Riverfest

Yesterday was Riverfest, which is a big thing around here I guess. We took a bus up to Alexandria Bay and then took a boat cruise around the 1000 lake area and looked at where all the rich folk used to live. The tour ended at Boldt Castle. Which was started by a guy named Boldt (duh) as a gift for his wife, but about 2 yrs before it was scheduled to be finished, she died and he abandoned the castle. For years it sat alone and untended and eventually wound up as part of parks and recreation as a tourist attraction. They are putting tons into it to fix up what time and vandals have ruined. Part of me wanted a castle of my own, all huge and spread out and fun, with crazy separate rooms for whatever you might want to do. The other part of me thought about having to sweep the place and decided it wouldn't be that fun after all. They had a lunch for us and back at the dock there were jumpies and a climbing wall and balloons. Fun stuff, good day.

Paddle boats

There is a small lake here on post, Remington Lake, and they rent paddle boats. So, one day after school we took the kids down and rented two boats (have to have a grown up on each boat) and took an hour to paddle around the lake. We started out with Cory and Simon in one and everyone else with me, but we swapped around so everyone got turns with mom and dad. Heidi was a paddling fool!! She paddled almost the whole time and never got tired. We picked lillies off the lily pads and saw a blue heron and some turtles and fish.

Yeah for Max!!

Max also had am amazing day today. I wanted to blog it separately because I thought it deserved its own spotlight. Every month at Calcium Elementary they have a different attribute they work on, to become Peacemakers. For May it was courage - the courage to do what was right no matter what. Heidi and Simon had received a peacemaker award the two previous months, and I am so proud of them for that but understanding the struggles Max has, I was not expecting the same from him. But he did it. He was so well behaved that he was nominated for the courage award for doing something that is hard for him - having a positive attitude at school. So today at the Peacemaker assembly Max got to go up and get a certificate ( and a coupon for free ice cream in the cafeteria - the real prize for him). Yeah for Max, and yeah for Calcium for helping my baby succeed.

Flag Day

Today was Flag Day and the kids school put on a little assembly to celebrate. Simon said he was holding a flag and wanted me to come, so I loaded up Spencer and went - sure it would be another boring school assembly (great mom, I know). So we went to the front of the school and listened to the Bell band (yep, they played the bells) and then some kids read essays about what the flag meant to them. The whole time, this crazy helicopter kept flying over the school. Being close to the airfield, we are pretty used to it, and I just figured it was a bored pilot checking out what was going on. Then the principal says, "if you'll all just turn around where you are, our special guests will be joining us." A black hawk and an Apache then proceed to land on the other side of the parking lot. The kids were going crazy!! Spencer has never held so still - totally in awe. Then one of the pilots hops out and looking completely "Top Gun"-ish runs over and takes off his flight helmet and gives the principal and school a flag that he flew on 9-11-09 in a combat mission over Iraq. By which time I was crying, overcome by the awesomeness of the American soldier I guess. They stayed all day and the classes took turns going out and meeting the pilots and climbing all over the helicopters. Very good Flag Day!

Hey Look, NY can be pretty

The weather is so nice today!!! Poor Cory had to do a 24 hour shift and didn't get home till 11am, but he didn't want to waste such a nice day just sleeping so we headed out to find an adventure. There was a little car show down in Watertown, and we went to a part while we were there. Stopped by the Commisary for Pizza and ice cream. Now he's taking a nap so later we can go hit one of the awesome trails we've found (which there would already be pics of if someone could remember her camera). Still not sure about winter up here, but so far we are loving the spring!!