Last week Lincoln and I were invited to a preview of the new Boscov’s store at the Westfield Meriden Mall to get a tour and do some shopping before they opened to the public on Saturday. (That means they’re open RIGHT NOW. You should go.)

We met up with a handful of other local bloggers to check out the store. If you haven’t heard of Boscov’s before, they’re a family-run department store founded in 1914 in Pennsylvania but now they have locations from Maryland to Connecticut. They’re similar to Belk or Dillards or Bon-Ton, none of which we have around here, so the next closest thing is probably Macys or Kohls. But I’m not a huge fan of either of those stores. I’m always worried I’m missing out on a coupon code, or rewards dollars, or some sort of secret friends and family sale that would give me half off. At Boscov’s, they don’t do any of that. Stuff is always on sale, no coupons.

And the sales are really good. All the kid’s Carters stuff was 60% off the tags. I bought Evan a high-performance winter coat for $9.99. There were racks and racks of holiday dresses for Caroline for under ten bucks. They also had a candy counter and a toy department, which is where I almost lost Linc, because he was SO excited about the stuffed animals.

The staff was also incredible. They were very friendly and even though the store wasn’t even open yet they gave great directions. We also met not one, but TWO Mr. Boscovs. Albert, the original founder’s son and his nephew Jim Boscov, who is the current CEO. Jim told the ladies at the candy counter to give us all the samples we wanted. I like Jim.

They make their own fudge. It was delicious.

That’s the excellent Mr. Jim Boscov.

Linc and I did a ton of shopping. Boscov’s had everything from blinds to Barbies, an eyewear department, appliances, all the kinds of clothes and more. Some of my favorites were accessories (because who doesn’t love trying on hats?) and the seasonal departments (I would have spent all day looking at Christmas decorations if I hadn’t been afraid the baby on my back was going to smash something).

I wish I had bought that sweater dress behind me. Isn’t that a great color?

Their dressing rooms had TWO awesome things: first, that seat where I could strap Linc while I tried stuff on. GENIUS. And second, the kind of magic mirrors that make you look thinner. They also made a great spot to nurse a tired baby who couldn’t focus with all the people walking around.

One of the other things that makes Boscov’s a great addition to the area is their community outreach. On the day I visited, they had sold early shopping passes for $5 and every single one of those dollars went to charity. They sell those passes as fundraisers for local organizations all the time, you can check out details here for the Meriden store. The store also has an auditorium room built into their space that they allow the community to use during the year. When their spokesperson was talking about Boscov’s involvement with the local area, you could really tell that it was a passionate part of their business.

It was a pleasure to be invited and such a treat to get to shop without three kids in tow. There was an unfortunate incident with one of my tires (stupid tires!) in the parking lot so Linc and I had a little extra shopping time while we waited for a repair. I had no idea the Westfield Meriden Mall was such a great shopping spot. Plus also their kid’s play area was Linc-sized. He could have played for another two hours if I’d let him.

Now I’m going to go finish off my box of fudge while wearing my bus stop slippers*. Thanks again Boscov’s for the great day!

*slippers I wear to the bus stop. Ain’t nobody got time for shoes.

I was invited to the new #BoscovsMeriden store as a member of the Connecticut Bloggers group. I received a store gift card to spend during my visit but no additional compensation was included. All opinions, words and photographs are my own. 

On Sunday morning, we participated in the Mystic Pirate Invasion. We did it last year too and the kids had a blast, Maybe next year I will plan ahead and find them pirate costumes that fit instead of cobbling together dress up from the last 4 years. They got a ton of treasure (candy + beads + plastic gem stones) and I got my 10,000 steps. Linc was strapped to my back (in our pirate/kraken themed carrier, obvs) the whole time, his pirate outfit went mostly unnoticed.

Look! Linc is in a picture!

Scary pirate faces.

Caroline felt is was VERY important that puppy come with us. The child-sized baby carrier was supposed to just be a toy but now it means I don’t end up carrying around the thing she insisted we bring and then loses/drops/wants me to hold. TOTALLY worth $30.

After we ran home and switched to regular person clothes, we headed to WeLiKit ice cream for their 25th anniversary celebration. A friend told me about the ice cream stand over the summer and I have to agree it is some of the BEST ice cream I’ve ever had. And what can be better than a waffle cone that is so fresh it’s still soft and warm when you eat it? It was a tiny bit on the chilly side for ice cream, but the kids did so much running around and general shenaniganery they were plenty warm.

Watching the waffle cone making. Obviously an ice cream stand is the best place to also buy beef.

