By some incredible stroke of good luck, a PR company working with Lake Compounce – the oldest amusement park in America! It’s historic! And full of charm! And quaint…itude! – found my blog and offered me 4 tickets to take the family and go check it out. Since kids 3 and under are free, I invited along Little Evan’s two best friends (and their mamas). I even talked E into taking a day off of work so we could avoid the weekend crowd – a very wise choice, because we had a GREAT time.

And if you live within a couple hours of Bristol, Connecticut, you’ll want to scroll to the end of this post so you can enter to win your own tickets!

It's all cute and old fashioned, but in the REAL way, not the Disneyfied way

You’ll have to excuse the terrible and/or highly edited photos. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of carrying stuff around all day so I brought the pocket-sized point and shoot instead of the Nikon. Also, the battery died half way through the day. And I was too busy having fun too care.

Caterpillar train was a HUGE hit

These were drums that went up and down. Another hit.

Swings! Do you see how my kid is the ONLY KID on them? It was awesome.

I was really doubtful that there would be much a 2 year old would enjoy at an amusement park. Maybe the Ferris Wheel (which, actually, was closed) and the trolley and some splashing in the water park (but with temps only in the upper 70’s we skipped getting wet). But the kid section was FULL of cool rides for small people and Little Evan was the bravest little daredevil ever. He even rode the kid-sized roller coaster with E with his hands up! I almost cried watching my kid ride rides by himself – who said he was allowed to be that grown up?! Why is this permitted? Isn’t someone going to yell at me for putting a baby on the motorcycle ride?!

Friend Tristan on the carousel in the kid's section

Riding the kid's carousel with Caroline. It was so nice to be able to do things even with a baby!

Friend Amelia choose a bunny instead of a horse

The weather was a little questionable – although after the 100+ days we’ve been having, a high of 78 with the occasional sprinkle felt FANTASTIC – so the park was not even a little bit crowded. We never waited in a single line and the kids were allowed to ride multiple times in a row without getting off.

I think the two most surprising things were that the park was super clean (despite the paper cups at all the free – FREE! – Pepsi fountains, I never saw a single one on the ground) and that the employees were crazy nice. Brainwashed levels of nice. DISNEY NICE. Where Lake Compounce found all those pleasant, polite, toddler-loving teenagers I have no idea, but I can’t even tell you how much nicer it made our day. They were helpful and patient and smiley and didn’t roll their eyes when we dragged a stroller onto the trolley (“Sir, you can put that up here by me in the front, there’s a lot more room”) or when I brought the baby onto the grown-up sized carousel (“Just hold on, it goes kind of fast!”).  Maybe management puts Prozac in the free soda or something.

Splash Harbor and the actual Lake. It would be worth going back just to do the water park side.

Reasonably priced (about $7) lunch. The free soda (and water) made it seem extra reasonable.

There were also a LOT of places to sit down. Benches, stone walls, chairs, tables, loungers. I had no problem finding a quiet spot to nurse Caroline (three separate times) and never got a single LOOK for doing it.  BTW, she was a doll the whole day, taking an afternoon nap in the stroller that gave E and I a chance to take turns on a few of the grown-up roller coasters. I would HIGHLY recommend The Revolution, even for non-roller coaster lovers. It might look scary but my friend Megan pronounced it  “just like a baby swing!”

Helpful and friendly trolley driver on the super cute antique trolley

Megan and I also rode the Wildcat, an old-fashioned wooden coaster, and E rode the Zoomerang, which goes upside down and looked sufficiently terrifying. We unfortunately picked the one day all summer the great big huge award winning wooden coaster that goes up the mountain was closed (boo-urns!) but I’ve heard it’s awesome.

But I think the best ride all day was the antique carousel.

Don't let the face fool you - he cried when I tried to make him get off.

Whee?

This pretty much sums up how I felt the whole day

Reflecting (ba-dum-ching) on our day

Are you jealous of our trip yet? It was a really, really, really good time and I promise no one is paying me to say that. I imagine if it had been hot and crowded and I’d been dragging around a screaming, napless toddler this wouldn’t sound nearly as glowing, but because we picked a semi-rainy weekday and the kids were all on their very best public place behavior it was one of the most fun summer days we’ve ever had.

OK! Here’s where you win a chance at your own set of tickets. They come as a 4-pack and are good for anyone (although remember kids 3 and under are free) so you could bring extra hands to hold your baby while you rode The Revolution. Lake Compounce is located in Bristol, Connecticut, right outside Hartford and minutes from I-84. We spent 5 (FIVE!!) hours at the park and didn’t even do the water stuff, so I would say it’s definitely worth a day trip from most places in the tri-state area.

