Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!  Hope you all had a ton of fun, got lots of walking done, and a heavy bag of candy to add some resistance. =[:-)B

From my ninja and my vampire, too!

 Other years, I have insisted on having ridiculous professional-type pumpkings.  I carve ghosts, pumpkins, grave stones, etc.  But it was really all kind of compensating for hearing constantly about how I couldn't live up to other people's expectations.  (This all stems from issues in the past - a post for another day.)  But now I see how much more fun it is to just let the kids take a pen and go to town on the pumpkin.  They wanted good, old-fashioned vampire-esque jack-o-lanterns and I was happy to just cut what they drew.  It was faster simpler, and much more fun for all three of us.

This was our first year trick-or-treating with families in the neighborhood.  And I really enjoyed it.  It's nice feeling like part of a community and like I'm doing my part to try to keep the kids connected with their friends while I get friends too!

I hope you guys had fun too!

10 Free Things to do in the Fall when you just HAVE to Get Out

As summer ends, I find that we stay inside more and more.  Because it's just easier to do STUFF outside in the summer.  The weather is way more conducive to outside activities.  And trying to get out of the house in the fall can be tricky because it seems like everywhere indoors costs money these days.
So I came up with 10 things to do outside in the fall.  Some might require some bundling up, but it's all worth it.

1. Take a hike
I am so lucky to live close enough to parks and rivers along which we can hike or walk.  Fall is a great time to hike - not too hot, not too cold.

(Okay yes, this was taken in the summer, but imagine how it looks when we hike now with all of the yellow, orange, and red trees. So beautiful!)

There is also a stream not too far away.  It's too cold to get wet, but throwing rocks is ALWAYS fun.

2. Rake Leaves!

I love raking leaves and the kids love to mess up everything I have raked.  Luckily we know raking is really not that important.  The leaves WILL biodegrade under the snow.  I love the look of pure joy on their faces as they jump in the piles and throw the leaves in the air.

My son still has his helmet on because we had just been biking.  (See #8)

3. Go to the Library

I love spending time at the library.  I love being surrounded by books.  I love that they are all beautifully order.  And I do love a little quiet.  

Going with the kids is amazing.  Seeing their excitement over the possibilities thrills me.  They can sit and read them there or take them home.  My daughter always claims she doesn't want any more books, yet always manages to emerge from between the shelves with a stack of books almost bigger than her. 

I really hope that I instill a love of reading in my children.

Also be sure to check out what events your library has.  There are books clubs, lego clubs, yoga classes, school bus rides and so much more happening!  Some has to be signed up for in advance, but for some things you can just pop on it.

4. Go to the Playground.

Playgrounds are not just for summer!  We will go in the dead of winter.  In fact, I love the "off-season" when we get the playground to ourselves.

5. Do a Fall Scavenger Hunt

Find items and have the kids take pictures of them.

Some list examples could include:

acorn

pinecone

orange leaf

green leaf

leaf from a deciduous tree

needle from an evergreen tree

twig

rock

skeleton

pumpkin

jack-o-lantern

etc

Another super fun scavenger that we have attempted multiple times, but never completed involves trying to locate the letters of the alphabet as formed by the surroundings.  This could be done outside or inside.

For example, the corner of this book is the letter "L":

6. Draw Outside with Sidewalk Chalk

It's always fun to bundle up and make a mural in the driveway, walkway, or even the deck.

We got buckets of chalk from Five Below.

7. Take a Pet (or a neighbor's pet) for a Walk

Walks are a fun time to talk and teach kids their way around the neighborhood.  Fresh air is wonderful and something that we often don't get enough of when it's cold and we want to remain cooped up in the house.  Get out! Get exercise!  Your pet will thank you.

8. Bike!

Just put on some gloves and get back out there before the snow and ice come.

9. Find a Place to See Animals for Free

This is really very cool.  I had no idea that these things were available, but there are animal sanctuaries that you can visit without having to pay.  We found one for owls and also one for other animals.  It had local wildlife and even a bobcat someone tried to keep as a pet until it got too big.

