Rochester

With all thats been going on lately I haven't had a chance to write about our trip. Luis took Friday off so we could have the whole day to drive. We managed to do the whole trip with just one stop each way. On the way down we were hoping to be able to get off the highway and find a nice town and hopefully a playground. Unfortunately, all the exits off the highway were major routes, and we didn't want to take the chance getting lost, so we just finally settled on a rest area. We lucked out and picked one with a huge field right next to it. We set out our picnic lunch and ate, then spent about an hour there. Taye ran around the field collecting wildflowers, chasing butterflies, and investigating dog poop (eyes only, no hands!) Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out of the car, but it was a nice break from the ride. Both boys did really well in the car. We brought the DVD player and a lot of toys to keep them busy.

We got in to the hotel around 6pm, and discovered that they were having a street festival right outside. We went down to check it out, but it was just a bunch of vendors, and it was too crowded to have the boys there. Luis grabbed us a pizza which we brought up and ate in our room, then hung out until bedtime. It was a late night, not helped by the battle of the bands going on at the festival until 11pm!

In the morning we met everyone at the children's museum. We were early, so Taye and Luis ran around outside in the discovery garden until the others arrived.



We went up to the second floor first, and were a little disappointed. The upstairs houses a toy hall of fame, and was mostly toys on display, although there were a few hands-on activities for the kids. We thought the whole museum was the same, but once we got downstairs, we saw that the whole first floor was set up for the kids to play. Here are some pictures from the museum.



This room was really cool, in an extremely nauseating sort of way! The floor was slanted, but somehow the perspective was off, so your eyes thought everything was normal. It was impossible to walk straight, no matter how hard you tried, gravity would pull you sideways. I think the padded wall to the left was a telltale sign. Taye loved it, Luis and I wanted to pass out!

Taye had a lot of fun with the train tables. He didn't want to leave, or more specifically, he was ok with leaving as long as he could take a couple of train pieces with him. He had a meltdown when I put them away, and I had to take him outside for a few minutes to calm him down.



Later on I noticed this on the wall:



After eating lunch at the museum, we headed over to Wegmans, the best grocery store in the world, with Liza, Mike, and Wyatt. Taye and Wyatt got along really well the whole weekend.



We got our food for the cookout, and then the four of us went back to the hotel to try and get Darius to nap. He didn't end up sleeping, so we decided to head out to the playground Luis had noticed outside of the children's museum. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip. We told Taye we were going to go to Wyatt's house, and he started towards the door of the hotel room, saying "Wyatt's house" over and over. About halfway to the door he stopped, and said "Darus!" then turned and went to get Darius, who was sitting on the floor. He took Darius' hand and started walking, while Darius laughed and tried desperately to scoot fast enough to keep up.



Apparently he was going too slow, because Taye eventually just left him and ran for the door!



The playground was a lot of fun. It was made entirely of that rubber compund, and had a huge steep hill to climb to get to the top of the slides. Taye was all over tha place, I was having a heart attack about once every ten seconds watching him climb up that hill (with no hands!)



After the playground, we went to "Wyatt's house" for the cookout. We had a great time just playing in the yard. I really enjoyed everyone's company, we especially liked Liza, Mike, and Wyatt. Taye kept trying to wander off, and after a while I decided to just take him for a walk around their neighborhood. I think he is like me, and can get overwhelmed when he is around a lot of people for too long. I know how he feels, so we had some time just the two of us, walking around and playing in the van. Then we came back for dinner, after which we all went inside and watched a bootleg copy of Ratatoullie. I don't know if anyone actually watched it though. The kids were all playing, and the moms were all chatting in the kitchen. Darius fell asleep, and stayed that way the whole time, and even through 2 carseat transfers to get back to the hotel. It was a really nice, relaxed time.



Sunday morning it was time for the zoo. We ran a little late, underestimating how long it would take us to get packed up and checked out. We, admittedly, spent too long in bed. We took full advantage of having the boys stuck in one room with us and a TV. We stayed in bed while they watched Thomas and Friends, which we have never watched. As I lay there half asleep, I was horrified at the smut I heard. First it was that "Thomas was so excited that he pulled out too soon" and then later, "his firebox was tingling." LOL, I don't know who writes that stuff!

So anyway, the zoo. We called them when we got there, and they were waiting at the playground of the zoo. We met them there and played for a few minutes. Kim got this shot, which is one of my favorites:



We headed out around the zoo, and managed to catch the penguin feeding, and the elephant baths. In between, Taye and Wyatt alternated between riding in our stroller, or their wagon.



My favorite part of the zoo was the cougars. They had this awesome set of tunnels you could crawl through and come up inside a little pagoda that was inside the cougars pen! Mike and Luis took the boys in, it was awesome!



They also had a small fake river/wading pool area for the kids to splash in. It was a little chilly, but Ian and Wyatt went in anyway.



So did Amara and Isaiah when they came.

Taye was content to just sit with Daddy and watch...



and Darius was unconscious!



Here are some more shots from the zoo:



Our MM caravan - Wyatt likes to hook and 'tow' things, which inspired this idea. It lasted about 2.5 seconds before Ian started to tip, luckily Matt was there and caught him. It was fun while it lasted!

After the zoo we wanted to get lunch, and decided to try the famous "rubbish plates." We had a caravan of Liza-Kim-Us and drove to the closest restaurant, which was closed on Sundays. We headed out to the next one, which was closed because their parking lot was being repaved. We started out again, which entailed turning left on a very busy street, and we all almost died in the process. We drove all the way across Rochester to the third, which Liza was 'sure would be open' and they were, you guessed it -closed!! Finally, Mike called the fourth and they were open, so we went all the way BACK across town and made it to the last one. The food was actually pretty good, although it could also have been that we were starving by then, lol.



After we ate, we headed home. The boys slept for the first two hours of the ride. We stopped again halfway, and then made it home around 10pm. We were all pretty sleepy, but happy. It was a very fun weekend, I'm so glad we went!