Current mood: I’m not at Disney World so I don’t care about anything. This week is cold and stupid.

Sunday:

Cousins checking out the back yard

Cupcakes + lake = perfect

Sand is delicious too I guess

Monday:

This dog thinks it’s a cat

Caroline is going to be the card player in the family

Tuesday:

Baby on my back

Is it a door? Maybe it was?

We walked here. You can see Mohegan Sun casino on the right down the river. We live really close.

Wednesday:

New hair cut

New goggles

I think Evan might be a vampire?

Thursday:

Private lake morning

Family fun night

Good job Linc

Friday:

I feel the same about laundry Linc

Love youuuuuuu Cosmic Kids

Saturday:

Back at the salon

Purple hairs for Disney!

Evening playdate for the kids

Seriously, guys, it was FIFTY DEGREES yesterday. It’s June. I can’t handle this. I realize pretty soon it will be 95 and I’ll be wishing it was cooler again, but never do I want it to be 50 degrees in June. Next week when I’m in Florida and sweating my butt off I won’t even be mad.

Ocean Beach is “New England’s finest sugar sand beach”, according to the radio commercials they play all the time. Really, it’s the only beach nearby that has STUFF as opposed to just being a state park. It means it costs more to park (and more to ride the rides and more to use the pool and more for the water slide…) but it’s also easier to spend a whole day there because you aren’t just sitting. E HATES sitting on the beach. He does not know how to relax. And when you’re watching 4 children near the ocean, no one gets to relax. But we still had a good time with our out-of-state relatives last weekend, even if the water was freezing. The children did not care.

The above photo is a very accurate representation of what it’s like to take 6 kids to the beach.

My boys don’t have swim shirts because I wasn’t expecting anyone to actually go in the water. IT WAS NOT WARM. So I totally covered them in sunscreen instead, which makes them look even paler than they already are. It’s sort of ridiculous.

Every time we end up at Ocean Beach I wonder why we don’t go more often*. During the summer they have special kids nights on Mondays (I think) where the rides are cheap. As soon as our summer weather gets here (any day now would be fine, Mother Nature) we’ll try to make it a habit. I love the ocean, even if it’s not super relaxing, and these are exactly the kinds of summer memories I want the kids to have of Connecticut.

*The real answer is I think of New London as being really far away even though it’s only like 20 minutes from the house. It’s also the opposite direction from the lake, so we’re usually headed that way instead.

We had an unexpected change in plans last week, and spent the end of it in Ohio for a funeral. Also the kids had control of my phone about 50% of the time trying to catch Pokemon, so I think I’m missing some pictures, unless you want to see 400 photos of ceilings and/or random sidewalks.

Sunday:

More pajamas are always necessary

Experienced shopper

Caroline picked these out

Monday:

Mystic looking misty

Rocking out at the Aquarium after hours

It’s not actually historic, but it’s pretty

Tuesday:

The penguins are judging her

I don’t know what he’s doing.

Wednesday:

Look kid, I’m just doing laundry, I’m not part of the resistance

They learned their daddy can do magic

I told him it’s bedtime

Thursday:

Early morning Tappan Zee

Nap cuddles

This baby might be tired of Pokewalks

Friday:

Cousins

And games

And more cousins

Saturday:

Hi Linc

More cousin time

This is not an iPhone photo, or even my photo, but it made me laugh (especially after last night)

Now I am going to go swim in a lake and not watch TV (unless it’s the Great British Baking Show) and ride in a boat really slowly to hatch Pokemon eggs. It’s better than real life.

I sort of can’t believe that a week ago we were in Ohio. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget the change in our routine after a few days of normalcy. I think that’s why coming home from vacations are so rough – once you’re in your own house a couple nights the time away doesn’t feel real anymore. One of these days I’ll go on a real vacation and then tell you if that theory holds up.

Sunday:

Obsessed with her Aunt Kristi’s ponies

Cousins love the same thing: juice boxes and iPads

A Star Wars/Transformers battle at Bob Evans

Monday:

Toddlers don’t understand sitting quietly during a serious occasion, so we read this book 1000 times instead

Checking out the competition for Grandma and Grandpa’s attention

Tuesday:

Pennsylvania

New York

Connecticut

Wednesday:

Snow dog loves the snow

Snow cream and movies on a snow day

Mommy take a picture of us cuddles!

Thursday:

Waiting for the bus selfies

Cuphead is stalking you

Being adorable

Friday:

OMG U GUISE, ANOTHER ICE AGE! WE’RE DOOOOOMED!

At least she thinks a sink full of dishes is adorable

Snow White had a long week

Saturday:

Oh well that’s not going to give me nightmares.

First day of ballet class

Buying essentials.

Today we are introducing Evan to the Star Wars movies. It’s basically the best plan ever, since we’ve bought ourselves an entire day of sitting on the couch with only occasional interruptions to explain that Han is definitely going to be OK even though he’s frozen or that they’re called “light sabers” not “life savers”. The day would be almost perfect if we weren’t out of jelly beans.

Caroline finally has her 3 year checkup tomorrow so I can see if she’s grown as much as I think she has. I’m not looking forward to the screaming while she has her shots part but afterwards we can get milkshakes so we’ll both feel better. Plus the baby loves milkshakes. Smart baby.

Another summer week, another seven days I can hardly believe were only seven days.

Sunday:

Yeah, basically this, for the whole weekend.

They ate all the peas & berries before we even got back in the car.

Oh no! Stormy seas! The boat is rocking! (It was not stormy.)

Monday:

Friendship IS magic!

Dr. Evan to x-ray, STAT!

It’s adorable, but they still stole my umbrella.

Tuesday:

Burning off some energy. SO MUCH ENERGY.

Every morning Caroline wakes up and cries until she can say hello to her kitty.

Reading selections

Wednesday:

She’s skeptical about putting a bird on it.

High fives, Blue Iguana!

Pineapple cream cheese cupcake = heaven

Thursday:

Dancing at the Plymouth 4th of July Parade

Cousins in the ocean

Chug chug chug chug

Friday:

Explaining why we should go home and watch some shows (he was very convincing)

Town fireworks

He liked them for the first 2 minutes…and then fell asleep.

Saturday:

Monkey see, monkey do

NO WE DO NOT DRINK OUT OF THE FOUNTAIN.

Performing a tail-ectory on Ariel

It is still hot hot hot in New England, so our choices are 1) sit really, really still in the house with all the fans blowing on us or 2) go find a body of water. There are lots of those around, but since Evan and I both got sunburns on the 4th we’ve been hiding inside mostly. They start the preschool summer program this week (I…think? I need to call…) so we’ll eventually have to go back to the real world, but for now I am enjoying doing nothing. Mostly nothing. I don’t think potty training counts as REALLY doing nothing.