We had absolutely STUNNING weather last weekend here in Connecticut. It was perfect for my photography business mini sessions and perfect for doing all the fall things and perfect for making me feel like Connecticut is a kick-ass place to live. IT’S A JOY JUST TO BE ALIIIIIIIVE.

On our lovely free Monday (you’re still a jerk Columbus, but I do enjoy a day off) we spent the morning at Creamery Brook Bison Farm taking part in a Walktober event with friends. They’re open on weekends in the fall for tours and I highly recommend it. They had a feeding and petting zoo as well as a chance to meet the bison up close.

In the afternoon we went to Buttonwoods for their corn maze and fall fun. It’s a tradition! We did both sides of the corn maze, the hay ride, the cow train, the hay tower and the kids went nuts in the corn pit. We all came home with pants full of corn and a zillion pictures. Don’t worry, Linc really liked the corn pit, even when we were pouring it on his head. He ate more than his share. Mmmm…roughage.

On Sunday morning, we participated in the Mystic Pirate Invasion. We did it last year too and the kids had a blast, Maybe next year I will plan ahead and find them pirate costumes that fit instead of cobbling together dress up from the last 4 years. They got a ton of treasure (candy + beads + plastic gem stones) and I got my 10,000 steps. Linc was strapped to my back (in our pirate/kraken themed carrier, obvs) the whole time, his pirate outfit went mostly unnoticed.

Look! Linc is in a picture!

Scary pirate faces.

Caroline felt is was VERY important that puppy come with us. The child-sized baby carrier was supposed to just be a toy but now it means I don’t end up carrying around the thing she insisted we bring and then loses/drops/wants me to hold. TOTALLY worth $30.

After we ran home and switched to regular person clothes, we headed to WeLiKit ice cream for their 25th anniversary celebration. A friend told me about the ice cream stand over the summer and I have to agree it is some of the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had. And what can be better than a waffle cone that is so fresh it’s still soft and warm when you eat it? It was a tiny bit on the chilly side for ice cream, but the kids did so much running around and general shenaniganery they were plenty warm.

Watching the waffle cone making. Obviously an ice cream stand is the best place to also buy beef.

Indian pudding, my new favorite flavor. It’s molasses and corn meal and if you think that sounds gross we can’t be friends.

p.s. They also sell clam fritters and chowder. Does it sound like the perfect place or what?!

And because I was so happy to be outside after a week of rain, I talked Caroline into playing model for a few minutes. I bought a set of Lightroom presets from Mastin Labs. They’re based on film (remember film????) and while I’m not going to switch over to ALL Mastin, all the time they are gorgeous. I love what they do to greens and shadows. The ones in her tutu were taken in the parking lot of Scotland town hall. The rest were in my yard.

‘

I don’t often have a favorite child. Sometimes I have a least favorite child (defined as the one who is currently misbehaving/throwing a tantrum/crying/keeping me awake at 2 am) but that only lasts for a few minutes. Mothers have an infinite amount of love, so loving one kid infinite plus a little bit more is almost impossible.

That being said, I’ve been finding myself scheduling extra time with Caroline whenever possible lately. Four and four months seems to be a nice age for her. I mean, she’s still FOUR. Life is hard when you are four and you have to wear sneakers instead of sparkly shoes or can’t have candy for breakfast or have to go to bed when it is still light out or when the half-zebra is too far away from the fence and you can’t pet her. Caroline is the middle child, my only girl, the one who I worry about the most as she moves from being a baby into real life. She has so much confidence and curiosity and willingness to try new things right now but I know the day is coming when being herself will feel harder than going with the crowd. I want her to hold on to herself and be fearless as long as possible, so if she’s up for an adventure, I am up for an adventure.

She wakes up every day and wants to Do Fun Stuff. As soon as she hears about a cool place or fun activity it goes on her mental list of Fun Stuff We Should Do so if we have a whole in the schedule she is ready to fill it. And on the way to Doing Fun Stuff she wants to grab a frappuccino. Because who doesn’t love a frappuccino?