Indian pudding, my new favorite flavor. It’s molasses and corn meal and if you think that sounds gross we can’t be friends.

p.s. They also sell clam fritters and chowder. Does it sound like the perfect place or what?!

And because I was so happy to be outside after a week of rain, I talked Caroline into playing model for a few minutes. I bought a set of Lightroom presets from Mastin Labs. They’re based on film (remember film????) and while I’m not going to switch over to ALL Mastin, all the time they are gorgeous. I love what they do to greens and shadows. The ones in her tutu were taken in the parking lot of Scotland town hall. The rest were in my yard.

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Some of my weekend plans got derailed because the US Navy doesn’t actually believe skipping work to attend the Eastern States Exposition (aka The Big E) is a priority. They are obviously wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that they wouldn’t let E go. But there was still plenty of weekend fun had by all.

Greek Food Festival:

One of the best parts about the Greek Food Festival is that we can walk there.

Linc ate more than anyone else (besides me).

Caroline was pouting, so Evan went to cheer her up.

Still loving our Joovy TooQool, even the 6 year old wants to ride in it.

Those things are called pineapple ground cherries and are actually delicious.

I wish I had taken more photos, there was so much cute stuff, but it was unexpectedly warm and I had a squirmy baby on my back and a 4 year old who needed to get to soccer practice.

I bought her that chair.

Norwich Auto Show:

A tiny train set on the train set! It moved and everything.

Slightly terrifying. Evan declined to go anywhere near them.

The handmade blanket that matches the car is amazing.

Poor Linc hangs out on my back, so he never gets to be in photos.

In the back of an old Chicago police car.

Mystic Garlic Festival:

Garlic ranch fries and clam fritters

Bacon & cheddar hush puppies that actually melted in my mouth.

We still haven’t even gone apple or pumpkin picking yet, on any hayrides, to any corn mazes, or any of the other fun fall stuff. Technically fall starts tomorrow though, so we have time!

The Greek church in town went and moved their food festival to NEXT weekend, so my Best Weekend Of The Year is now divided into two weekends. But the good news it there is even more stuff next weekend (a vintage market, the Garlic Festival and THE BIG E) so I get two Best Weekends instead of one. I LOVE FALL IN NEW ENGLAND.

We started Saturday at the Ledyard Fair. They do free rides from 9-10 and since the kids love rides and I hate paying $75 to go on them, we skipped our first day of soccer in favor of the fair.

For dinner we walked downtown for Taste of Italy. I love that we can walk. I love the free bounce house. And I looooved my lobster mac and cheese.

While we were waiting for Evan to be done bouncing, we heard Sweet Caroline come on the sound system. This was her reaction:

Then on Sunday we headed out for lunch at Mystic Eats. It used to be called Taste of Mystic but now it’s…not? It was very dramatic and lots of small-town paper editorials were written. But it’s exactly the same as all the other years. Tons of delicious choices, with Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream for dessert.

Shrimp and corn fritters

All my photos are of the back of Linc’s head. Too bad he’s such a shy kid.

It’s a parrot. Obviously.

Now I will spend the rest of this week doing all the walking and eating all the vegetables so that next weekend I can eat even more stuff. Did I mention I love the fall? in New England??

The Brooklyn Fair is the oldest agricultural fair in the country. But don’t worry, besides the adorable little fair museum building everything else was the true country fair experience. I don’t really mean that as a compliment, but it still makes me happy. People watching and deep fried stuff are two of my guiltiest guilty pleasures.

Linc was a champ, hanging out on my back almost the whole time. The kids liked the animals and teh food but they mostly wanted to go on rides. Since I am the meanest mother in the world I only bought a book of tickets, not wristbands, so they each got to go on a few things. As far as carnival rides go, everything seemed really sturdy – sturdy enough that I actually went on one of the high swinging things with Evan. No one died!

The Brooklyn Fair was the warm up for September, which will be absolutely full of fairs, food and long fun days with a baby on my back.

The boys at pizza and nachos…

The girls (and the baby) had clam strips.

We don’t know that girl. Evan just asked her to pour corn on his head. Of course she said yes.

Caroline was really good at milking the fake cow.

Those are apparently the biggest whoopie pies in the state. Country? World? I just remember they were very proud of them.

She would have watched the horses all night.

I love love love this picture. I’m going to enter it in next year’s fair’s photography category.

The big kids wanted to go on the “roller coaster”. Caroline was technically too short to go without a responsible person, but Evan was good enough for the guy working the gate.

She did NOT love the roller coaster. Poor child.