We’re still on vacation, which means I’m light on the words and heavy on the lazily edited photos of my kids doing boring stuff. Luckily, my sister is here to do boring stuff with is.

At The Bleu Squid in Mystic – AMAZING grilled cheese and cupcakes

Do I have something on my face?

Tonight the plan is for E and I to do something AWESOME, since it might be our last chance for a loooong time to spend a New Years out alone…but it seems more likely we’ll go out for sushi, get tired, and come home to drink a bottle of champagne on the couch while we watch the last episode of Downton Abbey. Happy New Year’s Eve!

Obviously I enjoy Elmo’s World too.

I think all vacations should automatically come with one at-home recovery day, where no one is expected to do anything but the bare minimum of feeding/clothing themselves/dependents and lying on the couch checking email is a perfectly good way to spend 6 hours. Unfortunately, despite making wise choices before we went away for the weekend (all the dishes were clean! all the laundry was put away! the toilet bowls were scrubbed!) I’m already behind on my to-do list for the week so I’m wearing my running shoes and blast through these dirty clothes and floors while the kids fall asleep sitting up watching Disney Jr. Caroline begged for a nap starting at 11 am and has been asleep for 3 hours already. I’m going to throw dinner at them at 6 and then crash for the night by 8. (I feel even worse for my husband, who has duty today into tomorrow and gets ZERO couch-sitting-email-checking time – at least at home I don’t have to wear real pants.)

We had a great weekend at Sesame Place. The ratio of 4 grown ups to 2 kids is MUCH more relaxing that the other way around. Caroline realized Elmo probably wasn’t going to try to eat her and loved every character, every show and every ride. The weather was glorious – 60 on Saturday and close to 70 on Sunday.

But, oh guys, it was so so so so SO crowded. I wasn’t prepared for quite so many people. Large groups of people suck, since statistically speaking you are bound to run into more Jerky McJerkfaces the bigger the group gets. It’s science: Out of 20 people, maybe 1 is the kind of self-entitled a-hole who thinks cutting in line in front of preschoolers is cool. So if you have 40 people, 2 of them are a-holes. In a super crowded amusement park where everyone is tired and wrangling toddlers and there is absolutely no beer, that number soars to approximately 17 bazillionteen. The park wasn’t prepared for that many people – let alone that many jerks – so by the end of Sunday we were glad all the “fun stuff” (tm Evan) was over and we could go home where there were no lines to ride the King Sized Magical Bed To Sleepytimes.

Although on the way out I added Christmas to our season passes so obviously it wasn’t TOO traumatic of an experience. Maybe I’ll knit us all matching wool hats and we’ll plan to go when it’s freezing and miserable so we won’t have to wait in so many lines.

Caroline’s reaction to the line at the spinning teacups

Our last week of summer went out with a bang (and a few naps).

Sunday:

This is her “I didn’t like anything all day but as soon as you tell me it’s time to go home I’m going to cry” face.

CARS ON BOATS ARE WEIRD

Thinking about how nice his mommy is for buying him an orange soda.

Monday:

9:30 am

1 pm

Grape thief

Tuesday:

One story before Daddy goes to work

Birdwatching

This is how she feels about bubbles

Wednesday:

Ready for some high bars

Searching for books about fire trucks, obvs

Mommy needed a rest from pushing the stroller up the hill on the way home, so we sat on someone’s steps.

Thursday:

I DO NOT CARE FOR THURSDAYS.

We saw the amazing sunset…from the car.

Paleo fried rice is not actually rice – it’s cauliflower. I liked it, E did not.

Friday:

Caroline insists Evan’s new fall sweatshirt is hers.

I wouldn’t mind bribing them so much if Caroline didn’t make THAT FACE.

Peek a boo! I have impetigo! Let me rub my face on you!

Saturday:

SNo one gets to sleep past 9 am in this house.

I’m on a boat!!

Aaaaand time for more naps.

E’s command realized that the guys were all pretty close to losing it with their crazy schedules, so they got the weekend off. I’m torn between over scheduling the crap out of all of us – the beach! the fair! walks! shopping! hayrides! – and just sitting on the couch for 48 hours watching Disney movies and letting the kids jump all over him. So far we’ve sort of split the difference – boats this morning, naps alllllll afternoon – and I’m loving it.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!