Adirondack Family Time™

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 the...

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 .