I was lucky enough to be invited to a blogger workshop with the Cirque Eloize iD cast as well as an evening at Foxwoods to see the show. All opinions are my own and they didn’t make me promise to write nice stuff (or anything at all, actually). 

We live really, really close to Foxwoods which happens to be the biggest casino in the whole country. It’s less than 20 minutes from our door to their’s and less than 10 minutes from that lake where we have the summer membership, although it feels like it’s on a different planet. It means we get a lot of cool shows and concerts only a few minutes from our house rather than having to drive an hour to a “real” city. They also have a California Pizza Kitchen, an arcade and they do fun stuff like set up an ice skating rink in the winter, so even with kids we go to Foxwoods pretty regularly.

Last Friday, E and I left the kids with some very helpful friends and went to the Fox Theater for what I was told was a “blogger workshop” with the cast of Cirque Eloize. It turns out by “blogger workshop” they meant “get right up there on the stage” and “take as many pictures as you want!” and “do you want me to balance on that chair again so you can get a better video?” and even “sure, come jump on our high-powered trampoline!”

I kept wondering if I had forgotten to sign a liability waiver at some point, because surely they don’t just let people do stuff like this?

This was one of my fellow bloggers who made the mistake of saying she wanted to volunteer:

And THIS is the CEO of Foxwoods, who came down to welcome us and said he had personally asked Cirque to come after seeing their show in Canada.

The show is called Cirque Eloize iD and it’s a combination of contemporary circus meets b-boy hip-hop (so very So You Think You Can Dance) meets West Side Story. That doesn’t sound like it makes much sense, but it absolutely does.

I cannot believe I just posted pictures of myself jumping on a trampoline on the internet, but how often in real life do you get to jump on a super high-powered trampoline? It was so much fun. I’ve definitely added “trampoline” to my list of things in my dream home.

Their trampoline tricks were just SLIGHTLY more impressive than ours:

In theory I know how to juggle, because I read Juggling For Dummies as a teenager. But juggling bean bags in my basement 16 years ago didn’t do much to prepare me for the stage. I think I did better than most people though (and by most people I mean my husband). Embarrassing video evidence:

The cast couldn’t have been nicer or more friendly to all of us. Considering they do 8 incredibly hard, physically demanding shows a week I was so impressed they were willing to take time out of their schedule to hang out with us and tolerate our questions. Did you know there’s a huge kid circus program in Minnesota? The only American in the cast was from St. Paul and said he got started just by going to a circus camp when he was seven. Most of the rest of the cast member we met were either French or French Canadian. Did you know you can go to circus college and get an actual four-year degree in circus? I’m pretty sure if I knew that was an option I would have signed up immediately – although the guy who did the bike tricks told us he actually has a degree in marketing.

After the workshop, E and I actually had time to pick up the kids and leave them with a second babysitter (because 3 kids is a lot of kids to leave with someone for 8 hours) and then come back for the BEST sushi we’ve ever had. Every single thing at Red Lantern was delicious, but if you go I forbid you to leave without trying the lobster rangoon and the ronin sushi roll.

Pirate Punch OBVIOUSLY comes in a pirate themed cup.

Mine was a sake sangria, because I can’t have sushi without sake but I am a 33 year old mother of 3 and doing straight sake shots is just a really poor choice.

Dessert was a caramel banana bread pudding. E told me we couldn’t have dessert or we would be late for the show, but how can you not order caramel banana bread pudding? He fully admits he was incorrect and it would have been a crime not to eat this.

There’s a no photography rule during the actual performance (and my photos would have been incredibly inadequate anyway) but here are some of the professional stills Foxwoods sent me so you can see how totally different that boring gray set looks during the actual show.

The show was amazing. Super amazing. I am kicking myself for not bringing Evan and Caroline, because even though it was 2 hours long the time completely flew by and I am positive they would have LOVED everything about it. Besides the bike thing and the trampolines and the juggling there was all the other stuff you think of when you think of Cirque, including a contortionist and a girl who hung by her toes from a spinning hoop. I’m a little sad they didn’t let us try any of that during the workshop (because in my head I’m incredibly graceful and flexible and would be a total natural at hanging from scarves or hoops). Which is probably exactly why they didn’t let us try it.

If you’re anywhere in the area – I mean area very loosely, since Foxwoods is a resort with plenty of hotel rooms and plus if you come to Connecticut you can come over for dinner – I highly recommend the show. Cirque Eloize iD is playing at the Fox Theater from now until August 30th, and you can follow that link to see showtimes and buy tickets. Thank you again to Foxwoods and Cirque Eloize for inviting us!

There’s a commercial they play on the radio all summer proclaiming that Ocean Beach in New London is one of the finest “sugar sand” beaches in the country. Having been to New London a couple times, I was extremely skeptical of that claim.

We have some lovely Fresno beaches to visit, but nothing I would call amazing. It can actually be pretty hard to get to the coast around here, since so much of it is privately owned or controlled by the state. The beaches are also a little boring, since Long Island shelters our coast to the point that there are very few waves. It’s nice for toddlers but not so much for boogie boarding. If I want to pay money to sit by still water I’ll stick to my lake membership where I can also drink beer, chat with my friends and let my kids run to the bathroom without worrying someone is going to steal my stuff.

