Posts Tagged ‘town’

Fresh Air and Sunshine

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

Our Disney Training Plan continues! We’ve walked these kids all over town, practiced wearing Linc and Finn in different carriers, worked to break in new shoes, discovered Evan’s new sandals give him blisters, tried different combinations of kids in the stroller, and caught a ton of Pokemon. Because it turns out PokemonGo is a really great incentive to get a reluctant 8-year-old out of the house. Our town has lots of pokestops and plenty of gyms, so if we’re willing to put in a couple miles it’s pretty much guaranteed something exciting will happen in the app. I am fine with this plan. My new sneakers have proven themselves to be both light-weight and comfortable, my portable phone charger works great, and my legs are showing some definite muscle definition. WHO KNEW walking was good for you? WHAT A TOTAL SURPRISE.

As a photographer, it kills me a little when we’re in an amazing location and my kids are in…not the best outfits for pictures. I want them to be comfortable and be allowed to express their own preferences. I also want to take pictures I can hang on my walls. But as far as real life goes, this is accurate.  No children wear spotless neutrals ALL the time.

The next time we went walking, I brought my film camera. I’m super excited to see how this exact same photo looks on Kodak 400. It’s hilarious that after all the money and time I’ve spent on digital photography I am most into my $26 film camera right now.

p.s. She doesn’t have a scrape on her forehead. It’s barbecue sauce. I didn’t ask any further questions.

I will never stop being amazed by how much happier I am when I’m getting a daily dose of fresh air and sunshine. I mean, I’m not ready to throw out my Zoloft quite yet, but my stress level being down means the whole house is calmer. I few more weeks and we’ll all like each other so much our Disney trip will be extra magical.

Did I Mention There Was A Big Hill?

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Yesterday, E took a much needed vacation day so I could wrangle the dog to the vet without wrangling two kids as well. And then I took the bigger child with me anyways because he asked really nicely. It actually worked out great. Brutus had to get a couple of shots, some blood drawn, and a dental exam, which are all things Evan is going to have to get in the next couple of weeks and it was nice to be able to say “Look how brave Brutus is! Just a little poke! Now you can give him a hug and he feels so much better!” I’d like to say I’m brilliant and that was the plan all along, but really I just thought it would be fun to hang out with my kid for a while. Three is a pretty great age (insert a zillion instances where 3 year olds are AWFUL right here), and getting to take just ONE kid with me is such a special treat.

When we got home, I suggested we not sit on the couch all day and remarkably everyone agreed. So we loaded up the stroller and uh, strolled down to the town library. When we bought this house I was SO EXCITED to live “walking distance” from “downtown” – and honestly, before kids I did do a lot of walking. I could walk to the YMCA, the post office, the library, 2 bars, and 3 restaurants. Of course “walking distance” is a relative term because the sidewalks are terrible (old, broken, uneven, slate that has shifted, blocked by cars), the neighborhood between my house and the stuff is kind of scary, and it is all down a BIG hill…which means it’s all up hill on the way home.

ANYWAYS, what I’m saying is we don’t walk much anymore but it’s something I’d really like to start doing again. Too bad our YMCA went out of business (did you even know that could happen?) and the post office is completely inaccessible to strollers (which I’m pretty sure is illegal, since it’s also handicap inaccessible?) and day drinking when you’re caring for 2 small kids is frowned upon (I know, right?!) so the library and food are pretty much our only choices. So that’s what we did! Books and Irish pub food for everyone! And like a good mommy blogger, I brought my camera along to take pictures of our Fun! Family! Outing! And because I’m actually NOT a very good mommy blogger all the pictures are kind of terrible. Still not going to stop me from posting them.

Our favorite place in town - and I'm not just saying that because it's the ONLY place in town. There are at least 3 other places.

I should have taken a video, because this is both Evans jamming out to the Dropkick Murphys

Caroline was also a Dropkick Murphy's fan. The waitress looked at the kids and said "They must be Irish".

Here, I’ll do you a favor and link the song. You’re welcome. “DROPKICK MURPHYS 4 EVA!!1!!111!!!!” – 1oth grade me.

Town Hall is pretty

Flowers and rocks. And E pushing the stroller up the giant hill.

Me, pushing the stroller the rest of the way up the big hill. And yeah, Caroline needs to SIT DOWN. She is a buckle escape artist.