Summer is flying by and we haven’t done anything particularly exciting this year.  So, I decided that every Friday during the month of August is Fun Friday.  We will have an adventure, big or small, on Friday!

So, today I got together with my sister and we did a 3 state whirlwind tour.  New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania all in one day!  Okay so I live within 15 minutes of those states, but it is very adventure-y sounding.

 

We started our day in New York and went to a park high above the Delaware River.  With my sister behind me, I turned into the park and we spent the next 10 minutes climbing up a twisting, tree covered road.  At one point we passed an abandoned factory (next time I will explore!) and continued on as the road narrowed and became more rutted.  We finally reach the top and parked.  The kids hopped out and ran over to a stone wall which was all that stood between them and a sharp drop off into the valley below.

The day was beautiful; warm with big fluffy clouds drifting along on the light breeze.  We laid out blankets and had a picnic, enjoying the sunshine.  Then the kids went to search for a geocache hidden high in a pine tree, which they quickly climbed and found the cache.  We then all piled back in our cars and headed down the mountain a bit to search for a second geocache.

We again pulled over and got out to look for the cache which was up in another tree.  The kids climbed the tree and suddenly started screaming.  The tree was covered with red ants!  They quickly climbed back down, brushing the biting ants off.  Meanwhile my 4-year-old had stopped right on top of a giant red anthill and was soon covered in the biting ants!  My sister grabbed him and tried to pick all the ants from him, but they were everywhere!  We all ran back to the cars and got in, bringing ants with us.  My son threw a huge rock at the anthill, saying “take that ants”, and we were off.  It was time to head to PA.

Across the Delaware is Pennsylvania and an amazing park with one of the best playgrounds we have seen.  The park is formed from an abandoned airport with the runway being a great place to bike.  But today we were heading to the playground.  The kids squealed when they saw the playground.  It was huge!

The playground has slides with rollers, underground tunnels, climbing walls, a huge sandbox, a gliding picnic table, piped in country music (it is PA after all), and, best of all, a merry-go-round!  Believe it or not, the merry-go-round was new to the kids.  They didn’t even know what it was called!  But, I guess you really don’t see them much anymore.

And guess what they played on the most?  Yep, the merry-go-round!  I can still remember that dizzy nausea feeling of going around and around but not wanting to get off because I was sure that we could get the thing to spin even faster.  They are fun and I’m glad my kids got to play on one!  But this park has not just a merry-go-round, but a whole section of spinning, lets-make-you-throw-up rides.  There are stand and spin rides, sit and spin rides, and even ones that are impossible for kids to get out of themselves.  They just keep spinning, stuck in the equipment!

After all the spinning, we decided it was time for ice cream!  So, back to New Jersey we went.  My part of NJ is filled with farms (really, I know you don’t believe me but it’s true!), so we headed to one of our favorite farm stands.  They make their own ice cream using cream from their own cows!  It’s so good!

Two kids were out, fast asleep, by the time we arrived at the farm stand, but the rest were ready to eat!  We all ordered and went to sit and enjoy the early evening stillness.  Within 5 minutes the ice cream had dripped from the cones to hands, feet, shirts, even hair, but no one stopped licking. They were determined to eat it all!It was a great way to end the day; our Fun Friday!