But as much as I love the lake is not the ocean and I am an ocean girl at heart. The idea of living in a state without an ocean coast is unthinkable – if I ever say I am moving to the midwest someone please have my head examined. If living on a sailboat was a viable option with 3 kids and no money, I would do it in a second.

All that info was the lead-up to me saying: We finally went to Ocean Beach! Although I still can’t tell you about the sugar-like qualities of the sand since we never even stepped foot on it. We did enjoy ourselves though, especially the kids. They do a Cruise Night on Mondays, where people bring their fancy/antique/really proud of themselves even though I’m pretty sure that’s just a 98 Miata cars and the oldies station plays classic music. I like old cars and Frankie Valli enough, but what I really like is free stuff. The parking and admission are free, plus the kid rides have an $11 wristband option, so even including the one ride down the waterslide for Evan our entire output for 3 hours was $25. Usually that’s how much they charge just to PARK.

Just a friendly warning in case you wanted to check it out:- the rides are…questionable. At one point I noticed the carousel was powered by an extension cord that ran into the (slight abandoned??) building adjacent to it through a hole someone drilled in a window. I noticed because I was keeping my eye on the SKUNK that had wandered across the path between rides. Skunk. At the beach. Sure, why not? The rides are exactly the same stuff you would find at a smallish town fair, except they live there at the beach all summer so they’re not in tip-top condition. They still looked SAFE, just not…new. The rust was just on the decorative parts.

Listen though, I am NOT knocking Ocean Beach. We had a really great time. The kids were in heaven. After they rode all the rides without waiting in a single line we walked over to the splash pad and they all got soaked for an hour. We never even made it to the mini golf, but we did take our albatross golf just in case, onto the playground or down to the actual ocean. Just being on a boardwalk where they sell over-priced, over-greased fried seafood that sea gulls try to steal out of your hand is all I need.

Linc spent most of the evening on my back so he didn’t get to ride anything. He did like the splash park though. He was born missing the healthy fear of things that might kill him gene. It can be both fun and exhausting. Mostly it’s fun.

I don’t often have a favorite child. Sometimes I have a least favorite child (defined as the one who is currently misbehaving/throwing a tantrum/crying/keeping me awake at 2 am) but that only lasts for a few minutes. Mothers have an infinite amount of love, so loving one kid infinite plus a little bit more is almost impossible.

That being said, I’ve been finding myself scheduling extra time with Caroline whenever possible lately. Four and four months seems to be a nice age for her. I mean, she’s still FOUR. Life is hard when you are four and you have to wear sneakers instead of sparkly shoes or can’t have candy for breakfast or have to go to bed when it is still light out or when the half-zebra is too far away from the fence and you can’t pet her. Caroline is the middle child, my only girl, the one who I worry about the most as she moves from being a baby into real life. She has so much confidence and curiosity and willingness to try new things right now but I know the day is coming when being herself will feel harder than going with the crowd. I want her to hold on to herself and be fearless as long as possible, so if she’s up for an adventure, I am up for an adventure.

She wakes up every day and wants to Do Fun Stuff. As soon as she hears about a cool place or fun activity it goes on her mental list of Fun Stuff We Should Do so if we have a whole in the schedule she is ready to fill it. And on the way to Doing Fun Stuff she wants to grab a frappuccino. Because who doesn’t love a frappuccino?

Our Sunday included TWO frappuccinos. We went to Target with the Starbucks at 8 am for the Lilly Pulitzer collection release but failed – our store didn’t even get any kid sizes in stock and the first 10 crazy women in the doors bought EVERYTHING else. There was one beach towel and a couple of glasses left at 8:05. Luckily Caroline found a couple of Easter dresses on clearance that she was perfectly happy to accept instead of Lilly (because she’s 4, she doesn’t care). Then when we came home she begged to do more fun stuff. I heard from a friend there was a fundraiser at Ray of Light Farm, so Caroline and I jumped in the car and went, leaving the boys at home. On the way back we had “frappuccinos” i.e. Coolatas from Dunkin Donuts and talked about what we would do for our next adventure.

I made the mistake of telling her people sometimes have guinea pigs as pets, so obviously now she wants to know when she can get one. Maybe I should have told her some people eat guinea pigs instead.

More goats. We really like goats. Also, they sold us that food for the special fundraiser day – I’m not THAT much of an a-hole to just feed animals right next to the sign that says don’t feed the animals.

This horse was named Belle, which made her Caroline’s favorite.

Waiting patiently for the half-zebra to wander over. She eventually did so our day was a success.

Caroline’s outfit:
Hat – Gymboree outlet
Dress – Target
Leggings – BabyLegs
Boots – Zulily
Sweater (in the other pics) – J Crew Crew Cuts from the consignment shop
Glasses (in the other pics) – Zenni Optical

For the record, Caroline is only allowed non-coffee drinks. I’m not pumping my 4-year-old full of espresso – it’s mostly whipped cream and ice. And delicious.

