 horseshoe crabs up on the beach! I wish I could have seen that! The kids found some of the crabs that didn't make it. They carried them up onto the beach and had a horseshoe crab display set up for us.

The boys and a new friend

with their horseshoe crab display

Huge horseshoe crab shells

Smaller horseshoe crab shells

One lady was out walking on the beach and found that some of the horseshoe crabs had started to hatch. If you look closely at this photo, she is holding a baby horseshoe crab. It was small than her fingernail! The kids were amazed that something so small grew to be so big!

Baby horseshoe crab

It was a fun morning at the beach even though we didn't get to swim. The kids saw jellyfish, and lots and lots of snails. They built a sand castle and gathered shells and rocks. Then we drove back to the base and cooled off in the pool.

Rehobeth Beach, Delaware

We decided to check out the famous Rehobeth Beach and board walk while we were visiting Delaware. I was so glad that I went online and checked it out first! It was a nice drive down to the lower part of Delaware; the beach is located where the bay empties out into the ocean.

The entire beach and boardwalk area is lined with parking spots all with parking meters. The areas of town that don't have parking meters, you need to go and get a parking pass (which costs money, of course) to park. We didn't park on the main street... because I got tired of driving around and around waiting for an open spot. The place we found to park was fairly close to the beach so we didn't have far to walk. I had come prepared with a roll of quarters!

When we came up to the beach, all I saw was wall to wall umbrellas! It was early afternoon and the beach was full of people. The photos that are shown here were taken later in the day when the beach cleared out a little....

I let the kids splash in the waves but, because they are not strong swimmers, I wouldn't let them actually swim. I was watching the water and there was a pretty good undertow and current. There were lifeguards every 20 feet or so along the beach.

Sky and Liam checking out the waves

Building a sandcastle -

next time we need to bring shovels and pails!


After enjoying the afternoon in the scorching hot sun and getting sunburned, we decided to go check out some of the shops and walk on the boardwalk.

Liam and Sky with candy filled stomachs

enjoying a fresh squeezed lemonade

Posing for a photo on the boardwalk

We stopped at the candy store and bought some fresh made candy. Then we had fresh squeezed lemonade. We bought some shovels, beach mats, and a castle making mold for the next trip to the beach.

It was getting late, it was SO hot, and we were all getting irritable. It was time to get in the air-conditioned car and drive back to Dover. It was a fun trip. Next time we will stay later into the evening and hit the carnival on the boardwalk!

Responsible for the future......

"The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for that future."

~ Gifford Pinchot (1865 - 1946) ~

One thing that I have been learning a lot about on this trip is environmental science. In fact, it is one of the classes that I just finished for my associates degree. I was excited to visit Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, Pennsylvania.

http://www.fs.fed.us/na/gt/index.shtml

Besides being a beautiful old historic mansion with lovely gardens and landscaping, it was owned by an amazing man who was a pioneer in conservation. We took the tour through the mansion. I was disappointed that it only showed the three downstairs rooms and the grounds. From what I understand, the first tour of the day on Saturday does a complete mansion tour and if we were staying in the area, I would definitely do that tour.

A view of the hills

Tower

A view of the back of the mansion

The guide had a scavenger hunt book for the kids to do while on the tour. They really enjoyed that. They got to get a prize at the end of the tour for completing it.

Sky and Liam with the scavenger book

The great hall had a lot of furniture that the Pinchots had collected on their travels. This was their summer home.

The building itself was based on a French chateau design. In France, the home owners were taxed by the amount of closets they had... so people used wardrobes instead of closets. The Pinchots followed this tradition in the mansion.

A corner of the library

The library was immense and very impressive. There was a set of hand tinted books on New York that were appraised at $10,000 for the set.

The last room of the tour was painted with "trump de l'oeil" paintings throughout. This room and fireplace were painted with a nautical theme.

The grounds had some interesting buildings and walkways. Everything was done in stone. We really enjoyed walking the grounds and learning about the Pinchot family.

The reflecting pool

Stone walkway

The baitbox - a "playhouse"