10. Check your Local Fire Station.

This is another super cool idea.  We have gone to open houses at our local fire company for the last couple of years.  Fall seems to be the time to do it - not too hot so the fire can be controlled and not too cold so people still want to be outside.
We always have so much fun.  There are rescue demonstrations, stations where the fire fighters teach the kids to use smoke extinguishers, fire truck rides, and even more.

I think that this picture is from a couple years ago.  That is one of the antique fire trucks they used for the rides.

So it's getting colder, no excuse not to get out!

What do you like to do in the fall?

My Astrofizzatist

What do you do when your 4 year old tells you he's going to be an "astrofizzatist"?

a) kiss him slightly too aggressively

b) tell him that would be an amazing career and you are so proud of him

c) do a craaaaaazy happy dance

d) remind yourself that this must be a sign that regardless of all the doubts and guilt that come with motherhood you MUST be doing something right

The correct answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE!

...follwed by e) blog about it!

My Daughter's Reading Nook

I'm going through a phase where I am just sick of almost everything design/decorating-wise that I've pretty much ever done.  I need to do some major reworking of it ALL. 

My daughter, meanwhile, has been hard at work redesigning her room to make it look less juvenile and more her.  Her room really does look better now.  It seems bigger and lighter.  I really like her style and as pink as everything is, this corner of her room is now my new favorite- her reading nook. We made the valence together (I should blog about how). That canopy used to be over her bed, but it kept getting stuck on things and getting pulled down. It was really kind of annoying as she was trying to sleep, or reach her night table, or...well...anything. She found the bungee cord chair at target. The pillow on the chair she made from a kit she received as a birthday present. And the "area rug" was a crocheted baby blanket. 

It makes me want to grab a book and curl up to read too!

Wordless Wednesday

Farm Sanctuary

This past weekend we went to a farm sanctuary. It was such a fun experience for all of us. The kids fell in love with a goat that seriously thought it was a dog.  It was so incredibly adorable; the way it came bounding over to us and stayed part of the group for the whole tour.  There were also horses, miniature donkeys, cows, sheep, turkeys, ducks, geese, other goats, including a couple kids, pigs, and even a llama.

The most interesting part of it, for me, was not necessarily getting to see all of the animals (even though I loved that), but more hearing their stories and seeing the incredible differences from what you (okay, I) would expect to find in a farm.

Some of the animals came from pretty sad backgrounds. There were horses that had come from an animal testing facility and some that had come from a horse breeder, but the latter were in a different pasture as they were not able to interact appropriately with humans yet.  There were ducks people had gotten as Easter presents (people still do that?).  Once they were no longer cute little chicks and the owner could no longer care for it, they (hopefully) drop it off at the sanctuary. One pig had been spared from the slaughter house by a sensitive class of elementary school kids and their living teacher. I loved seeing these animals seem to be happy, well adjusted, and able to even have healthy interactions with us humans for the most part.

There were a good number of differences between what one would expect to see on a farm and the farm sanctuary.  Now, I have to be honest, I have only been on a farm once in my life and I was very very young.  All I remember was holding a lamb.  That was like my Lisa Simpson moment so it stuck in my head.  Therefore, I guess I don't have a good basis for comparison beyond the ideas that are in my head, but that is what we are going to go with for now.  

So one thing I expected was to see the  animals more separated.  The donkeys, cows, and horses all hung out together and ate from the same hay pile, ran around together in ample space, and seemed to get along so well.  Even the llama was in a pen with goats and other animals.  I've seen a llama at the zoo before and they were always kept separate from other animals sometimes even from each other.  

The animals also looked much different than you normally would see on a farm.  This was actually confirmed by other people.  Farm animals are normally fattened up.  These animals were healthy, not lean, but muscular and well built.  It was nice to see what a 500lb pig should actually look like - not like a barrel.  

Also, the animals here could live longer than they would in another farm.  Most cows are slaughtered at the age of 2.  One of the cows that was there was actually 22.  And still looked good!  

