3-Hour Tour of the NY State Fair

Today, Eric, Alex and I went to the Fair with a list of "Things to Do". And were done in 3 hours. Which was fine with all of us. It was hot. And it was crowded.

Part of our list of things to do included playing some games on the midway.

The Bowling game is one of our favorites. Even though we rarely win. It's cheap and it's fun!

Alex won a stuffed turtle at the dart game.

Michael Jackson is probably rolling over in his grave knowing he's a prize at the NYS Fair.

We walked through some of the barns and saw award winning horses.

Then we went to the Dairy Building and saw the Butter Sculpture. And had some chocolate milk.

And then we ate some hot beef sundaes.

We saw a seal.

And some model trains and miniature buildings.

And we also saw some award winning photography and artwork.

Mostly we saw mass amounts of people.

Before we left, we each enjoyed the Footsie Wootsie. And that was how we spent our 3 hours at the Great New York State Fair.

Ichiban Birthday Dinner

Tonight we celebrated Kelsey's 16th Birthday at Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. I love this place!

Here are Kelsey and Eric in "the pose".

Laura & Kelly were with us too! They enjoyed the cooking show very much.

Grandma Sheila was also there and enjoyed the evening and getting to spend time with Kelsey.

Laura and I sat next to each other and we both had a fabulous time. Can you believe she's already going into 3rd grade?! She's getting so grown up.

Here's the famous onion volcano.

Kind of looked like it set this lady's hair on fire from where I was sitting!

The wait staff sang Happy Birthday to Kelsey in Japanese.

We went back to the house after dinner and had a cake and gifts for Kelsey.

A Carvel Ice Cream Cake to be exact.

And gifts wrapped up in envelopes. Kelsey's favorite kind! They always fit perfectly. Happy 16th Birthday, Kelsey!

The 2010 Fair

Is it already that time of the year?? It's the "Great" NY State Fair! This year will be very different for me. In years past, I've gone every single day for work. This year, before the fair even begins, I'm done. Except when I want to go for pleasure. The extent of my involvement this year was to create banners/signs and hang them before the fair began. I'm free from having to go out every day! Woo hoo!!

These are some of our banners/signs. These were hung by professionals, thankfully.

These are some of the Sandwich Boards we'll use to promote our shows and events.

This is the kids craft area. PBS kids has a lot of fun activities for kids, so we showcase a lot of that at the Fair. There will be lots of art projects and activities going on at these tables. A new show starts on PBS this year, "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That". I made this "cut-out" of Thing 1 and Thing 2. Well, I designed it... the sign company made it. And our very nice (and talented) maintenance guy at WCNY cut out the holes and put on the back brace so it won't fall over on some kid.

This is Cathy (a co-worker) and Ed, the very talented maintenance man, posing as Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Eric will be working out at the Fair tomorrow afternoon, taping kids for our "KidSmarts" vignettes. He was supposed to be going out all next week too... but instead, he'll be flying to Dallas. And then to Cleveland. He and another co-worker are going to shoot video for some clients. I hope he takes lots of pictures so I can blog about his trip! He leaves on Tuesday and will return on Saturday.

Calendar Time!

Today I stopped off at one of the print vendors we use to pick up some work they had done for us. It was my favorite printer, the one who also happens to print the NewsChannel 9 Weather Calendar. Well, wouldn't you know, the calendars were there and done. My friend who works there brought me out to the press room where the calendars were being packaged up, and he put together a stack of them for me. I thought that was really great of him, seeing as how I don't work for NC 9 anymore. But I did design the calendar for them before I left. And my name is even on it. I was wondering if I'd have to pay for it this year. So... if anyone would like a 2011 Weather Calendar, let me know! I still have a source for freebies!!

Going Underground

Alex asked the other day if we could go to Howe Cavern sometime. So, today we went. And I'll have to say, if you're going to pick a day to spend underground, it might as well be the rainiest day of the year. Which was today. Boy, did it rain! The ride to and from the Cavern wasn't much fun in the pouring rain, but the tour was worth it.

I've never been to a Cavern before, it was really neat though.

We even went for a boat ride at the bottom of the cavern.

This was part of our tour group. I learned pretty quickly that it's really difficult to take pictures (well, good pictures...) in a very dark environment with a little snappy camera.

But I tried anyway. I got a few "ok" shots. This is a giant stalagmite.

This picture is from the Howe Cavern website. If you'd like to learn more about the Cavern, check it out! It really has a neat history. We highly recommend taking a tour if you're ever in the area. (It's kind of in the middle of nowhere though.) We want to go back to take the "Adventurer" tour sometime. That's a little more challenging than the walking tour.

This is another shot from their website.

Vets & Hills

Jenny had an appointment with the Vet this morning.

She's always very curious in the waiting room. She has to sniff everything.

I bet you know where this is going...

Yep. (Clean up on Aisle 1!)

Otherwise, she had a pretty uneventful trip. She got some shots, had a pedicure and was told she's in very good health. She even lost a whole pound since her last visit. Must be all those walks we've been taking!

Speaking of exercise. Today Alex wanted to run "the hill". It's at VanBuren Park in Baldwinsville. The x-country coach will be having Saturday practices here for the next few weeks. Alex wanted to try it out. Official x-country practice starts Monday, even though he's been attending the "voluntary" practice every day for the last couple of weeks.

He ran up... and down... many times.

And I walked up. And down. Once.

The Near Westside

This afternoon, we attended an event on the Near Westside. There is an initiative going on, to clean up that part of the city. They're calling the area the "Salt District". Old dilapidated buildings are being rebuilt or renovated and new businesses and families are moving into the area. They're combining arts, technology and literacy together to revitalize this neighborhood.

In 2 years from now, WCNY will be moving to the Near Westside. To the building behind this group of people. (I'm in there somewhere, in one of the blue shirts...) Part of today's festivities were about the group "ProLiteracy" moving into this building. They're going to be on the first floor.

The Mayor of Syracuse was even on hand at the event.

As was Senator John DeFrancisco.

This is Ruth Colvin. She founded the ProLiteracy campaign in America, which actually started right here in Syracuse.

This is a group of local school kids who are benefiting from the Near Westside initiative.

This is the Chancellor of Syracuse University giving a speech.

And this is our GM, Bob Daino. And a sleepy Senator...

Here I am in the crowd. Sporting my pretty blue WCNY t-shirt.

Lots of other WCNY employees. Also sporting their pretty WCNY t-shirts.

There was even dancing.

This is my co-worker Caitlin and her new friend, watching all of the speeches.

If you'd like to learn more about the Near Westside initiative and the Salt District project, head over to their website. It really is a great thing they're doing over there. It should be an interesting next couple of years for WCNY as we begin renovations at our new (old) building.

* Note: On the Salt District website, there is a video near the bottom of the homepage. Be sure to check it out. Eric shot and edited it for them. It's fantastic!