To win the 4-pack of tickets, simply comment on this post and include the words “I WANT TO GO TO THE LAKE!” I’ll be picking winners from people who use that phrase, so if you’re NOT local and CAN’T make the trip feel free to comment without it. Please be sure to use a real email or link to your blog so I can contact you if you win (although you don’t need a blog to win!). Tickets will be mailed to the winner directly from Smarter Social Media. One entry per person. I’ll pick a winner on Friday! Giveaway is now closed, and “I want to go to lake!” -er number 17 won: Christa, who lives in Bristol! How convenient! Have a great time!

Good luck!

We went to the Sunflowers for Wishes event last year (with teeny tiny Evan – seriously, he looks like such a BABY in those pictures) and it was really fun but crowded and hot and although it mades a great photo op I wasn’t sure I wanted to try it with two babies. But Sunday was a little overcast with predicted showers so we headed out right when they opened for the day and it wasn’t too warm or crowded. Plus, ice cream made it totally worth it.

Buttonwood Farms

Even better, I had mentioned our plan to my two best mama friends (mamas to Little Evan’s two best toddler friends) and we ran into both of them before we got on the hayride! I love having real life friends and I love that we’ve lived here in Connecticut long enough that we often just “run into” people I know when we’re out doing stuff (Except of course when I run into my OB at the grocery store in my pj’s. True story.)

Hayride! They gave us hay to feed the cows this year and the toddlers LOVED it.

Little Evan was ready to throw his entire body out of the wagon to get closer to the Cow-Moos.

Cow-Moo. Don't you love his coloring?

I put E in charge of pictures because of his fancy new photography class skills, but unfortunately for all he’s learned about aperture and focus and ISO, he still doesn’t have an eye for (what I consider) PRETTY pictures. I think the technical term is “composition” or maybe “figuring out how to zoom so you cut the strangers out of the background.” He also sucks at getting the kids to LOOK AT THE DAMN CAMERA. I’m looking forward to Caroline being slightly more self-sufficient so I can take control of the camera again without a baby trying to eat the lens.

At least you can see Caroline's adorable sunflower clippie. I'm wearing one too. MATCHING SUNFLOWERS OMG WE'RE TOO CUTE FOR LIFE.

And now no one is looking at the camera. But I have cute hair, so I'm posting it anyways.

Sunny Baby!

That's the SMALL tractor wheel

Amelia declared the tractor DIRTY but Evan tried to convince her it was cool

And then it was time for ice cream. Amen.

So what if she's not my kid? She's adorable!

Bouquets

She drew a crowd with her cuteness and she loved it.

I love my ginger baby

I will just stop now before I post the other five dozen shots of sunflowers in fields

If you’re seeing this and thinking “Oh no! We didn’t go this weekend!” don’t worry! You’ve got all week to go take your own gorgeous sunflower photos. I highly recommend 10 am sharp as the best time of the day.

The clippies Caroline and I are wearing came from Audry & Ulric, who I’ve written about as one of my favorite handmade shops before. The wonderful Samantha sent them to us as a lovely surprise thank you for mentioning her in my post last week. Isn’t she sweet?! I can’t even tell you how many people stopped me to compliment them.

Sunday:

Tug of War. Caroline won.

To really drive a speed boat corectly he's going to need a beer and a sunburn.

Chubby arm

Grocery shopping. My what a lot of carbs you have.

Monday:

No YOU'RE wearing mismatched pajamas!

Kisses from a friend at Stroller Strides

Chillin' in the only room with A/C and a tv - our super messy bedroom

Tuesday:

I made a mess! Look how happy I am!

My official water sprayer at Stroller Strides

Temp at 9 am. Blerg.

Sibiling bath time is now everyone's favorite part of the day - they love the tub and I love that it means it's almost BEDTIME.

Wednesday:

I started my first new knitting project in months. Very excited.

"I am just going to warn you now, I am thinking about standing up. Just so you know."

DADDY HORSE GO!

 Thursday:

Mom mom mom mom mom mom are you watching mom?

TA DA!

Maybe I should have named her Clementine

Friday:

Visiting the knitting shop means knitting for me, dancing with adorable little girls for Little Evan

This is what the clock said when I woke up from MY nap. Yay naps.

We tried out the video chat on Google+ (I love it! We should do it!)

This is literally the first time she has ever been in the crib. Ever. I had to empty all the junk out.

Saturday:

Homemade teething biscuits. They were not crunchy, but good for baby nomming.

I have no idea what's going on here.

Target dressing room self portrait. I bought it.

Aw, look at my adorable pale family.

It was one of those weeks that FELT super busy but we really didn’t do much. The feeling-like-crap for a few days didn’t help – neither did the heat – but the weekend so far as been good. I’ve got another book review to write (as soon as I finish the book)(which is due tonight)(eeek) and some BlogHer conference freaking out to do and dinner on the patio to plan and children to snuggle, so I’ll be back but probably not until Tuesday. Hope your weekend was fantastic!