I thought it was amazing that the workers there could actually tell us about rituals the animals have shown.  Things like funeral-type rituals were interesting to hear about.  It kind of reminded me of when a goose died crashing into the window at my work.  I wasn't there at the time, but the way my coworkers explained it to me, the geese were mourning in a very anthropomorphic manner.  The workers were telling us about what the pigs did as another was dying-a ritual in which they gather around and take turns pressing their snouts upon the dying pig.  This is not seen very often in other farming environments because of the way dead and dying animals are dealt with.

All-in-all, this was a very interesting and educational trip for myself and the kids.

Look me in the eyes, little girl.  You look delicious. (What? I'm a goat. Eating's what I do.)

Gaaaaaah! He kissed me!

Um Mom, I think he wants to kiss me.

Go to sanctuaries.org, click on your state, and check out a farm sanctuary close to you!

These Might Just Be The Last Selfies I Take With a Three Year Old

I can't believe my baby is turning four this weekend. I'm having such mixed emotions about this. I love the way he is growing up. He's so sweet and smart. For such a little boy, he has such a big personality.  But I just can't get over the fact that he is about to be four.  I won't be the mother of a three year old any more! I know four is a great age but so is three.  I'm not usually this emotional. I don't know what this birthday is doing to me, but I'm not dealing well. I was going through some of his old clothes and as I was doing it, each piece was another tug at my heart strings. "He'll never got into this again" went from a mere statement in my head to a whole new reason to turn into a blubbering mess all over again.  I love seeing the man he is becoming, but I can't believe I won't have an itty bitty anymore!!!  I'm not usually a big selfie person, but I took the opportunity to take some of the last selfies I may ever take with a three year old for a very long time.

2013 Revisited and 14 in 2014

When I was younger I used to tell people that 13 was my lucky number. I think it was mostly because I always had to be different. I fancied myself as an independent thinker even when I was young enough that favorite/lucky anything mattered. Or perhaps it's just my soft spot for anything undervalued or otherwise overlooked. So as soon as I heard that 13 was an unlucky number, it automatically became my lucky number and stuck.  
Last new years, the eve of 2013, I knew it was going to be a good year and things were going to get better. (Then again it's not like it could've gotten any worse.) 
And I was totally...right! 2013 was a great year!

Yes, I finally started moving toward my major, important goals, but we also just had a great time.

Here are some highlights:
My daughter turned 8.

My son turned 3.

My daughter and I got to go skiing (hopefully this year I'll get to take my son and hopefully his new fear of, well, everything won't prove to be a huge impediment) 

We went to D.C. - an amazing place to visit and has a ton of fun free things to do.

We went to Cape Cod over the summer.

My daughter moved up to pre-team in gymnastics.

My son earned his white belt in karate.

I even managed to accomplish some bucket list activities:

I went to the shooting range.

I biked 17 miles to a nearby city, just to have lunch and bike all the way back.

I ran my first official 5k.

So in the spirit of the Bucket List type of lifestyle, I have been compiling a list of 14 things I want to do in 2014 - outside of my goals.  At first, it was impossible to come up with more than 10 and then all of the sudden I had about 20.  So as long as it took me to get up to 14 items, it took me just as long if not longer to pare it back down to the things I think I might actually have a chance to accomplish this year.

1. I want to take my son rock climbing. (Yes, I started the list prior to actually taking him.)

2. Family ski trip!

3. Surf (This is a must for me, I picked an age completely arbitrarily and decided I would surf before I hit that age, well this will be the last summer before that birthday. So I have no choice, I MUST surf!!!)

4.Archery (Always wanted to, and no not JUST because it would be a great skill should I ever find myself standing in the middle of the ZOMBIE apocalypse.)

5.Visit art galleries.  (I've had a website bookmarked of the 10 best art galleries in a nearby city for the longest time now.  I really would love to spend an evening gallery-hopping.)

