The St. Lawrence River starts where Lake Ontario ends and travels all the way up through New York and Canada and out to the Atlantic Ocean. This important waterway is traversed by thousands of ships carrying precious cargo of all types to people all over the world. Even if you are not a major boat lover, you’d appreciate the combination of the peacefulness and power of the ships that pass along the waterway.

The town of Clayton has an Antique Boat Museum that kids will love. The wood is beautiful. You can also tour the Duchess (see last picture above), formerly owned by George Boldt, builder of the Waldorf Astoria and the Boldt Castle. It was later owned by the Rand McNally family.

The St. Lawrence River – Canada and the USA

The house on the left is in Canada, and the island on the right is in the USA. We were told on a boat tour that the bridge in the middle is the shortest bridge between two countries. My question is, do the Canadian people who live in the house need a passport to get to the island? Also, if you stand in the middle of the bridge, you could essentially have one foot in Canada and the other in the USA at the same time. How cool is that?

I love the 4th of July! It is hot In Miami at that time, too hot! But I don’t let that stop me from having a lot of fun. Every year we host a party for family and friends at our house. I always keep the TV on because the SciFi Channel has a Twilight Zone Marathon on for 2 days then and on New Year’s Day. My family is addicted to that show, and we’ve pretty much memorized all the episodes. (I actually made a rolling index of all the episodes, which we use every time we watch it!) Anyway – back to the holiday. Now is the time to plan and invite yor guests. Here are some ideas to make your day special.

Start the Day with a Parade – Buy crepe paper and streamers in red, white and blue from your party store. Let the kids decorate their bicycles, make a sign from poster board and have a parade down your street. The kids can decorate the babies’ strollers or wagons as well. Older children can march with a flag. Be sure to take many photos of the event.

Play a Trivia Game – Search online for some US history facts such as info about the Declaration of Independence, our early US presidents and events of past July 4th celebrations in the US. Write don 20 questions. Ask your guests to answer the questions. The one who gets the most answers correct wins a patriotic gift. We gave away a tall Uncle Sam hat at our last party. Everyone ill have fun paying this!

Make the Food Festive – I always serve BBQ food buffet style to make it easy. Keep the food in the house, even if you are eating outside. It will stay fresher longer, and you won’t have critters flying all over it. I decorate the island in my kitchen with a red checked table cloth and put flowers in vases with flags in them. I put cardboard boxes of varying heights beneath the table cloth to offer taller places to put food platters. This give you more space and is pleasing to the eye. It is better to serve just 4 or 5 items in large quantity than it is to make 15 different dishes. Chicken and ribs or burgers and chicken breasts seem to please everyone. I always make a great pasta salad so if someone is a vegetarian, he will be happy. Everyone loves corn on the cob! I always make cupcakes covered with red, white and blue sprinkles for the kids and an ice cream cake.

Host Your Own Fireworks – We buy a big box of legal fireworks from the store, plus some extra sparklers. Only the dads handle the lighting of the fireworks. No kids! We all sit in the back yard with sparklers. Be careful with those, because they can really burn! They are not for little children. You’ll find that your guests will NOT want to leave.

Whatever you plan, have a safe and fun 4th of July!

Check back here at the end of June. When I get home from my vacation, I’ll post a few recipes.

Wellesley Island State Park in NY’s 1,000 Islands is one of the most beautiful state parks in the USA. There are 9 miles of trails that take you through the forest on many elevations and along the St. Lawrence River for expansive views of the water and islands. I’d say that kids ages 6 and up could handle the sometimes steep climbs and descents on the rocky trails. Dogs will love it too. You can choose a short segment of the hike if you like as well. Along the way you’ll find wild iris and many other flowers, tall grasses, vibrant green mosses, artistically contorted fallen trees, insects, and extraordinary views of the islands and water. Parts of the trail even take you to lookout points and then quickly disappear into the woods. There’s never a dull moment in this park. Perhaps best of all, nothing about the hike is treacherous or exhausting in any way. And everyone in the family can learn firsthand about nature while appreciating the unspoiled beauty of this undeveloped land.

Are you grammar challenged? Many are. But what can you do to ensure that your child’s grammar skills are up to par? Start by educating yourself and then teaching your child a few basics. That way, you can all learn something and gradually improve your writing abilities. Today is a short lesson on usage of commas in compound sentences….

Commas Usage in Compound Sentences
These little guys are so overused yet tend to be missing when they should be there. Take the compound sentence. That simply means a sentence with two subjects and two verbs. Lilly Badilly went to Costa Rica, and she met a beetle named Riddle. A comma needs to be used here, between what could be 2 separate sentences. Had we written, Lilly Badilly went to Costa Rica and met a beetle named Riddle, there would be no use for a comma since there is only one subject. It is easy to test the compound sentence. Just separate the segments. If they are each complete sentences on their own, then it is a compound sentence and needs a comma. Lilly Badilly went to Costa Rica Is a complete sentence. But and met a beetle named Riddle is missing a subject and is therefore an incomplete sentence. No comma is needed between the 2 segments.