Our Sunday included TWO frappuccinos. We went to Target with the Starbucks at 8 am for the Lilly Pulitzer collection release but failed – our store didn’t even get any kid sizes in stock and the first 10 crazy women in the doors bought EVERYTHING else. There was one beach towel and a couple of glasses left at 8:05. Luckily Caroline found a couple of Easter dresses on clearance that she was perfectly happy to accept instead of Lilly (because she’s 4, she doesn’t care). Then when we came home she begged to do more fun stuff. I heard from a friend there was a fundraiser at Ray of Light Farm, so Caroline and I jumped in the car and went, leaving the boys at home. On the way back we had “frappuccinos” i.e. Coolatas from Dunkin Donuts and talked about what we would do for our next adventure.

I made the mistake of telling her people sometimes have guinea pigs as pets, so obviously now she wants to know when she can get one. Maybe I should have told her some people eat guinea pigs instead.

More goats. We really like goats. Also, they sold us that food for the special fundraiser day – I’m not THAT much of an a-hole to just feed animals right next to the sign that says don’t feed the animals.

This horse was named Belle, which made her Caroline’s favorite.

Waiting patiently for the half-zebra to wander over. She eventually did so our day was a success.

Caroline’s outfit:
Hat – Gymboree outlet
Dress – Target
Leggings – BabyLegs
Boots – Zulily
Sweater (in the other pics) – J Crew Crew Cuts from the consignment shop
Glasses (in the other pics) – Zenni Optical

For the record, Caroline is only allowed non-coffee drinks. I’m not pumping my 4-year-old full of espresso – it’s mostly whipped cream and ice. And delicious.

On Friday I went to Stroller Strides at the mall and saw that they had the same weird Ben Franklin Easter Bunny they’ve had for the last few years, so I knew I had to find somewhere else. About an hour later my phone buzzed with a reminder I set up two weeks ago that the Easter Bunny was going to be at the zoo the next day. I LOVE when my past self does helpful crap like that. How do I get my past self to not eat so many cheeseburgers so I wouldn’t have to be on a diet now?

Anyway, E had to work so I was on my own for Easter Bunny festivities. I set the bar REALLY low – if we were in the same room as an Easter Bunny and no one cried, we’d call it a success – but we had one of those magical outings where everyone listened, everyone had fun and everyone wore themselves out so they went to bed easily (and slept in the next day!). I think we were all just so relieved to be OUTSIDE in the SUNLIGHT that we couldn’t have had a bad time if we tried. Wait, that’s obviously a lie. Children can ALWAYS have a bad time. Children can be in a bouncy castle filled with candy, pizza and grape soda while all their parents are horsewhipped for that time they made them go to bed early and at least one of them would stand in the corner crying “But I like ORANGE soda!” To sum up our zoo trip? Super fun.

I really like taking the kids to do Fun But Educational Things, which is why we spend most of our extra time and money on memberships to places like the aquarium and Mystic Seaport. Up until recently it’s usually been much more about me than about them, since they couldn’t care less where we go as long as they can run around in circles while I say “Look! Nature! Science! Historic Crap!” All they’re really interested in is pushing buttons.

Unfortunately, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make all of our visits the kind of amazing memories I have from my own childhood. Nevermind the fact that I’m sure for every beautiful spring day at Old Sturbridge Village churning butter in a bonnet there were probably 14 visits to some dumb museum where I whined the whole time about how booooooring it was can we go hooooome now? I need to pin a note to the inside of my purse that says “They are TWO and THREE, don’t WORRY” so when I’m digging for some granola bars to stop the ear-splitting whining from the double stroller I remember, oh yes, they are TWO and THREE I don’t really need to WORRY if they aren’t interested in the finer points of blacksmith…ery.

All in all, it wasn’t too bad for an outside adventure in January. We’ll definitely be back in the spring to see the sawmill in action and in the summer for the gardens (There’s an antique carriage rally in June! That is EXACTLY the sort of event I will greatly enjoy forcing my family to attend!) I’m tempted to buy a membership but SIX memberships (well, five memberships and a season pass to Sesame Place) seems a little…excessive. Maybe I’ll hold off until the kids are old enough to appreciate all the history a little more.