We went to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire (the extra e is absolutely necessary) last weekend. It was ANOTHER Sunday that E was able to join us (Two in a row! I’m getting spoiled!) and it was probably the most fun day we’ve had in a really, really long time. We are just dorky enough to think people in costume talking to us in fake Olde English accents is fantastic, and the kids were basically in heaven with tons of people talking to them and calling them Princess Caroline and Brave Sir Evan. We’d only been there 20 minutes and Caroline was already a Butterfly Princess Warrior, Evan had a sword and shield, and E had a giant turkey leg. I blew through every dollar in my wallet during our 3 hours there and I regret nothing.

Caroline is a face paint champ already.

What does the fox say?

This girl’s costume was amazing (and she must have been MELTING inside those fur pants).

The dragon gave her beads and said “Never do anything for beads!”

This acrobat was unreal. How is that even possible????

Both kids loved that turkey leg.

Evan could barely fight he was laughing so hard.

Victory!!

This guy put one of the fancy hats on Evan and I said “Sorry honey, I don’t have enough money.” Evan grabbed the kid-sized hat and said “This one isn’t too ‘spensive!” He was right.

That’s Caroline’s angry pirate face.

Of course Caroline got a tiny sword too.

King Henry VIII. Not sure which wife that is. Katherine? The first one?

I have no idea why there was a guy selling these super cool puppets, but he let the kids play with them and they LOVED it.

Watching the Trash to Treasure show

Authentic Olde Tymee Root Beer Floats

My kids are such participators. They both RAN up on stage to be bears in the Betty White and the Three Bears and the Beanstalk (or whatever this crazy show was called).

I’m hoping we can go back again before they leave in mid-October. We didn’t even get to see the rat circus or the jousting!

Someone mentioned recently that they don’t have apple orchards where she lives (apparently it doesn’t get cold enough??) and I felt really really bad for her. What do you do when you want 40 pounds of apples? Where do you take your children to wear them out so they fall asleep on the floor and you can eat fresh baked apple pie and drink mulled cider while you watch Breaking Bad?

When we first moved here to Connecticut, I lived in an apple orchard (the one I still use for a lot of my photo shoots) and they’re still one of my happy places. Orchards are full of delicious food that literally grows on trees. You can turn them into alcoholic beverages. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

We’ve been going to Holmberg’s for a bunch of years now (looooook tiny ginger!) and I’d say it’s officially a tradition.

p.s. I once won the town fair prize for best apple pie. I never pass up a chance to mention that.

p.p.s. The orchard was PACKED that day. I’ve never seen it so busy (of course I usually take the kids alone on like a Tuesday, so it shouldn’t have shocked me a beautiful Sunday was a popular time for apple picking). I’m pretty proud of myself for photos where it looks like we’re the only people there.

Are you ready to move to Connecticut yet?

It’s feast or famine this week: some days a took a ton of pictures, some days I took almost none. I think my real problem is I need yoga pants with pockets, so I can keep my phone with me all the time.

Sunday:

I guess this weather is OK.

Super excited to hang out with Daddy

Sunday = Football

Monday:

Sharing

Park to ourselves

Nicely done, kind-of-sketchy-park, you look extremely respectable.

We made it down this aisle without buying ANY candy. It’s a Stop and Shop Miracle!

Tuesday:

Cat as still life

I live with a bunch of weirdos.

Wednesday:

Picture day at school mean cool kid clothes instead of the uniform

I WANNA TAKE THE PICTURE! – tiny selfie addict

Newborn session set up

Thursday:

This is the only picture I have from Thursday. I can’t remember a single thing we did.

Friday:

Rapunzels.

Newborn set up on Friday (in my own room, where it was ONE BILLION DEGREES…but the baby loved it)

Saturday:

I feel bad for the person whose job it is to keep these tables clean.

Birthday cupcakes for the Cabbage Patch Kids!

Watching trains from the train

Passed out on the Metro North. It was a busy day!

This week is going to be bananas (B A N A N A S) so apologies if you’re staring at this post forever and/or for the extremely photo heavy posts I might put up instead. We’ve done a lot of fun stuff over the last few weeks but I’m having a hard time finding actual WORDS to talk about them instead of just letting pictures do it. But a picture is worth a thousand words, so really I’m writing like, 20,00 words a day. YOU’RE WELCOME.

I actually saw my husband this week! On more than one occasion! It was actually the best week we’ve had in a really long time, even if the kids were so exhausted by Sunday they both passed out at 5 pm.