6.SUP (Last summer I googled places to stand up paddle board and had a few, I was ready to call them and everything, but time and money got in the way so it never happened.)
7. Program something (I'm teaching myself - and my daughter - Python.  I have an awesome idea for an educational kids game and I would love to program it this year.)
8. Sew 10 Little Dresses for Africa.  (Super cool. Check out the website.)
9.Barre Classes (another always just wanted to try, took ballet as an itty bitty, and heard it makes your legs look gorrrrr-geoussssss)
10. Crochet something for each of my children (love crochet, have that can-never-quite-finish-a-project syndrome)
11. Read 10 books.  ( I know, I know, not exactly a lofty goal, but I made it an easy 10 books because with work, kids, going back to school to get my certification, training for a half marathon-this is going to be #12, I'm so busy, but I love reading and hope I read many, many more books- not counting school books- than this.
12.Run a half marathon. (with one of my friends from work, stepping it up from my 5k, a biiig step)
13. Eat pho (another one of those how did I manage to live my life without this type of moments, I'm hoping)
14. Man this is where it gets really hard.  Should it be something pertaining to my blog?  Perhaps.  That would be important, but I'm not sure where I can go with it.  I would need something that was completely under my control and with a set end point. Because I definitely need the feeling of crossing something of the list.  It's so satisfying.  Should it be something adventurous/athletic again.  I've always wanted to do aerial yoga and a friends from work has expressed an interest in us going together at some point.  Should it be something else food related?  Something work/career related?  Something family related? Travel? What a hard decision!  I think that it would be important for me to have a goal regarding money/saving/debt.  But oh! There's so much work to do before I can get into that.  I just received my work contract so now the budgeting begins! ;)  I think ultimately I must make this #14:
14. Take my kids camping at a real campground.  We made it out in the backyard a couple times last year, but I think this year I'm ready to tackle an actual campground.  It can happen!

I'm adding this list of 14 things to do in 2014 along the sidebar so you can keep track with me as I get to cross things off the list.

Snow Days

I thought this was hilarious so I wanted to share it.

The kids and I were playing outside today for a few hours. At one point, I ran in to get a tissue for my son's nose. When I came back out, this was what I saw:

Now I had only been inside for all of two seconds, so I knew that nothing too crazy could've happened. But like any good mom I couldn't help but wonder what the $&@! happened! When my kids sensed my anxiety and looked up to laugh at me because they were just fine.

So no, no snow monster came and knocked them off their feet. No, they didn't pass out from exhaustion brought on by too much snow play.

They simply discovered the absolute laziest way to eat snow.

My crazy, crazy kids!

Firsts

I meant to post this a while ago.  But then it hit...a stomach bug!  Ugh.  All I could think about was sleep - and eating - and not eating - and not being sick again - and then disinfectant - lots and lots of disinfectant.  

What an amazing week of firsts! (a couple weeks ago now, ugh!)  A week that can really put a smile on a Mommy's face!
I can't really get into my daughter's first because I don't want to embarrass her.  It is very personal and the last thing I want to do is broadcast it to the world so that she never confides and trusts me again.  Anyways, it is a personal hygiene issue that I wish my mom had taught me when I was young.  There were a lot of things I learned from my friends.  I'm just so happy that my daughter and I have more or less the relationship I always wished I had with my mother.  It puts a smile on my face and if it were possible, I believe on my heart as well.

As for my son, I took him rock climbing for his first time. My daughter is a great rock climber as you can see she made it to the top with absolutely no problem.

My big man was much more apprehensive but we had a great time nonetheless. It was adorable to see him so determined to climb a foot off the ground, want to come back down, argue with his sister that he gets one more try, put on his determined face, and climb a foot off the ground again. When we were done,he we as so proud of himself, the whole way home he kept proclaiming "You didn't even know I could rock climb so well!" and with wide eyes exclaim "I didn't even know I could do that!" Gosh I love my babes!

(This last picture makes me look like the worst belayer, but I swear I'm holding that rope tight as ever and he was not going anywhere.)

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you an awesome 2014!  I hope everyone had a great NYE.  I know I did.  Here's how I spent mine:

Yup, the kids and I put our jammies on at like 8 o'clock because I was fully expecting me someone to fall asleep on the couch way before midnight. But I told the kids I'd let them try to stay up until midnight anyway.  Imagine my surprise when the ball dropped and both kids were still up.  Big man lasted until 12:03 and my little lady reluctantly hit the hay at 12:20 and took no more than four minutes before arriving in dream land.

