Saratoga & Glens Falls with Grandsons

Presidents’ Week with the Boys

February 2016

          We thought school vacation during Presidents’ Week would be a good time to have grandsons William & Miles up for a visit. Matt & Anthea agreed, given their complicated schedules. Sat. 2/15 we rendezvous with Matt & the boys at our favorite half-way New Paltz diner for dinner. The fun starts that evening with a rousing UNO game, made more so when UNO hustler William keeps trying to insert his “school rules” (he plays regularly at the after-school program  ̶  hope he’s not gambling his lunch money). We ruled them out of order, but promised to use them later in their stay when we all know what they are. His variations do prove to spice things up a bit and move the game along faster. We also manage to work in an Aggravation game during their visit. 

          A “polar vortex” comes thru during the night, and we awake Sunday to -13°F, wind chill of  -30°! NYC Central Park is below 0 for the 1^st time since 1994, so this is surely the coldest the boys have experienced. But such weather is not unfamiliar to those of us who’ve lived in Wisconsin, and we’re undaunted for our busy Valentine’s Day. Grandma has put goodies on the kitchen table for the boys (Grandpa included). While I’m singing with the choir William & Miles make colorful Valentine posters that are sent via phone to Mom & Dad in Queens. I return and we all head up the Northway about 30 miles to Saratoga.  

          Marjorie takes dancer Miles to the National Museum of Dance, housed in the former Washington Bathhouse in Saratoga Spa State Park. Miles has a great time over a couple of hours, especially when he can don tap shoes in a studio and do the steppin’ he’s learning at the 92^nd Street Y in NYC. 

I take William for a quick spin around the park to show him some places Marjorie & I went on a recent overnight: the historic Gideon Putnam Hotel where we stayed, Roosevelt Baths where we luxuriated in mineral baths, a field iced over for skating (but nobody today, must be too cold). 

Then to the nearby Saratoga Automobile Museum on the scenic Avenue of the Pines. A car pulls up as we walk to the entrance, a friendly fellow offers me a free ticket. We enjoy seeing the cars of many eras, including early 20^th C beginnings, race cars of various vintages, one bright red sports car worth some $2 million! William has fun playing a video racing game, and becomes quite good at it. 

 

 

Next W & I are off to the Tang Art Museum on the Skidmore College campus.William enjoys (as Marjorie & I had during our overnight) an “elevator music” exhibit w/ many buttons to push that create noises and images around the sides of the elevator. We also wander thru exhibits of very vibrantly-colored paintings and some of the history of photography.

          As we finish Marjorie calls to say they’re also done and ready to be picked up. A stop at the Saratoga Book Warehouse: a very large collection (with no discernible organization) spilling into a very large unheated space, nearly all for $1 apiece. We come away with something for everyone. Then into a mall to hunt for some shoes William covets. After some conferring by phone with Mom we settle on a pair and head home for Valentine dinner at the Purple Pub, a good Italian eatery. Afterward Grandpa provides some fancy cupcakes from Fresh Market for dessert.

           Monday begins at a balmy -5°, with promises of warming thruout the day. After I do a Red Cross “STATS” (on-call) run to deliver blood to a local hospital, we head north again to Glens Falls and the World Awareness Children’s Museum. Some difficulty locating the museum, so we opt for a good lunch at homey “Steve’s Place,” then success finding our destination. 

The museum is small but packed with exhibits from many countries: musical instruments & clothes to try on, art by children around the world (from a collection of some 8000 pieces), the boys sit in a Paris café & have pretend Japanese tea, 

they & Grandma take a sniff quiz to identify smells from a Turkish spice bazaar (the Istanbul exhibit lists as supporters the Gumestop family, the name of one of my doctors), and more, plus friendly staff. 

Grandma wins 2 games of “World Leaders Bingo.” A fun couple of hours. Then global warming strikes on the 45-minute drive home, as we watch the temp on the dashboard steadily rise from 34° to 53°!

          While Marjorie prepares for some dinner guests I take the boys swimming at our Ciccotti Center, where the boys had very successful swimming lessons a couple of summers ago. It’s my 1^st time in the pool, swimming some laps, floating on the “Lazy River” (where I scrape my knee on the bottom, boo-hoo!), and lounging. The boys enjoy the “water park” features that include a very tall water slide & fountains to play in. We have a good long 1½-hour stay. 

          Back home to host our friends Peter & Ellen and their teenagers Conner & Quinn with their favorite Marjorie meal: grilled cheese sandwiches and malts, plus cupcakes for an early celebration of William’s birthday. The boys play some “finger soccer”  ̶  a table-top game using cute little soccer shoes that fit on fingers. And Conner repays M for dinner by resurrecting her iPod, which she thought she killed earlier.

          The remainder of the visit is less eventful, but fun as always to have William and Miles visit. Family time, games, and another swim outing are interspersed with their electronic games and watching some TV they don’t see at home. Wed. is William’s 11^th birthday; he makes breakfast sandwiches, with some guidance from Grandma. I get a last-minute call to fill in for Red Cross driving. Marjorie takes the boys back to New Paltz to return them to Matt.