Adirondack Family Time™

WHAT IS THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT?  How to do the Great Backyard Bird Count The Great Backyard Bird Count is a four-day event to gain a real-time idea of where birds are located across the continent. Anyone from novice to expert bird watcher can participate. It is free and fun for all members of the family. 1. Plan to count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. You can count each day or just some of the days and you can count in different places. Just be sure to keep a separate list of birds for each day and each location. 2. For each type of bird you see, count the most you see at any one time. For example, maybe you see two chickadees when you start watching, then five chickadees a few minutes later. The number you put on your list for chickadees is five. Do NOT add two plus five. (This way way you don't accidentally count the same bird twice.) You may find it helpful to print out your  regional bird checklist  to get an idea of the kin

Making your own alcohol extract is easy and will save you of money .   (For parents only) For example:  Usnea (Old Man's Beard) is an herbal remedy that has been used for centuries to help with immune related issues. With cold and flu season upon us, perhaps this is the year for you to check out Usnea's healthy properties, whether you make your own or buy it at your local health food store!

It is the year of the Snake! It’s the most important of Chinese holidays, kicking off a celebration that lasts for 15 days and culminates with the Lantern Festival. Each year is associated with one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. For 2013, it’s the Year of the Snake.  Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

Sunday February 10 at Gore! Festival For Kids & Family Race North Creek • FREE One-Day Lift Tickets for everyone ages 12 & under when accompanied by a full paying parent.   • Hot Cocoa Sampling & Macaroni Necklace Making from Price Chopper! • Live Family Entertainment and Games from Chip Chevalier 1-3pm! • Mini Cupcakes at the Food Court- three for just $1.25! Family Fun Race presented by Beaver Brook Outfitters-  8:30-10am:  Registration in the Base Lodge  10:30am:   Parent/Child teams race for great prizes on our carve course on the Arena! Mother/Daughter, Mother/Son, Father/Daughter, and Father/Son divisions- no age categories. $5 per team, with great prizes!  FREE tubing for kids 12 and under when accompanied by a full-paying parent starting at 5pm! © 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

With all the different types of temperatures happening around the Adirondacks, various types of ice are forming as well.  Did you know?   • A s now crystal is a single crystal of ice. • A snowflake can be an individual crystal, a few snow crystals stuck together or a huge mass of crystals • A snowflake is not frozen rain. Frozen rain is called sleet! Take a magnifying glass outside and a black piece of paper and look at the different types of crystals forming. Have fun!

Raquette Lake is celebrating its own Winter Carnival with everything from a Ladies Frying Pan Toss to a Tug of War. Join in the fun  and click on the schedule below! Saturday and Sunday, February 16 - 17  Raquette Lake Winter Carnival  Saturday, 10am  Join us in Raquette Lake for a day of fun Winter events.  10am Kids Games,  10am Adult Envelope Making Class at RLUFS,  Noon: Ladies Frying Pan Toss, 

By Diane Chase, Adirondack Family Time Congratulations to Jon Klassen on his 2013 Caldecott Medal for This is Not My Hat and Katherine Applegate for the  2013 Newbery Medal winner for   The One and Only Ivan   as well as all honorees! Annually the  Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the  American Library Association , grants two prestigious awards on the children author/illustrator community, The Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Medal.  According to the American Library Association, t he Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.   The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery and is awarded annually to the author of the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." So if you are looking for new and interesting books for you

By Diane Chase, Adirondack Family Time.com It is once again time for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival . With a theme of 'Under the Sea," there are many opportunities for costumes and ways to reuse those mermaid costumes my daughter has been collecting. Come and enjoy the annual ice castle and all the Saranac Lake as to offer!  THURSDAY, January 31 5:30 p.m.  – 14th Annual Past Royalty Mixer and Dinner (Red Fox Restaurant, $), call 891-1286 for reservations FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: opening reception “Arts & Flowers: the Village Improvement Society” (Adirondack Artists Guild)* 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.: opening reception “Abstraction” (Bluseed Studios)* 7:30 p.m.  –  Coronation Of Carnival Royalty (Harrietstown Town Hall) Sponsored By Women’s Civic Chamber Post Coronation: Reception following the ceremony, B. P. O. Elks Lodge #1508, cash bar 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.: Free Juke Box all night long (Captain Cook’s)* 9:30 p.m.: Music – Barika (The Waterho

© 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™.

The Whiteface Mountain Summit Weather Observatory, part of the State of New York Atmospheric Sciences Research Center University at Albany has the current summit weather.  Today: 1/24/13 it is a chilly -20F with a wind speed of 36 MPH! © 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™.

Eastern Hemlock Scientific Name:  Tsuga canadensis Family Name  (Scientific and Common): Pinaceae Continent of Origin:  North America Did you know?  The Eastern hemlock is Pennsylvania's state tree! The needles and bark have been used for medicinal purposes in folk and Native American medicines. The needles have low doses of Vitamin C and the tannins in the bark*  *please do not self diagnose. Please go to a medical professional for advice in treating any of the conditions listed below.  Medicinal Purposes* Needles used as a tea or tincture: Kidney ailments, rheumatism, colds, and coughs, Bark has been used in a tea to treat colds, fevers, diarrhea, coughs, and even scurvy. It has astringent properties for skin conditions and a poultice has been used to treat wounds in wilderness first aid. • T he Eastern Hemlock is a woody tree that can live for over 800 years and be over 75' tall and 25' spread at maturity • The bark contains tannins tha

Get your school or non-profit involved.  Earn money and help eliminate waste! TerraCycle is on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste. Each waste collection programs (each one is called a “Brigade”) for previously non-recyclable, or difficult-to-recycle, waste. The collected waste is then converted into new products, ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. Select Your Waste To get started, simply sign up and join a Brigade program for which you want to collect. There are currently more than  40 Brigade programs  that range from food packaging (like drink pouches and candy wrappers) to office supplies (like pens and tape dispensers) to personal products (like cosmetic, beauty and diaper packaging). You can join as many Brigade programs as you like. Collect and Send

The Red Dot Trail in Paul Smiths, NY is an easy multi-trail system that connects to the Jackrabbit Trail, near the Paul Smith's College VIC. Either cross-country (XC-ski) or snowshoe during the winter. Be careful, nearby Osgood Pond does not always freeze.  Follow the clearly marked trail. Either cross the bridge over the canal or continue to Little Osgood Pond. There are two lean-to along the trail with a variety of conditions. There are some hills as the trail follows an esker that overlooks Osgood Pond.