Friday, April 18, 2008- Crayola

After waking up this morning and getting breakfast at our hotel, we went to the Crayola Factory. The girls had a lot of fun there, but there were lots of kids with school groups there. The first thing that the guy at the desk told us was how to move through the building to try to stay ahead of those groups.

The girls each got tokens to get crayons and markers from big vending machines shaped like crayons and markers. They got chances to work at several different creative stations. For example, with one of their tokens they got to get “Model Magic” a kind of modeling clay that takes its color from markers, so they can color it and twist it in. Both had fun “painting” with melted wax. We also had a chance to see the presentation of how they make crayons and markers. The Crayola area is on the second floor of a building that also contains the National Canal Museum. We looked quickly through there, and although it was very kid friendly, we didn’t stay long because it was overrun with the school groups by then. Anna did have the chance to pilot a model boat down a 90 ft canal, complete with several sets of locks.

When we left Easton and found our way to our hotel in Irvington, we were less then impressed with the neighborhood. We decided we’d be better off if we paid a little more and so we headed to the Newark Airport to look for something there. OK, actually, we’re paying a lot more, but here we are. The girls were excited that there’s a pool here. We had it all to ourselves this afternoon, and it has to be the warmest pool water we’ve ever been in. It was warmer than the air temperature. We’re guessing it was easily in the high 80s and possibly in the 90s.