Must See Reptile Show

I lost internet access last night so please excuse the format of this post. I'm posting from a Blogger app from my phone and am still figuring this out.

I met some friends at Oceanside Park yesterday to see Erik's Reptile Edventure and boy was it an amazing show. Valley Stream Son wasn't thrilled at all with the creatures but the others had a blast.

I highly recommend seeing the show at Rath Park today in Franklin Square.  See the calender for the time. Can't make it? Visit the Town of Hempstead website, www.TOH.LI (sans the .com).for additional dates and times.

Wow!

Erik's Reptile Edventure Show - Today

I hear this show is amazing and educational for the children so this is where we'll be today.  I'll be the one in the back a bit squeamish.  There's just something about reptiles that make my skin crawl but I don't want my kids to miss out on the experience.  Here we go!

Rath Park - Franklin Square @ 11 a.m. 

Oceanside Park - Oceanside @ 1:30 p.m. 

Click here for park addresses

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Summer Camp is Over...Now What?

Summer is camp is over. My eldest enjoyed District 13 Summer Camp, I don’t think she’ll be going back next summer and I’m still on the fence about critiquing the camp. But now that camp has ended, what do we do now with the kids to keep their bodies and minds active? I had big plans for my eldest and I to take at least one mini-staycation and tour NYC as if we were tourists. She has been asking to ride the big red double decker bus for quite some time now and I was going to oblige her request. But I recently found out that my son’s day care provider will be on vacation next week. Apparently I had an unrevised copy of the vacation schedule and planned to be out of town the same week she was to be closed. Well now, the daycare will be closed a week earlier than I thought and there is absolutely no way I am taking two kids into Manhattan by myself. I am a strong woman and all but I know my limits. So now what should we do? There are five days to fill before we leave to visit my family’s home in Ohio. I am thinking of the following activities:



Tanglewood Preserve/Center for Science Teaching & Learning - Rockville Centre



Long Island Children’s Museum - Garden City



Valley Stream Pool - Valley Stream

White Post Farms - Ni Hao Kai Lan visits Aug 18 - 21

Queen’s County Farm - Queens

New York City Tour - New York City



Not in this particular order of course, but you get the drift. Maybe I will take the kids into the city for a day and ask my son’s Godmother to meet us? It’s always good to have Plan B, right?

How are you planning to spend the last weeks of summer before school starts?

Art in the Park & Boutique Craft Fair

Art in the Park - 2010

This Saturday, Envision Valley Stream's highly anticipated Art in the Park event will take place on the Village Green. According to the Valley Stream edition of the Long Island Herald, the purpose of the event was to provide an outlet for residents to appreciate the creative work of students and local artists from Valley Stream, Long, Beach, Floral Park and nearby locations.

Expect to see artwork from Valley Stream students of all ages. I have to add that VS has some pretty talented students. I remember walking through the halls of District 13 a few months ago and saw the artwork of Memorial Junior High School students on the wall. I was pretty impressed and I'm sure art fair attendees will be as well.

Added to the event this year will be a Boutique Craft Fair where attendees can purchase an array of items as well as try their luck in winning raffle prizes.

Envision Valley Stream
Art in the Park Boutique & Craft Fair
Saturday, July 16th
Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Location: Valley Stream Village Green (Near Valley Stream LIRR)

Grace United Methodist VBS

Although the program has been over about two weeks now, I didn’t want to go another day without giving Grace United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School its props for putting on such a wonderful week-long event. The week began with onsite registration for just $20. I believe I heard it was $15 for early registration but for a three-hour per day, five day program what’s $5? As we ascended the stairway into the gym, I was immediately greeted by Lady Liberty herself. Why? The theme was “Big Apple Adventure,” of course! The kids apparently learned a little about NYC as well as stories of the Bible.

Onsite registration was smooth as butter. The drop off point is in the church gym where the kids immediately sit with their age groups broken down into the following:

Tourists – Pre-K and Kindergarten
Downtowners – 1st and 2nd Grade
Midtowners – 3rd and 4th Grade
Uptowners – 5th and 6th Grade

The children sang songs, made crafts (my daughter came home with a cute little bookmark) played games, and learned about their faith during the week. A few days, she made her own snack, and even came home with a really cute train pass that even had hole punches in it as if she actually rode the train! How cute is that? At the end of the week, parents and family were invited to a musical performance and show where the children sang songs, etc. that was very impressive. I mean, to learn all of those words to a song in one week, and these were some very wordy, yet entertaining songs. Unfortunately I missed some of the performances, including my daughters. I was running around preparing for a flight we had to take two hours later to see a relative graduate. I felt bad that I missed it but fortunately dad had the day off and was able to see her perform. Whew!

This was our second year participating in the program so the program definitely has Valley Stream Mom’s approval. Congratulations to the youth leader and volunteer students/staff at Grace United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School. We’ll definitely see you next year!