2013 was an amazing year for me. I finally feel like I'm moving toward my goals and I actually accomplished some important ones.  I managed to get a job, go back to school, and spent some quality time with my babies.  Maybe when I say it like that it doesn't sound so huge, but as a single mom who was a stay at home mom for a few years after leaving a career that I was finding largely unfulfilling, looking for a new unrelated job without a whole lot of school in the field (I do have a couple degrees but that was for career attempt number one), no related experience, and even no unrelated experience in years, my job hunt was beginning to feel like there would never be a light at the end of the tunnel.  It was emotionally draining.  I was getting so incredibly frustrating and depressing.  It took me almost two years to even get someone to let me volunteer! But thank goodness I kept going.  I could not be happier with the job I have, the people I work with, the things I learn and so on and so on.  So with all of my goal-getting progress in 2013, 2014 can only get better!  

So instead of coming up with a resolution, instead I have a lost of goals to accomplish this year:

1. Get steadier job (mine is a temp position and may be ending shortly)

2. Find a new place to live
3. Get out of debt (except student loans - those will take a while)
4. As always, I hope to use my time to better myself intellectually, professionally, and create a fun, friendly, and happy environment full of good memories for my children.  I want to be the best super-est mom I can be!  (And yes, even the super-est of moms are allowed to make up a word every once in a while.)

Happy New Year!

Are you coming up with any goals or resolutions?

Happy Holidays

from our family to yours!

The Seat that Saved my Summer (as well as spring and most likely fall)

My daughter is getting older now and able to bike really well.  When I bought her her first BIG  bike from the bike store...not a Toys R Us bike this time (not that I didn't love the Toys R Us one that she had before), I bought myself a bike too.  That summer I ended up not using it too much.  But this spring I was sure that it would be my time.  There are just so many positives to biking.  However, I now have one problem: how to transport my son.  He has an adorable tricycle he received from his grandparents for his birthday, but it just can't quite keep up.

Now, I am not a professional bicyclist by any means. In fact when I bought my bicycle, just after buying my lovey her first real big girl bike from Bike Line. I went back and said "I just need to be able to keep up with her so give me your cheapest bicycle." There were no used bikes so I really did just buy the cheapest there.  Then I didn't even use it, save once or twice for the first year or so I had it.  So needless to say, I was rather lost when it came to toddler-toting bike devices.

Ahhhhhhhh, Amazon.  How I adore thee for thwarting so many of my crises.  My search began with trailers that you attach to the back of your bike.  Super cute and great idea I thought.  I've seen people with those.  I know you have too, but reading some reviews I started to get worried that it would flip or something. Scary! Plus these roads around us don't really have that much room for biking.  I would be terrified a car would not see the neon yellow/green and orange cart in time to swerve or anything!  I think I would bike looking backwards more than forwards! 

Then was the search of bike seats.  I was thinking the ones that sit behind you, but my mom freaked me out about those years ago.  She has always said that they aren't safe.  I have no idea why (and thinking about it they are probably perfectly safe), but it has become ingrained.  So I was hesitant even as I entered it into the search bar.  Then I came across and subsequently ordered the WeeRide LTD Kangaroo Child Bike Seat.

I'm loving it and loving riding my bike. We ride to pick my son up from school. When my daughter rides the bus to her school, I bike my son to school.  I've gone on a couple 8 mile rides through the hilly park with him aboard. And this past weekend, we biked somewhere between 35 and 40 miles, stopping for lunch in the middle. So I think I finally have enough information to make an informed review (beyond YAY!)

**By the way, I have not been asked to provide a review.  I am doing  it completely of my own volition because I am just so excited.**

Of course it has it's pros and cons as does anything, but for me there were far more pros than cons.  If you are a professional or hardcore cyclist, you may whole heartedly disagree. And I get that.

PROS

Easy installation.

