P.S. I changed some of the settings on my computer to try and get more accurate color and brightness calibration but until I get a real colorimeter my photos might look too bright/weird.  I promise I’m fixing it!

Last Tuesday the kids and I headed up to East Hartford for a fun blogger playdate sponsored by Hood Ice Cream and their new Harvey Bars. If you live in New England you’ve probably seen their commercials (Who put the bar in the bar-di-bar-di-bar…)(It’s actually pretty cute) but I hadn’t seen them at my grocery store yet so I was excited to give them a try.

It was 90+ degrees which I think is perfect weather for ice cream. Especially free ice cream.

A++++ will buy again. The kids loved the cookies and cream but the toffee crunch was amaaaazing.

It was also great to see some of the Connecticut bloggers I’ve met over the past year again, plus put actual faces to the names I see online. Everyone was so nice and Evan declared at least five kids to be his new best friend. Even Caroline had a good time blowing bubbles for a “baby friend.”

The question was: Who wants fore ice cream??

The Hood Company was founded here in Connecticut and has been making ice cream for more than 100 years. The Harvey Bar is named after Harvey Perley Hood, who started the company and always wore a bow tie (it’s the tie on the bar wrapper a cute tribute?) We love local companies, plus we love ice cream, so it was a great event for us. Thanks to Hood, Shift Communications and Julie for inviting us!

I was invited to the Hood Playdate by Julie, who is in my local Facebook group. We receives snacks, ice cream, and coupons in exchange for attending, with no obligation to share our experience.

I took some family photos for a friend last night. 456 photos. I’m only 1/8th of the way done editing, but I skipped ahead to the end, when her daughter copied my very bad example and waded right in. Would it be weird to frame a photo of someone else’s kid?

p.s. Literally the first time EVER I got the horizon straight in-camera.

There was a ton of stuff going on in our area over the weekend: members weekend at the Aquarium, the International Food Festival in Mystic, the annual Butterfly Pavilion in Norwich AND it was Connecticut Open House weekend.

Unfortunately, it was also one of those weekends where none of us really felt like getting off the couch. I swear our day in Brooklyn last Sunday threw the kids off all week, and there were a ton of couch naps that led to super early wake-ups that meant even more couch naps and we were all a little sleep-deprived and short-tempered. E had duty Friday which meant he didn’t get home until lunch on Saturday, so that day was mostly a wash. I tried to fit ALL THE THINGS in on Sunday and ended up with two very unhappy kids in a butterfly pavilion, begging to go home. So we did. I like family activities, I don’t like torturing my children. Even to get more photos. Clearly I got enough photos.

They refused to consider any of the food besides The Bleu Squid for grilled cheese and cupcakes.

Black Forest cupcake

Lobster roll. Lobster & a little mayo with lemon on top. As it should be.

Caroline was really, really excited to get her face painted and tried hard to sit still. Of course, she’s 2. I’m 31 and I can hardly sit still to have my make-up done at the Clinique counter at the mall (I don’t like people touching my eyes) (NO ONE likes people touching their eyes!). The patient make-up artist managed to get it done though – including a layer of glitter over the whole thing – and Caroline became Kitty Caroline. She ran all over the Oldey Mistickey Villagey meowing and stopping people in their tracks to go “Awwwwwwwww! Look at her face! She’s a kitty! Bob, Bob come look at this kitty! Isn’t she adorable?!” At this point I feel like taking my child out in public is like hanging out with one of the minor Kardashians. Krispy? Krumbly? Whatever they’re called. I should start spelling it Karoline.

It’s like E is wearing THREE hats!

Caroline met Ariel & got her autograph. She was pretty impressed. And a little skeptical.

The Butterfly Pavilion was cool, but kind of crowded. They encouraged you to let the butterflies crawl/land on you and even had sugar water to dab on your fingers. Caroline liked it. Evan was D O N E, so we didn’t stay long.