Sony Wonder Technology Lab - Free in NYC

The Sony Wonder Technology Lab is awesome. I took my kids there and it was completely free and so  much fun. It is a hands-on technology and entertainment museum. 

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was right in the Sony building and clearly marked. You walk up to the counter and get tickets. Your tickets will designate a time to come back. They day we went, a weekday in the middle of the week in August, there was no wait. Our tickets were for immediately. 

Located inside the Sony building and open Tuesday through Saturday. 
550 Madison Ave. at 56th St.
New York, New York

To start out you are given a lanyard with a tag thing on it. You put the tag up to a computer screen and build a profile. Then at every station in the facility you will put your badge up to the scree and it will bring up your profile. 

Creating a profile

 Throughout the entire place we stopped at stations with computer screens and did various activities.

One of the stations allowed you to move these robots around.

 This is an interactive floor. You push balls around and make colors. It is hard to describe, but the kids loved it.

 This was an interactive table where we were challenged to do something. I can not remember exactly.

Here my son moves his body and then the guy on the screen moves his body.

There is an area where you get to deliver the news. My son was the anchor man and read off a telepromptor.  As you can see the weather was bad. 

 

 While my other two kids ran the cameras. At the end you could watch the broadcast and see how you did.

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• Warwick Hotel NYC

Warwick Hotel NYC

Warwick Hotel in New York City

Room at the Warwick Hotel; NYC (Photo credit: drewsaunders)

The Warwick hotel in NYC is in a good location, near the famous shops and central park. They have large rooms, good for families. Our room had double beds. You have to pay for Internet, it was around $14. We had zero view. The room and the bathroom was clean. The bathroom has a bathtub, which is important when traveling with children. This photo below is the closest to the room we stayed in. Apparently I didn't take any photos of our room there. 

the warwick hotel, room 2410 (Photo credit: cafemama)

65 W 54th St  New York, NY 10019
(212) 247-2700

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Hope Lake Lodge in Cortland, NY

Hope Lake Lodge is a hotel and waterpark, located in Cortland, NY (not far from the NY Jets training camp) offers the perfect place for a family retreat.

Hope Lake Lodge is not only an award winning beautiful hotel, it's also the home of Cascades Indoor Waterpark. The entire area around Hope Lake Lodge is a recreation area. In the summer they offer zip lining, ropes courses, hiking, fishing, and all kinds of other fun activities. In the winter they offer skiing, tubing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and more. On top of all that the rooms and suites are huge. Here is a picture tour of our suite at Hope Lake Lodge.
Not shown in this living room photo is a full size coach that folds into a bed.
You can not see the ski storage area from this picture, but along the wall facing the dining table is a ski storage nook.



It was nice having the sink area separate from the shower area. It made getting ready quicker.
I loved the fitness room. They provided towels and water. There were 2 or 3 tv's in the room.

Cortland, NY is part of the Finger Lakes not far from Ithaca, NY.

Cecelia's Ristorante - Buffalo, NY

For a wonderful and inexpensive brunch in Buffalo, NY I recommend Cecelia's Ristorante.  My sister and I went one summery day and loved everything about it.

We sat at the bar initially while waiting for a table outside. The bar area was fine with an extensive list of cocktails to choose from. I got a super girly cocktail, the June Bug Martini, for $8. All the cocktails were reasonably priced, but if we had know about the drink deals on the patio we would have waited to order drinks.

Once seated outside on the patio we were given brunch menus. Every item came with a complimentary mimosa, including the raspberry mimosa! For $5 you could get bottomless mimosas.  If only we had known sooner! We had the fresh fruit crepes and eggs benedict. Both were excellent.

I decided I had to know how to make these delicious drinks at home and they were kind enough to tell me! Anytime I'm taking a picture of the drink and not the food, you know the drink must be really good!

Raspberry Mimosa

1 part champagne

1 part Chambord (black raspberry liquor) 

June Bug Martini

1 oz Coconut rum

1 oz melon liqueur

1/2 oz crème de banana liqueur

2 oz pineapple juice

1 oz sweet & sour

cherry garnish  

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• Albright-Knox Buffalo, NY (artwitholiveri.wordpress.com)

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Inn of the Finger Lakes

Inn of the Finger Lakes is located in Auburn, NY near the Cayuga Wine Trail. It's a perfect location for travelers coming to enjoy the Finger Lake region. The pictures are from the room we had with one queen bed. The room was pretty small.

• Deluxe Complimentary Continental Breakfast
• Well-equipped fitness center
• Complimentary Hosted Evening Wine Tasting, Monday - Friday 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
• Free high-speed wireless internet access throughout the hotel
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• Make This Holiday More Festive By Featuring The Best of The Finger Lakes Region
• Glenora Wine Cellars Riesling 2011
• Cayuga County Tourism Offers Best Bets for Picnicking in the Finger Lakes

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Seneca Lake State Park

One of the best things about New York state are their parks. They keep their parks in excellent condition. Seneca Lake State park is lovely. You can see from the pictures that they have a huge playground with bathrooms right next to it. There is also a substantial sized
splash pad next to the playground. We only paid $7 to get in, which was $1 per person. On the weekends you can use the beach and swim in the lake. They only have lifeguards on the weekends.