It took me almost no time to put the seat on.  It is a matter of installing the bar in two parts, connecting the parts and putting the seat on.  I even did it with my son hopping around me out of excitement and my daughter biking circles in the driveway urging me to hurry. Super simple.

A feeling of safety.

 I love having my son in front of me.  We both feel much safer this way.  It is very mama bear-baby bear.  And he feels like he is biking in a big hug.

The ability to bike with my daughter to my son's school, pick him up, and bike back.

We love doing this now when she doesn't have too much homework, weather permitting.  (And it's mostly a very slight downhill 3/4 of the way home.)

It adds extra weight and resistance to a bike ride, adding some strength training to your cardio.
The weight limit is 40 pounds.  Unfortunately, I did not come across this seat until my son was already 35 pounds (thank goodness, he didn't have some kind of crazy growth spurt over the summer), but all that extra weight really feels good.  It makes uphills more difficult but in a wonderful work-the-extra-dessert-off kind of way.

It looks so cute!

I mean seriously....look at us:

 I get a lot of smiles and "awwws" whenever we go out.  People turn around in their bikes as they pass us and when people are biking the opposite direction you can see their faces visibly soften as they smile at the adorable-ness that is this bike seat.

CONS

It adds extra weight and resistance to a bike ride, adding some strength training to your cardio.
Yup, this was one of the pros as well.   But it could be a con depending on how you look at it.

It changes the way you peddle.  
In order to accommodate the seat in between your leg, you must peddle with your legs and knees at a rather awkward angle.  When my daughter ends up riding behind me, she giggles that I look like a frog.  (Hey maybe that's a bit of a pro - it provides entertainment for loved ones.)

You can't really rise out of your seat like you would otherwise.
Because the seat and your child's helmeted head is directly in front of you, it is hard to get the same leverage that you may get from standing up to propel yourself uphill harder.  (Although I did see this interesting article in which it explains that some people may argue that sitting while riding uphill is faster, although there are times standing is preferable.)  Anyways, I did find a way to compensate by pushing the peddles more forward from a position further back.

So I think, all in all, this seat is really great for me.  I bike for entertainment, to get a bit of exercise while spending QT time with my kids. It is so much fun and I'm always looking for ways to promote a healthy lifestyle while having so much fun with my kids!

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Our Camping Staycation

Growing up I read books and watched shows where the families go camping together.  Usually the kids complain that they didn't want to be stuck in a tent with their parents or whatever, but for some reason that never dissuaded me.  I always desperately wanted to go.  We just weren't the outdoorsy type so it never happened.  

Now that I have kids of my own, I thought "I simply must take my kids camping one day.  It'll be so much fun!"  

At least I was smart enough to have trial runs.

We started by practicing sleeping in a tent.  We tried in the sun room, in the family, wherever it just didn't work.  My kids decided they wanted to sleep in the tent outside last year.  You guessed it another fail.  We lasted until about 10:00...then still awake we ended up back inside AGAIN.

This year we decided to try again.  I was weary, but you know the definition of insanity...try the same thing expecting different results...  Yeah, I'm insane.  But the results were actually DIFFERENT.  We slept the whole night in the tent.  And I learned a few lessons from it:

• The kids sleep better if you let them play in the tent while setting it up, but then don't actually get in it until bed time.  (We went inside and watched Rugrats Go Wild til bedtime.  How Wilderness Chick of me right?)
• Get EVERYTHING you need into the tent before you all get into it.  This way you can stick together. The second you get out to get something else the kids will freak out and you will be sleeping in your bed again.  (This includes sheets, sleeping bags, extra blankets, hoodies, socks, books, water, and any snuggies that are also sleeping in the tent.)
• Reading camping books in the tent is super fun. We read Curious George Goes Camping, Fred and Ted Go Camping, and Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping. 
• Bring a flashlight for reading.  Unless you are 10 feet from your house using up your cell phone battery because you used the flashlight app to read the books is probably not a good idea.
• Scenes from the Walking Dead video game may flash through your mind.  Try to ignore them because zombies can do nothing to a bad@ss supermom like you.
• This is NOTHING like camping outside.  What in the world do people eat for breakfast in a tent?  I thought we could use the grill like a campfire in the morning and throw eggs and peppers in tin foil and on the "campfire."  (I saw that on a camping website somewhere.) Um where exactly do we keep these eggs until the morning?  Okay so we scratched that.  My daughter and I made homemade whole wheat raisin bread last week.  We figured  perfect we can keep that in a cooler or something overnight so we brought that out.  But in the morning we realized the butter was in the house in the refrigerator.  ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KEEP A FRIDGE IN THE TENT OR SOMETHING??? I DON'T GET IT!

