Spring Break

I cannot believe it is already the middle of March. Last week was Spring Break & we had a LOT of fun. Monday & Tuesday Doug was busy with the WREB. It was his hands on practical for that he had to complete to become a dentist. He did feels like he did really well & I'm sure he did. That was his last exam of dental school & now all he is doing is seeing patients up until graduation. YIPEE!! I cannot believe he graduates in less than 2 months. So proud of him! Anyhow, once that was over with we got to enjoy having Dad around for the remainder of the week. We decided that we had to do something fun everyday. So here is the forever long post full of pictures!

The Strong Museum in Rochester, NY

This was our first time going to the Strong Museum & we were really excited. We had heard wonderful things about it & Gavin is at the perfect age to just have a grand ol' time. And that he did. He was in heaven with all the things to see & play with. And he was able to touch everything without being told "No!". :) Of coarse it's not a vacation/break without going with our trusty travel buddies the Evans'. They boys had a ball & I'm not going to lie, us adults had a pretty good time too.

 This was one of those tilted rooms kind of like at a fun house.

 Gavin loved playing with the cars on this race track. 

 They had a whole area that was all Sesame Street.

Steph, Collin, Gavin & Me

They also had a little mini Wegmans grocery store where the kids can shop, cashier or stock. So cute!

 Gavin knew exactly what to do when it came to checking out. He put all his food on the conveyer belt & watched closely as the other little boy scanned everything & rang up his total. He even got a receipt! I wish they would have had something like this when I was a kid.

 Playing in the rocks!

 They had a special room of the Wizard of Oz. Here is Collin at the end of the yellow brick road standing under the arch that we built. We were getting hungry by this point & decided we better go grab some grub. So off we went on a walk to lunch. The weather was beautiful! We were all in shock that it was this nice in March. It was good getting some fresh air.

 Steph suggested this yummy place for some good bbq that she tried last fall. And good it was!

After lunch we walked back to the museum to get in some more good play time. We headed straight to the Bernstein Bears section & were there for quite some time. We have never even read any of these books to Gavin yet, but he was loving this place. 

 Here is our little dentist, Dr. Gavin Shaw

 It was cute watching him pull out the teeth & brush them. Doug was so proud! :)

 Playing with a very large Mr. Potato Head

We had so much fun at the Strong Museum! I'm so glad that we were able to get it in before we left. It was a long day that was well spent having fun as a family & with our friends.

Eternal Flame Falls
Thursday we decided to venture out to the Eternal Flame. It is an easy hike/walk through the forest and you end up at a waterfall that has a natural gas seepage in one little area that is capable of holding a flame when lit. It's really a pretty neat thing to see since it's behind the waterfall and all. The boys all did great walking the paths considering they were super muddy & a little slippery at times.

 Gavin & Collin could have stayed there all day just throwing rocks into the river.

 The dads & their little papoose's

We had to cross the river multiple times & it was a little tricky with the kids. Thank goodness for strong husbands!

 Almost there. Ha! I just noticed that Liam's face is covered by his hat. Oops!

 The Eternal Flame Falls
 

 

 

On our way back out the boys found this little hut. It took a lot of bribing to get them to come out. They are so stinking cute! I love little boys.

Friday we headed to the zoo to see the animals. Gavin loves going to the zoo. I thought for sure it would be busy, but we basically had the place to ourselves. It was a good couple hours spent as a family. Afterwards we headed to Red Robin. I love that place. For the food & for the fact that it's family friendly & you don't have to worry about trying to keep your kids hushed.

Because the weather has been SO nice we have taken many walks to the playground. 

Maple Farm
Saturday morning was the start of Maple Weekend. So we drove to one of the farms to check out the process & of coarse sample all the goodies. They had maple mustard, maple bbq sauce, maple peanuts, maple candy, maple muffin/pancake mix, maple cotton candy & maple syrup of coarse.
They had a little barn with some baby animals, wood carving by chain saws, egg hunt that gave prizes...it was a good time.

 Gavin keeping one eye on that chicken!

After getting use to the noise, Gavin loved watching these guys carve bears out of a tree. Such talent!

 Getting our little tour/talk about the process of making maple syrup. The maple trees are tapped with a spout in their trunks and collect the sap. Then the sap is processed by heating it to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. It takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup! Holy canoli!

 It sure is delicious!

 

It was also St. Patrick's Day as you can see by all of our green apparel. That post is next. :)