Amy revived her Wordless Wednesday linky and I have all these pictures I never posted so it just seemed logical.

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?

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 think I mentioned this is the best weekend to live in Eastern Connecticut a time or two hundred in the past couple weeks. Last year we were in South Carolina so we missed it (although I wouldn’t exactly say I was missing it, Bob). This year, E had to work all weekend but I was DETERMINED to do ALL THE THINGS with the kids. I’ve spent the summer learning to drag them both around plan fun outings with two kids on my own and this was sort of like the Olympics of solo-parenting. Three food festivals plus a town fair – and for the record, I only cheated on my diet a tiny bit.

The kids did a GREAT job the whole time. There were zero tantrums and only minor threats needed for cooperation. Evan did a ton of walking so I could use the stroller as a single (although I still got stopped at least once every 15 minutes to talk about my City Select) which was like a vacation for my arm muscles after pushing it as a double for 20 months. I feel sort of really actually completely terrible that we had so much fun while my husband toiled away at a job that’s driving him crazy. I know it hurts him that he’s missing so much. But I keep telling myself it’s not the kid’s fault that Daddy has to work so much and they shouldn’t be punished. I don’t even want them to REALIZE their grown ups are stressed and tired and miserable. All they should worry about is how they’re going to have room for ice cream AND funnel cake for breakfast.

Another breakthrough from this weekend: I threw out all my shame regarding hauling my giant camera around and acting like I had a press pass allowing me to shoot whatever the heck I wanted. Which means I took an epic number of photos. I’ll try to keep this post down to a semi-reasonable number but I’m going to add a break after a couple so the page isn’t INSANELY long. And be sure to check Facebook for the whole album – I mean, if you’re interested in gingers and food porn and New Englandy stuff.

Friday:

I gave the bread to the kids and ate the insides. Go paleo!

They both got COVERED in powdered sugar eating cookies

We walked home across the Chelsea Parade (it’s a big empty square of grass where the militia used to muster) and the light was SO PERFECT.

(more…)

One of my favorite things about meeting internet friends is finding out they are EXACTLY the same as they seem online (and surprisingly, almost everyone I met has been). It’s even better when their KIDS are exactly the same as they seem online (spoken: adorable and charming). The cherry on top is when my kids are also adorable and charming and everyone has a fantastic day. The end. Well, except for this set of pictures of Kim’s kids being awesome with mine at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill.

Caroline + O

I think she likes him.

Awww, he likes her back!

Such good picture takers (notice the missing child)

The kids thought the best part was playing with the gravel on the trail

Oh no, I fell over! Look at me! I'm still adorable!

Caroline decided Kim was just as good as Mommy

Dandelion wishes

You will not be the least bit surprised to hear JD is a child model

No guys, the camera is THIS WAY

They match, hilariously.

I consider this a perfect group shot, considering there are 4 kids in it

LOUD NOISES

Caroline is all "SIT STILL, I WANT TO MAKE SURE SHE GETS MY GOOD SIDE"

Kim + Me = Awesome

Goodbye Hugs

Thank you to our friends for the wonderful day – at to my husband for helping us wrangle two VERY energetic boys.