What tips or tricks do you have for me?  Please comment!  I need all the help I can get!   :)

Cape Cod

Okay, I have a confession.  I should have been diligently working on my answers and new
questions for the Leibster Award.  I should have been checking on all of the awesome, brilliant blogs that I'm following and honestly love.  But I was in Cape Cod with my family and although I've been back for a while now, I have been soooooo overwhelmed with trying to catch up on work, laundry, cleaning, and so much more.  It is ridiculous.  I still don't feel like I'm anywhere near caught up and we've been back for somewhere around a week now.  So I am going to go work on my answers to the Leibster award and leave you with a bunch of unedited pictures I'm slapping up from both my phone and a my computer.  

 The resort in which we stayed had a reptile show which was really awesome.  My daughter got to be the volunteer on stage helping to hold the boa constrictor.

 And at the end she got to hold the American Alligator.

 My son reluctantly touched it.

 The kids liked the pool more than the ocean.  They loved that they could just wake up, walk out the door and get in the pool...when the could convince me to come.  (And no, I don't really have 28 chins....I hope.)

 My daughter has a thing for mermaids. So she became one.

And it rubbed off on my son.  You can't really tell from the picture, but he had a mermaid tail as well (except he couldn't help but wiggle his toes and make the whole thing fall apart over and over again.)

 We did some catch and release fishing.  My daughter is an EXPERT caster.  (Yes, I learned how to cast from my 8 year old.  She learned last summer from my brother.)

 My 3 year old caught a fish almost as soon as he put his line in the water.

Believe it or not, this is the picture with the LEAST amount of hair in her face.

 Beach.

 There was an indoor pool for those rainy days.

 Tattoo artists.

 Pirate mini golf.

 They've been naughty.

 I read some great reviews about a restaurant called The Thai House and never having Thai food before (how did THAT happen) I decided we should try.  I was really not going to take a picture of it in the middle of the restaurant until I had my first bite. OMG It was DELICIOUS.

 Pad Thai.  I think my first words were "HOW HAVE I LIVED MY ENTIRE LIFE WITHOUT THIS?!?"

We stopped for ice cream and they were seriously the BIGGEST most ridiculous ice cream cones I've ever seen even after asking for the smallest cone they have. 

 An attempt to take a picture on the duck boat.

 My BMOC made me take a million pictures of him and him with his sister in front of this museum although we didn't even go in.  I would've liked to.  I'm a huge Jackie Kennedy fan, but I can probably find most of the same pictures on the internet anyway.  Plus I'm planning on getting Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy.  There is a audio version and I totally want to hear her own voice.  That would be so cool.  So I digress....(what else is new?)

My brother and I took the kids on the rail trail.  My brother brought his own bike, but I just didn't have enough room or motivation to try to pack our bikes.  So I rented a bike with a TagAlong for my daughter.  She is quite the perfectionist and gets frustrated if she can't keep up or gets tired. So this way there was no fussing or fretting.  I also rented a trailer that we were able to hook up to my brother's bike and my son had a great time going along for the ride and telling my brother when to speed up or "engage his rocket boosters."

Summmer Shanty.  Amazing restaurant.  Outside.  Lots of boats.
Perfect for kids.  They don't need to behave PERFECTLY because that is extremely hard for my son and it's just a good time.  We started our vacay with dinner there and enjoyed it so much we also ended our vacay with dinner there.

Hope you enjoyed...I'm off to finish more laundry, do more work, and of course get my Leibster Award post ready.  Time to check all of your blogs to see what you've been up to while I've been MIA!