Poughkeepsie!!

You didn't think that we'd ever leave our compound, did you? What could possibly lure us away from the pool and the wide open fields surrounding our country home? One word - TRAINS. That's right. There was a promise of seeing trains today and I quickly got dressed and helped Everett get dressed too and was out the door before Mommy and Daddy could even feed us breakfast for we were headed to one of my all-time favorite places - Poughkeepsie! Some of you may remember our trip to Poughkeepsie last summer. I sure did and I couldn't wait to get back there. First stop was the Walkway Over the Hudson. And just like last year, I found the perfect spot along the walkway - right over the train tracks and the Poughkeepsie train station.

We parked here for quite some time looking at this -

We waited and waited for the train to pull away from the station. I guess that MetroNorth is running on a reduced schedule, maybe due to Hurricane Irene? But Everett and I patiently waited.

Once we figured out that it wasn't leaving any time soon, we looked for other ways to entertain ourselves. Naturally, given a long straight walkway in front of us, we decided to go for a run.

And then pretend that we were airplanes flying around. Actually, I pretended that I was an airplane. Everett just kept trying to run me over with the stroller.

After we tired ourselves out and worked up an appetite, it was time to go have lunch. We went to meet Josephine Pau-Pau and Desmond Kung-Kung for a delicious meal at Shadows on the Hudson. 

It was so nice to see them. Not only that, but we got some cool new presents!!

But the best part about the restaurant and lunch? The terrace overlooked the railroad tracks!! So every once in a while, I'd hear a whistle and run to the railing to watch as the train chugged by. Best lunch ever!!

Thank you for the yummy lunch and great view Josephine Pau-Pau and Desmond Kung-Kung! I can't wait until my next visit to Poughkeepsie!! Everett too!

Rhinebeck, day two.

Happily, more of the same as day one.

 I have a feeling blog posts are going to get very boring very quickly this week...

 

Though word is, we might actually venture out of our compound sometime tomorrow.

 Stay tuned.

Rhinebeck, finally!

Well, better late than never. Definitely better.

We're finally here - at our end-of-summer vacation home in Rhinebeck, the heart of New York State's Hudson River Valley. We're here a day later than planned, thanks to Hurricane Irene. Actually, a day and several hours later. You see, we were supposed to arrive yesterday, but of course the hurricane made that impossible. So we left bright and early this morning, but what is usually a two hour drive was more like 5+ hours for us, thanks to multiple road closures. Everything from the New York Thruway, to all the parkways to the more local Rt. 9 were closed at one point or another due to flooding from yesterday's storm. Luckily, Mommy and Daddy kept figuring out new detours, and somehow we finally arrived.

And we're so glad we did. Our vacation home is awesome! We're surrounded by tens of acres of green pasture, all the better for two little boys like us to run around on and burn off all that stored-up energy from a too-long car drive.

And we wasted no time getting to know every nook and cranny of these fields (well, maybe not every one - just the acre or so around the house, leaving exploring everything else for the rest of the week.)

Here's Jasper practicing his balance-beam skills...

And giving me a hand with same -

Thanks for your help, big brother!

We also got to know the local deer population -

 But as exciting as that was, the highlight of the week will clearly be this:

Jasper was so excited that we have this ginormous pool all to ourselves that he started doing his jumps with no one waiting to catch him!

 

Bravo! Good job, Jasper!

Whew, that was a tiring first afternoon. Better rest so we have some energy left for the rest of the week...

Outings

It's not all playing in the pool at Dziadek and Babcia camp. No, much like with my regular school camp earlier in the Summer, we take field trips at this camp as well. Like an outing to the Garden State Discovery Museum earlier this week. The Discovery Muesum is nice and close to Dziadek and Babcia's house, so makes for a nice afternoon outing - especially when it's raining outside, like it was this particular day. Luckily, it was nice and dry inside, all the better for playing in the ball pit...

Making LED light designs...

And even indoor fishing!

But the highlight, as it so often is, was the bubbles! Both Everett and I had tons of fun making really big bubbles, with quite a bit of success, actually. Must be the New Jersey bubble water mixture...

As you can see, Everett really got into the bubbles...

Get it? "Into" the bubbles? Hardyharhar... Actually, he said he just wanted to show Juno that she's not the only two year old in a bubble...

Then the next day, we were off to the Philadelphia Zoo with Daddy and his friend Jay and daughter Eleanor. You might remember that we also hung out with Daddy's friend Jay and Eleanor (not to mention Yee-Ma and Auntie Alison) a little earlier in the Summer at the Smith Playground.

I had lots of fun hanging out with Eleanor...

 

Get it? "Hanging" out? Hardyharhar...  Now that we've played with each other a few times, we're becoming much better friends. Can you tell?

Of course, it goes without saying what the highlight of the trip to the zoo was...

We even managed to see some animals...

Can't wait to see you again, Eleanor!

Dziadek and Babcia camp

As you may know, Everett and I are spending this week in New Jersey at "Dziadek and Babcia camp" - have a look at a sample afternoon...

Come to think of it, Dziadek and Babcia camp in NJ is not all that different from when Dziadek or Babcia are in Brooklyn running "weekend camp" for us...

 Super fun either way!