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!

This isn’t a post about going to BlogHer (although I AM leaving to GO to BlogHer so if you’re as annoyed at all the conference talk as I was last year you can skip it – or just go read that post). This is about whether or not leaving my kids – especially Caroline – with my husband for three days is something I can handle. I also apologize if this is the bazillionth time you’ve heard me talk about this, because I’ve been word-vomiting all over everyone for weeks anytime any subject even remotely related comes up.

I asked for similar last year and got lots of reassurance that going to a bridal shower without my 15 month old didn’t make me a terrible mother. Then a month later I left him again for The Creative Connection Conference…and again he survived. Since then, I’ve even managed to leave him in the care of other people who are not his father (although never for a weekend) and he’s a total champ about it.

But that first time I left? Little Evan was 15 months and done nursing. Caroline is going to be just short of 8 months old and still totally addicted to the boob. So addicted, in fact, that besides the one bottle she took at a few weeks old (when I foolishly declared “Yah! She takes a bottle!” and then stopped offering them. Idiot, party of one) she gets all her milk straight from the tap. I have tried every suggestion the internet has for bottle/cup/spoon/sippy feeding but I think the only thing that’s going to work is me being completely unavailable and her being extremely hungry. So I just have to…leave. And let E deal with it. Or find some poor sap and pay them a bucketload of money to do it for us.

I suspect there is going to be the kind of crazy inconsolable screaming that makes parents genuinely those their minds, and although E is a little less sensitive to it than I am I cannot help but feel like the world’s biggest jerk for (sort of) intentionally creating that situation. What if she screams the WHOLE TIME? What if she never does take a bottle? What if she gets so dehydrated she makes herself ill and E has to take her to the ER and the doctor says “Oh, did your wife die?” and E says “No she went to San Diego to talk about blogging and party” and I end up on Dateline as the Worst Mother In The World?

Part of me realizes there is nothing FAIR about being a parent. Someone is always going to feel like they are doing MORE, and in general we take turns being that person. But this isn’t about whose turn it is to unload the dishwasher. This is about – forgive me if this seems a little overdramatic, I am feeling VERY OVERDRAMATIC – intentionally making Caroline miserable, ruining a baby’s sense of security and happiness and leaving my responsibilities with someone else.

(And hundreds of working moms just decided to slap me right in my face if they see it at BlogHer. Please understand that is NOT what I mean. I’m worried because I am upsetting my own personal status quo for what is basically a girl’s weekend, not making a general sweeping statement about leaving babies for any reason.)

I suppose I could bring her. Lots of people bring their babies. It’s not unheard of. Since all of my roommates are moms -plus one of my roommates is pregnant and one is leaving her own nursing baby at home – I’m sure they would understand. She’s an incredibly easy going baby (BESIDES THE BOTTLE THING) and loves people and would probably have a great time distracting me from the sessions and making me whip my boob out in front of all my blogging idols.

So there it is. I don’t WANT to bring my baby to BlogHer. I’ve been looking forward to this mommy-gets-a-break time for more than 2 years and nothing would ruin that faster than 20 hours of travel time in 4 days with a baby in tow. I want to wear real bras that hold my chest up and dresses and high heels. I want to have TWO glasses of wine and not feel like I’m abusing my child. I want to be awake at 2 am because I WANT TO BE, not because a baby needs me.

That sounds SO SELFISH, right? What kind of mother thinks that? It’s not Caroline’s fault she loves me and needs me, she’s a freakin’ BABY. And like my husband keeps pointing out, BlogHer will be there next year. This is not my LAST CHANCE IN THE WORLD to go have fun with my interwebs friends. But at this point it’s too late to not go at all without being out a big chunk of change and letting down at least one person I was looking forward to meeting in person.

I would never have even bought a ticket if I knew Caroline was going to be just as stubborn about the bottles as her brother. But now it’s down to the wire and I’m so stressed about it I am literally making myself sick.

Seriously, what do I do?

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I am ALL OVER the interwebs today, thanks to a couple of beautiful ladies who are letting me guest post.

If you’re going to BlogHer, Suz at Suz’s Treats is running a series of advice posts for conference newbies. Since I haven’t actually BEEN to BlogHer, I have no idea why she agreed to include me, but check out my very calming advice.

And Julie from Back to the Basics (she’s basically my twin – she’s about to have her second, a girl, has an almost 2 year old boy and also loves Hanging with Friends) is taking some much needed bloggy rest time during a hectic work month so she let me fill in today with a post about how I’ll do anything to get my kids to sleep.