A few weeks ago a friend posted a photo on Facebook of her daughter surrounded by baby goats. I clicked the picture, which was geo-tagged, which led to a place name, which I then typed into Facebook and their page popped up. (Technology, man!) It turns out the place with the baby goats is called Oak Leaf Dairy and it’s only 20 minutes from my house. So after ballet class on Saturday I forced my family into their coats and put the directions into my phone and said “WE’RE GOING TO SEE GOATS EVERYONE IN THE CAR.”

I have about a 20% success rate with Family Fun Days. 80% of the time I am slightly-to-very disappointed because the Family Fun I had pictured never materialises. The kids are hungry, the weather is bad, my husband doesn’t think “wandering” or “browsing” count as fun activities at all. The more kids we add the more often I am stressed instead of relaxed and the picture perfect day trips I image for our family ends with everyone just needing a nap and a break from each other. It’s something I struggle with a lot – I WANT to be a family that loves to do lots of things together but most of the time we do better just watching a movie. That’s not much of a photo-worthy occasion.

BUT. Sometimes. Sometimes everyone remembers that they actually like each other and we have an awesome time.

The goats were an awesome time. Oak Leaf Dairy gets an A+ for Family Fun.

Since it was snowing/raining we didn’t get to walk around the farm for the full tour, but we spent more than an hour in the baby goat shed just cuddling and petting baby goats. You can hold the goats. You HAVE to hold the goats, because they will literally leap into your lap. They also nibble your clothes and hair and phone and shoes but they have baby goat teeth and it doesn’t hurt. There were tiny babies literally born THAT morning in a separate quiet pen but the children could climb in and out of the other stalls (if they WANTED to be covered in goats) or hang out in the main room if they wanted a little more space. There were a few other people there and they were all as overwhelmed with the adorableness as we were – one of them FaceTimed her sister to show her how much fun the kids were having playing with the goats. Even my husband, who rolls his eyes at everything, loved the baby goats. BABY GOATS ARE THE BEST.

I would like to recommend baby goat therapy be added to Ways To Avoid Hating Everything.

After we got in our baby goat time – even Lincoln liked petting the baby goats – we stopped at the cheese room to try out some samples: aged cheddar, cheddar curds, 4 kinds of chevre, feta, and caramel sauce. They also sell soap, but we couldn’t eat that so we didn’t buy any. We DID buy an obscene amount of everything else and then stopped for bread and ice cream on the way home so we would have cheese and caramel mouth-delivery devices.

It was an excellent Family Fun Day and we are going back as soon as possible.

The annual Cabin Fever Chowder Cook-Off happened down in Mystic this weekend. It was PACKED from the second they opened at noon until we left several hours later. A couple booths ran out of chowder. It wasn’t a surprise – Saturday was the first non-cold, non-snowing, non-raining day we’ve had since before Christmas. I saw a couple people in shorts, even though the temps barely broke 50 degrees. Both my children refused their coats and ran around acting like it was summer, even as they fell into giant snow drifts that will probably never melt.

(As I sit here typing this the forecast on my TV screen is predicting snow showers in 6 of the next 7 days, but I can also see the end of February on my calendar so I am pretty sure we’re going to survive.)

Normally my family wouldn’t be super excited over a chowder cook-off (those weirdos don’t really like chowder) but I had a couple things working in my favor. First, it was at Olde Mystickee Villageeeee, which means they could eat at our favorite grilled cheese place while I stuffed cream-based seafood in my mouth. Second, our Navy friends who just moved back from Virginia were there, which means we each had a counterpart to talk to. Other people’s kids who wear out your kids are the best kids.

Evan was OBSESSED with these juggler/comedians. Some of their jokes were a little PG-13 but they went right over the small people’s heads so I didn’t feel too guilty laughing. My kid makes the best faces when he’s happy.

After I was done with chowder and the kids had burned off a little of their cabin fever we drove over to Stonington to find a brewery our friends had heard about. Since I’m all pregnant and stuff I didn’t get to participate in the tasting part, but E assures me it’s delicious. He bought a growler (a big jug of beer) and can take it back to get it refilled. It’s called Beer’d Brewing Co, which is my favorite part. Their logo is a beard. Obviously.

While E was waiting for his jug’o’alcohol the kids ran around the GIANT indoor space. I think they use it for the farmer’s market in the mornings but as a place to run/take pictures it was equally awesome. We’re definitely going back to explore the shops and galleries in the mill again (and so E can get more beer).

Since the weather was FINALLY warm enough for something besides layers on top of layers on top of layers, I broke out the kids’ new play clothes. Boden was nice enough to send us a few things last month and I’ve been saving them for a fun outing so I could take pictures.

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You have until midnight tonight to use the code 424F to get 20% off your Boden or Mini-Boden order. Tomorrow it will be 15% and Friday it will be 10%. You can also follow this link (not an affiliate link, just the discount). I ordered Evan adorable submarine swim trunks and Caroline a stripy, beachy dress. Clearly I’m ready for warmer days.

Disclaimer: Boden sent the kids the tops/bottoms in my photos but I wasn’t compensated for my post or opinions. I just can’t say no to adorable kid clothes.