So the next time you write a sentence, do a test to see if it is compound or not. And please, please, whatever you do, don’t use a run on sentence like this: Lilly Badilly went to Costa Rica, and she met a beetle named Riddle, and then Lilly Badilly was afraid of the dark, and then Lilly Badilly was hungry for pumpkin pie, so she ate some. Thank you in advance for not writing like that!

I seem to be clicking my camera everywhere on this vacation in the 1,000 Islands, NY, which by the way, is home to the original 1,000 Island salad dressing. Haven’t you always wondered why the dressing had that name? Now that I know, it makes sense. Anyway since I’ve been here, I’ve been attracted to all the barrels and buckets of flowers. . .

We are getting entries for our Travel Writing Contest, and are totally enjoying the stories. Kids are so imaginative and honest. I wish I were a kid again. Well, since I can’t be, I’ll just continue to think and act like one! “I Love kids! I really love them!” (If you want to know more about what that means, read my book and listen to my silly CD.)

So if you are having a bad day or need a lift, read something written by a young child. I guarantee it wil put a smile on your face. And if your child has not entered our contest, please do so before the Sept. 1 deadline!

Want to have some good old-fashioned summer fun with the entire family? Build a campfire, roast marshmallows, eat some s’mores and tell hilarious stories. That’s what we just did outside our vacation cottage with our friend, Bill. And boy did we laugh! Here are a few pictures that tell it all. The one of the 4 of us is a picture we took using our self-timer mode on the Nikon D40. The fun of it all was trying to set up the camera on a chair to take the photo and get us all in there. I set the timer and could barely get to ito the picture in time. Sounds corny, but it really will make you laugh and will be memorable for all.

If you really need to relax and unwind and are looking for a beautiful setting for the entire family to enjoy, head on up to Wellesley Island, NY It’s right off I-81 near the Canadian border in the 1,000 Islands. We are staying in a house right on the St. Lawrence River. The weather is cool, and the sky is blue! The people are friendly, and the scenery is spectacular. And it is 1,500+ miles from my home in Miami! What more can you ask for?

Photo 1 – Boldt Castle

Photo 2 – Where USA and Canada meet

Photo 3 – Trampoline in the river

Photo 4 – Barge goes right by our house on the St Lawrence River

Photo 5 – Gorgeous flowers around the cottage

Photo 6 – Quaint line of mailboxes

10 Vacation Travel Complaints

The word “travel” conjures up images of exotic places, luxurious accommodations, intriguing sites and mysterious adventures. Indeed traveling can be (mostly) wonderful. But in reality there are some annoyances, and at times, it can be downright stressful. Here is my list of things that annoy me most about vacation travel:

1. I can be guaranteed that work related issues will escalate as I am leaving for a trip. “Oh, you want me to write a 2000-word article due tonight, when tomorrow I am leaving for vacation?”
2. No matter how careful I pack, I always forget something important. Like undees or my cell phone charger.
3. As soon as I walk out the door, I remember that I forgot to do something VERY important, which invariably leads to panic.
4. No matter how thorough I am about closing up the house, I will always worry. “Did I unplug the iron? Did I lock all the doors? Was the stove turned off? And what about that coffee pot? Heavens, I sure hope I remembered to turn run the disposal. Are the plants going to die?”
5. Traveling by car (or plane) is dehydrating, but if I drink as much as I should, I will have to constantly go to the bathroom and tick off every one else in the car.
6. The car gets terribly junked out within the first hour of the trip. I seem to reorganize it over and over again, only to find this is a battle I can never win. So why bother? And forget trying to ever find what you are looking for in all those bags.
7. It is nearly impossible to eat healthy foods while traveling. “Would you like French fries, cheese fries, sweet potato fries or onion rings with your veggie burger?”
8. Pillows can be a problem. In fact, every pillow I have ever slept on away from home gives me a chronic neck ache.
9. Whenever I ask a local person for directions he/she never knows what he/she is talking about, and I am inevitably sent on a wild goose chase. “Turn left at the light, follow the curve and veer off to the right, make a u-turn and follow that road until you get to a fork. Take a left, then rights, go around the round-about, take your 5th left and go up the one-way street to the top. There is a hidden drive there so if you miss it, you’ll have to figure out how to get back to it since the street is one way only. But you shouldn’t really have any trouble finding it”
10. As soon as I get home, I am exhausted from the driving or flying and from all of the above. I am in great need of another vacation within minutes of returning home.