There was a ton of stuff going on in our area over the weekend: members weekend at the Aquarium, the International Food Festival in Mystic, the annual Butterfly Pavilion in Norwich AND it was Connecticut Open House weekend.

Unfortunately, it was also one of those weekends where none of us really felt like getting off the couch. I swear our day in Brooklyn last Sunday threw the kids off all week, and there were a ton of couch naps that led to super early wake-ups that meant even more couch naps and we were all a little sleep-deprived and short-tempered. E had duty Friday which meant he didn’t get home until lunch on Saturday, so that day was mostly a wash. I tried to fit ALL THE THINGS in on Sunday and ended up with two very unhappy kids in a butterfly pavilion, begging to go home. So we did. I like family activities, I don’t like torturing my children. Even to get more photos. Clearly I got enough photos.

They refused to consider any of the food besides The Bleu Squid for grilled cheese and cupcakes.

Black Forest cupcake

Lobster roll. Lobster & a little mayo with lemon on top. As it should be.

Caroline was really, really excited to get her face painted and tried hard to sit still. Of course, she’s 2. I’m 31 and I can hardly sit still to have my make-up done at the Clinique counter at the mall (I don’t like people touching my eyes) (NO ONE likes people touching their eyes!). The patient make-up artist managed to get it done though – including a layer of glitter over the whole thing – and Caroline became Kitty Caroline. She ran all over the Oldey Mistickey Villagey meowing and stopping people in their tracks to go “Awwwwwwwww! Look at her face! She’s a kitty! Bob, Bob come look at this kitty! Isn’t she adorable?!” At this point I feel like taking my child out in public is like hanging out with one of the minor Kardashians. Krispy? Krumbly? Whatever they’re called. I should start spelling it Karoline.

It’s like E is wearing THREE hats!

Caroline met Ariel & got her autograph. She was pretty impressed. And a little skeptical.

The Butterfly Pavilion was cool, but kind of crowded. They encouraged you to let the butterflies crawl/land on you and even had sugar water to dab on your fingers. Caroline liked it. Evan was D O N E, so we didn’t stay long.

Tags: birds, bleu squid, butterflies, Caroline, Connecticut, cupcakes, E, evan, family, mystic aquarium, photography, weekend