Sunday:

Early morning photo session at the arboretum

Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream at Taste of Mystic

More perfect weather. Well done, Connecticut.

Monday:

Playing SO NICELY together before school

Daddy met the bus for the first time ever

GO TO CHILI’S AND ORDER THIS THING IMMEDIATELY

Tuesday:

Still wicked happy to get on the bus for school every day

Twirling is her favorite

Squeaky clean

Wednesday:

I AM READY FOR THE BEACH WHY ARE WE NOT AT THE BEACH?

NOW we are at the beach. He spent 2 hours in the (cold) water.

FASHUN

Thursday:

Imaginary hopscotch

Basically all my pictures are waiting for a bus these days.

Hide and seek! BET YOU CAN’T FIND CAROLINE.

 Friday:

Eat this with cream cheese and/or honey.

BFFs

I can’t help it, this might be my favorite set of photos ever (also, Evan took this, he was like “TAKE A PICTURE OF THE PRINCESS!!!”)

  Saturday:

“Daddy made yummy pancakes!” he says in the pancake restaurant.

Fairy Princess Caroline reads to Candy Crush Dragon Daddy

And Daddy reads to the gingers

I had forgotten how nice it was to have someone to help with bedtimes or go out to dinner with or help wrangle the kids at the apple orchard. I know I’m not a single parent – NOT EVEN CLOSE – but doing all the parenting on a day to day basis was really starting to wear me down. But a week of school and TWO meals out (not to mention a beach day where the kids built sand castles while I read a magazine) plus seeing my husband enough times that our conversation didn’t go like this: “HiIhavetobebackatworkinsixhoursbutIneededtotellyouIamoutofdeoderantandalso
canyoufindmykhakihatIloveyougoodnightzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

I don’t have a lot of hope the next week will be as nice, but I have two super fun things coming up (a Saturday in NYC with the kids and THREE DAYS in Atlanta without the kids) that are going to make September just totally fly by.

Once again the best weekend of the year came and went and I ate all the things. We did exactly the same stuff as last year – Greek Festival, Ledyard Fair, Taste of Italy, Taste of Mystic – except my kids are a full year older and easier to take places. LOOK AT HOW SMALL THEY WERE LAST YEAR! SO SMALL! The only real change was this year Evan could go on the giant slide at the fair, which made him the happiest kid ever. And also they ate a lot more, even if most of it was ice cream.

I’m very proud of myself for doing the whole weekend alone with the kids (E had inspections at work), not missing any of our plans, and fitting in three photo sessions. Working (or “working” as I am still calling it for now) is something I love, but I don’t want it to come at the expense of all our family time. The Best Weekend Of The Year only happens once a year, I can’t let photography get in the way of ALL THE EATING.

p.s. Too tired and lazy to make any collages, so be prepared for one million photos. At least Connecticut is pretty and my kids are cute, right?

Thursday:

Ordered the kids a gyro but they didn’t like it. Such a tragedy I had to eat it.

SOMEONE GET THAT KID A BARRETTE

Awwwwwww

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

OMG AAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Saturday Morning:

Riding the bus shuttle, which is very exciting when you watch your brother get on a bus every day and you NEVER GET TO RIDE ONE.

Evan picked almost the EXACT same horn as a prize this same weekend last year. Shockingly, that one broke. Even more shocking, this one “broke” too!

What up, Goat?

This lady said “Do you want to sit on the cow?” and just popped Caroline right on it.

Future rodeo star?

Root beer float. NO WONDER these kids were insane all day. I don’t think they even SAW a vegetable.

Saturday Night:

While I was taking their picture a lady came up and said “HOW DO YOU GET THEM TO STAND THERE FOR YOUR PICTURES????” I said “Practice”. But the truth is Evan would have done ANYTHING for that bubble gun.

Black olive calzone and fried ravioli

BUBBLES BUBBLES MY BUBBLES

Sunday:

Ginger Baby: The Return Of The Hat

Crab and crawfish cakes

Hush puppies

I will take two of everything.

We had a choice of cookies – Patriots or Jets. This was the last Patriot cookie because OBVIOUSLY they are more popular. GO PATS.

MESS.

Besides seeing how much the kids have grown, comparing last year’s pictures to this year’s is really eye opening. I was SO PROUD of them last year, and now all I can see is the flaws.  I figure the same thing will happen next year, but the way I look at it as long as I’m getting BETTER instead of getting worse I’m doing great.

And now I’m super hungry from looking at all those photos. Mmmmmm…crab cakes and frozen lemonade.