Family Field Trip Fun ~ The Holtsville Ecology Center

The girls and I had so much fun visiting the Holtsville Ecology Center today.  We have been coming here since Emily was probably about 2 1/2 years old and always enjoy seeing and learning about the different animals.  I have to admit, we probably haven’t visited in at least a year, so when I saw a friend post pictures of their recent trip on Facebook, I knew we had to visit during our Spring Break from school.  It is about a 40 minute drive from our house, but it is totally worth it.  The girls always have a great time checking out the animals and then there is also a playground and a picnic area, so you can really make a nice day trip out of it.  Plus, since it is still an off season it was free to get in. (Although starting May 1st it is only $5.oo a car, which is totally worth it!!)

All ready to check out the animals!!

Emily and Clara really enjoyed feeding the goats, so I made sure I had a handful of quarters with me to buy the pellets to feed them.

A great view of the foxes.

Emily and Juliette really liked reading the information about each animal. They were very interested in their lifespan and how the different animals got here. The ecology center is a place for animals to live that can not be released back into the wild. The two bald eagles that live here have wing injuries and are unable to fly. We also found out that one of the foxes never learned to hunt and relies completely on humans to be fed.

I love that Emily and Juliette are at the point where they can read on their own and are actually looking to find out more information by reading the signs and plaques at the different places we go to.

It’s hard to pick a favorite animal to visit.

The farm section has chickens, cows, goats and a pig.

Inside the education building we found an Iguana

There was also an exhibit of stuffed animals, owl pellets and other interesting things.

Check out some of our other family field trips.

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Field Trip Fun ~ The Cradle of Aviation Museum

Our library has an amazing program where you can borrow museum passes to local museums.  The girls have been asking to go to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York.  It is right next door to the Long Island Children’s Museum so we always pass it when we go there.  I finally remembered to reserve the pass and we had a fun family day checking out all of the planes.

The girls love any museum that is hands on so when they saw a helicopter that they could climb into and touch all the buttons and controls they were really excited!  There was a great mix of history and hands on exhibits to keep them engaged.  They definitely gravitated to anything that they could touch or push buttons on. 

This was an interesting exhibit that showed the flight patterns of the planes that fly over Long Island.  The girls liked moving the planes back and forth.

Even Clara had a great time in a cute kids area that was set up with space themed books and baby toys.  Then Emily and Juliette explored what it was like to live on a space station.

We had a great time exploring this museum together. 

The X Ride Theater was really cool, it simulated flying with the Blue Angles.  We almost skipped it and I am so glad that we decided to try it.  After we got off the girls wanted to do it over and over again. 

If you live on Long Island you should definitely check to see if your Library offers free Museum Passes to borrow.  I was even able to reserve ours online, although I did have to do it a few months in advance.

 

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Apple Picking 2011

This year we drove upstate New York with Aunt Christina and Uncle Scott to visit our cousins and go apple picking.  This is the second time we went to Indian Ladder Farms and we all really enjoyed it, even after driving about 4 hours and getting lost (darn GPS!).

Emily at Indian Ladder Farms.

(Juliette was not in the mood for a picture)

Before we went to the orchard to pick our apples we enjoyed some yummy apple cider doughnuts and Apple Cider.  Then we went to the petting farm to see the animals. 

The kids loved feeding the animals.

  Uncle Scott was intrigued by the horns on this guy!

Finally we headed over to the orchard to pick some apples.

This is one of my favorite picture from our trip!  Juliette found some that were just her height.

Carrying the bag.

Pulling the wagon. Emily filling up the bag.  Of course we had to taste test the apples as we were picking them! 

On our way to find the Cortland Apples.

  The girls really loved having Daddy and Uncle Scott lift them up so they could pick the apples at the tops of the trees!

  Cousins!

Juliette did a great job filling up our bag too!

    Our Family ~ Picture Apple Picking 2011

If you are near the Albany area I highly recommend Indian Ladder Farms.  We drove over 3 hours to visit and views and the fresh delicious apples are really amazing and seeing our cousins made it even more special!

Now let the apple, eating, baking and creating begin!!!

What is your favorite thing to make or do with apples? 

I will be sharing some of ours during the next few weeks.  We do have about a bushel of apples to work with :)

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Prospect Park Zoo

We had a fun trip to the prospect park zoo, I loved watching everyone pointing to the animals that they were finding.  I think everyone’s favorite part was the Baboons.  They have a great exhibit at the Prospect Park zoo, and they were running all around playing and chasing each other for the kids to watch!

 

Juliette watching the baboons.    This was my attempt at getting Juliette to try going into the turtle shell…it did not work, but I had fun!

Field Trip Fun ~ Suffolk County Farm and Education Center

We went to the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center with Cousin Brianna and Aunt Jayme and my friend Sarah.  This is a real working farm with lots of animals to pet and feed.  Sarah arranged for us to have educator take us on a tractor ride and guided tour which was really nice.  While we were there we were able to see the farmers working and ask them questions too.  The coolest thing about this farm is that although we had to pay for the tractor ride and tour anyone can come and just visit it for FREE!  They sell the food for the petting area, but you can just come and walk around and look at the animals any time. 

Buckled up and Ready to go!! 

Welcome to the farm :) The girls and me on the tractor ride.

Our Tractor driver.

 

Emily and Juliette taking in the sites of the farm from the tractor ride.

We saw…

horses,

  lhamas,

         

machinery,

pigs, goats and cows.

Next we went to the petting area where the kids could pet the animals and also feed them.

Juliette liked looking at them at first.

Emily LOVED feeding them!

Once of the goats needed to be moved from one pen to another so we were able to help, while he was walking the kids were able to feed and pet him.  It was nice that they were able to get so close to him.

  Juliette and I fed one of the little goats.  I was so happy that she finally gave it a try.  After that we fed a lot more together!

This cow was moved into the pen of the goat we helped move.  He had a hurt leg.

This is one of the chickens from the chicken pen.  The kids were also able to see a fresh laid egg. The last animal we saw was a cute lop eared rabbit.The girls had fun playing in the Nature Explore Classroom, there were lots of fun things to play on.  They really enjoyed the tree trunk climbing structures.We finished the day with a picnic lunch under a covered arbor house.  It was the perfect end to a fun filled farm day! 

The farm really tired them out, all three fell asleep for the whole ride home!