Adirondack Family Time™

Scroll down to see a list of stores around the Adirondacks and beyond that carry the Adirondack Family Time guidebooks!  If you do not see your local bookshop, please let me know and I will contact them. Thank you for your continued support!  Champlain Valley Plattsburgh to Ticonderoga $17.95 (plus shipping)   The second Adirondack Family activities guidebook is available now. Adirondack Family Time: Champlain Valley Plattsburgh to Ticonderoga is a comprehensive four-season guide to over 300 activities in the Adirondack Champlain Valley for the towns of Plattsburgh, Willsboro, Westport, Essex, Port Henry, Crown Point and Ticonderoga. COMING SOON: Long Lake to Old Forge (2013) and North Creek to Lake George. (2014) Adirondack Family Time: Tri-Lakes and High Peaks: Your Four-Season Guide to Over 300 Activities (with GPS Coordinates) is a comprehensive four-seaon guide for the towns of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake,

Many thanks to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for this handy guide to New York State's salamander population. Did you know there are 18 species of salamanders?   Some of are even endangered list like the Eastern tiger salamander . Others like the Marbled, Blue-spotted and Jefferson's are of " special concern. "

Here is an article about the latest Adirondack Family Time book from the Press Republican!  'It became about exploring where we live' By ROBIN CAUDELL Press-Republican BLOOMINGDALE — Fall into the season with Diane Chase’s “Adirondack Family Time Champlain Valley: Plattsburgh to Ticonderoga,” a four-season guide to 300 activities with GPS coordinates. “The first book covered the Tri-Lakes and the High Peaks regions of the Adirondacks,” said Chase, who lives in Bloomingdale. “The plan was to create four books based on the four regions of the Adirondacks. From what we found as a family and going out and doing things, the whole Adirondack Park is so diverse, and there’s so much to do.”   For the full article:   Book offers fun family-outing ideas for region

Please remember those in need. If you wish to donate to victims of Hurricane Sandy here are some helpful links. I will add more as situations change. I know many people in the Adirondacks received help during Hurricane Irene and know it is our turn to help. Where to get gas?  Salvation Army is providing mobile feeding units and shelters along the East Coast Red Cross Feeding America is distributing emergency food, water and supplies AmeriCares is providing medicine and other supplies World Vision has flood clean-up kits, personal hygiene items and food kits for hurricane victims Save the Children provides relief to families with children Other places and organizations are looking for volunteers. There are also collection places to donate items so it is certainly a good time to clean out our closets and pantries.

The   North Country SPCA , a no-kill animal shelter in Essex County,  presents Birds of Prey at the Whallonsburg Grange for $5/adult and  FREE for children under 12,  Come see the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge & Rehabilitation Center 's recovering animals, Cider and cookies, too!

When my children were young I didn't have to worry about candy or unhealthy snacks because I was the only one giving them snacks. They were satisfied with raisins and crackers. As they've gotten older they've gotten a sweet tooth for evening desserts and other treats. Now that Halloween is around the corner, it is all about the costume preparation. Soon enough, on All Hallow's Eve, it can be all about the candy. There are plenty of alternatives to passing out candy. Drug stores, local markets and even a "Dollar Store" will have inexpensive options like tattoos that can stay with kids much longer than a miniature candy bar. When it came to Halloween I used to ask our few neighbors to give our kids stickers for their sticker journals instead of sweet treats. If that didn't work, I traded each piece of candy my child received for a sticker or glow-stick. At the time my kids preferred a glow-stick option to candy. I still buy stickers, glow sticks a

Harvest Hallo'ween Festival at the Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm in Essex When: October 20 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Join author and illustrator Steven Kellogg for a illustrated story time as Kellogg retells A Beasty Tale through his own illustrations.  Cost:  $7/adults, $5/children, $20/whole family.  There will also be crafts, wind-wand making, gourd and pumpkin painting, as well as corn grinding activities. Enjoy! © Diane Chase is the author of the Adirondack Family Activities™ guidebook series, Adirondack Family Time™, which is available online or bookstores/museums/sporting good stores. Diane is currently working on the third guidebook in the four-book series of Adirondack Family Activities™.

Boo! Spooky Times at the Haunted 1812 Homestead in Willsboro! When: October 20, Saturday Costume Parade at 1:00 pm  Noon - 4:00 pm Is for the Younger Children 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm is For Older Children Cost $8/pp  © Diane Chase is the author of the Adirondack Family Activities™ guidebook series, Adirondack Family Time™, which is available online or bookstores/museums/sporting good stores. Diane is currently working on the third guidebook in the four-book series of Adirondack Family Activities™.

Going to a pumpkin patch and corn maze is a different way to celebrate autumn. There is no age limit on that particular type of fun. On Pellerin Road in Plattsburgh, Country Dreams Farm has a corn maze with twists and turns around the various trails with signs misleading participants along the way.  The horse and wagon ride is free to the corn maze or pumpkin patch. You can even just go along for the ride if you wish.  Besides the corn maze there is a children’s area with a corn kernel box (rather like a sandbox) and petting zoo with draft horses, miniature donkeys, goats, pot-belly pigs, sheep and chickens. This year a new interactive activity is Goat Mountain, a 16’ high goat ramp where the 30 plus goats will climb to the top to get a treat. If you put 25¢ in the feeder machine you can either feed the goats by hand or transfer the feed into a bucket and hoist it to the top of the ramp. It is rigged to ring a bell and the goats scamper to the top to get their tasty

Adirondack Lakes and Trails Outfitters is conducting three volunteer trail workdays at Dewey Mountain to make sure the skiers this winter only have fun. The first will be this Sunday, Oct 14, from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm to help place new trail signs. The trail signs were purchased from a grant from the North Country Healthy Heart Network and designed by Demong Designs .

We will be at the following locations for October! October 6, 2012: Adirondack Kids Day in Inlet * 11 am - noon Join us for a knot tying workshop for kids and families at the Youth Commission Building behind Inlet's Town Hall * 1:00 - 3:00 pm Children's Author Fair at the Adirondack Reader * 3:00 - 4 :00 pm Hiking Tips and Safety  at the Youth Commission Building behind Inlet's Town Hall October 13, 2012: Saratoga Springs Public Library , Community Room 1:00 pm Stop by for fun activities, handouts, hiking tips for young children, knot tying workshop for kids and join us for a nature walk.

Once again Smithsonian magazine is offering a FREE museum pass for participating museums. In the Adirondack Park that includes the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake and the 1932/1980 Olympic Museum in Lake Placid and Adirondack History Center , Elizabethtown. This pass is good for two people. Enjoy!

Adirondack Balloon Festival Schedule September 20-23, 2012 40th Anniversary Celebration • All balloon flights are weather permitting. • Open to the public - FREE of charge • Donations will be accepted for parkiing, Premiere • VIP parking is available for a fee. • No Dogs! Thursday, September 20th - Crandall Park - City of Glens Falls 4:30-6:30pm:  Music and Band Performance 5:00pm:  Opening Ceremonies –Acknowledgement of 40th Anniversary 5:15pm:  Launch of special shape “Birthday Cake” balloon followed by launch of 20 balloons 6:00-9:30:  City of Glens Falls Block Party featuring Walk-about balloon, balloon baskets on display, car show, kid’s activities and FIREWORKS! Friday, September 21st - Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport - Queensbury 3:00pm:  Gates Open, Craft Fair and Food Vendors open for business 5:00pm:  Balloon Launch – 80+ balloons including special shapes Friday, September 21st - Battlefield Park - Lake George Village 8:00pm:  Moonglow at the lak