Adirondack Family Time™

By Diane Chase, Adirondack Family Time Titus Mountain has six double chairlifts, two triple chairlifts, and two hand-tows serving 42 trails and two terrain parks.   The mountain has a history around skiing that started in the late 1940s when a local man built a rope tow on his property and powered it with an old Buick sedan. Neighbors and friends enjoyed the simple ski hill until it officially opened as a ski center in the early sixties as Moon Valley.  The Lodge at Titus Family Ski Center has been enlarged! 

By Diane Chase My mother read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books to me and I started the same tradition with my daughter. I thought as we read that we could duplicate the activities the Ingalls family was experiencing. Since we are not pioneers or living a homestead life I quickly realized that my attempt at a summer full of fun activities was getting complicated right from the start when “Pa” built a log cabin. We did collect sticks and attempt to notch them to comprise a log dollhouse. We eventually had to skip the house to continue to the story and enjoyed some homemade bread. Most people have heard of the “Little House” books that preserved a personal account of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s frontier life. Translated into over 40 different languages, the Laura Ingalls Wilder series glimpses into a time that has disappeared but that clearly demonstrates how settlers like the Ingalls and Wilder families built our country.

The 6th annual Childstock Music Festival  is not only a day of acoustic and electric music it is a family-friendy event for all ages!! The day starts at and is filled with music from "The Stone Revivial Band" to "Lucid."   Doors open at 10:00 a.m, July 30, 2011 Tickets are $18 (presale) adults, $15/students,  Children 12 & under are FREE when accompanied by a paying adult.  $22 tickets at the "door"    Childstock is a charity event, donating all profits to the Malone Music Booster, dedicated to keeping music in schools! They are also supporting local food and beverage vendors.  Children's activities will be available from 11am-3pm, including: ~Recycled & Biodegradable Art~ tables FULL of things from nature to make beautiful art with ~Wishboat Workshop~ build your own boat and set sail with a special wish! ~Painting & Coloring ~ express yourself with markers, crayons & paints!

The renovated barns at the Almanzo Wilder Homestead Farmer Boy!

Honorary Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder Most people have heard of the “Little House” books that preserved a personal account of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s frontier life. If you haven't read them it is never too late. Perhaps a trip to the library so you can share these memories of a challenging pioneer lifestyle with your child would be fun. The tie-in to the North Country is the third book in the series,  Farmer Boy , which chronicles the childhood experiences of Laura’s husband Almanzo Wilder.  From 1840 to 1875 the Wilders made Burke, NY (just outside of Malone) their home. Since 1987 the original homestead has been used as a museum and educational center.

Energy, alternatives and the rising costs of fuel have all garnered a lot of much needed press lately. I am a supporter of alternative energy, the funding of it and the need for it. Though I am not the perfect example of using it. I do not yet drive a hybrid and my home is not powered by alternative energy. My excuse for the latter is that I am currently renting and looking to buy. My excuse for the former; I am waiting for my current car to make the choice for me. It doesn’t excuse me from teaching my children that every decision I make whether it is the gas I put in my car or the means that I use to turn on the lights, is not an easy one. We have errands to run in Malone and decide mid-trip to check out the wind turbine farm that has conjured up all sorts of controversy. I have seen wind turbines in the Altamount Pass when visiting Northern California and from the highway they looked quite serene, lining the ridge as I drove on I 580. Of course I was just visiting and the wind