I lived in Massachusetts for a few years in elementary and middle school, which is one of the reasons I like living in New England so much – it reminds me of all the fun stuff I did as a kid. My parents/school/church youth group loved Doing Stuff so I Did A Lot Of Stuff between the ages of 9 and 14. We went to amusement parks and museums and cities and zoos, and one of the places I have vague memories of is Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Mass. This week we went up to check it out during the day trip portion of our summer vacation, since it’s only about 75 minutes away.

What I didn’t remember is that it’s a private zoo (I’m not sure I even knew that was still a thing?) and that it’s in the middle of nowhere. Our GPS took us down what I swear was a 3 mile driveway to a grass field…that turned out to be the parking lot. But the inauspicious entrance didn’t mean the zoo was a disappointment – in terms of animals they had more variety than our much-beloved Roger Williams Park Zoo. Plus they had the deer forest. I love the deer forest. We all love the deer forest, even E, although after I discovered how much he loved the baby goat farm I’m not sure why I’m surprised.

Southwick’s Zoo had a really nice military discount too (E was free, the rest of us were half-price) so it is definitely worth the drive for us. My tips: show up right at 10 am, park close to the entrance, and pack a picnic lunch in your car so you don’t have to buy zoo food. Let your kid pick ONE ride each (Evan picked the Skyfari, Caroline took a pony ride) and don’t waste money on the other tourist trap stuff. Bring lots of quarters for deer food. There are a ton of hills and it’s surprisingly big (my Fitbit said we walked 4.87 miles) so wear comfortable shoes. Wearing Linc was definitely a better choice than pushing a stroller up the huge hill at the end of the day would have been.

The tiger had a huge enclosure but was hanging out RIGHT next to the building. It must have been feeding time.

She saw an ape swinging from some ropes and was AMAZED.

It was clear they’ve done (and are doing) a lot of improvements/updates to the zoo, which were really nice. Zoos sometimes make me a little sad, but conservation and awareness seemed to be a big part of their program (for the record, this isn’t sponsored or endorsed, I just liked it).

Not tall enough for anything. Yet.

You’re not allowed to put the corn in a plastic bag, so we used the hat Lincoln refused to wear.

We couldn’t give Linc the corn to feed the deer because he kept eating it.

IS THAT NOT THE FAKEST-LOOKING DEER YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE? I’ve seen taxidermied deer that look less animatronic.

Vacation is over as of bedtime tonight, so back to regular life we go. But if ever my children say we never did anything fun with them, I have tons of photographic proof their childhoods were MAGICAL.

Sunday:

Linc felt he needed a snack JUST as the tide started coming in.

Boogie boarding

The Russian judge only gave them a 8.7

Monday:

It’s Pims O’Clock – time for Pims Cups and cards

He likes the beach house

I love the beach house

Tuesday:

Good bye bunk room

Good bye pluff mud

HELLO LAKE HOUSE

Wednesday:

Topless at Walmart, because we’re super classy

Drinking and boating (when you’re 4.5)

Drinking and boating (when you’re 1)

Thursday:

Water fun

Bucket head

Poor baby has no idea he isn’t a big kid who can kayak

Friday:

Linc loves the ugly couch

On your anniversary you don’t have to split a dessert

Happy 11 years to us

Saturday:

How many guys does it take to deflate an air mattress?

It’s a good thing he was wrapped or he would have climbed right onto that horse

Evening cruising and tubing and water skiing and kneeboarding

Want to hear something crazy? Even though we’ve been on vacation almost 2 weeks when we get home we get to have a staycation for a few days. We plan to alternate between doing all the things and doing nothing (preferably at the lake) so we can enjoy the last days of summer before school starts. I’m not ready for school. This year I have two lunches to pack every day and there is nothing I hate more than packing lunches.

{Evan’s 12 month post} {Caroline’s 12 month post}

So it’s kind of funny. When Evan turned 12 months, I definitely still thought of him as a baby on the brink of toddlerhood. When Caroline turned 12 months, I thought of her as a toddler who was basically a real person.

Today Lincoln turns 12 months and he might as well still be 4 months old.

Don’t tell HIM that – he thinks he’s a human who can jump on the couch and climb stairs and swim in the lake and eat ham at the grocery store and feed his own self and use my phone and set a schedule. He can actually do about half of that stuff, although I try my best to discourage it.

But I still think of him as a tiny baby. He still gets up most nights to nurse and it hasn’t occurred to me to discourage that. I only started putting him in his crib a week or two ago and most of the time he ends up in my bed before morning. I never remember to bring shoes for him, because why would a baby need to put their feet on the ground? I have five bazillion baby wearing devices and use all of them regularly. Every time I say something to him and he appears to actually understand what I’m saying I am SHOCKED. The fact that he doesn’t talk yet doesn’t worry me because babies can’t talk.

I’m not sure how long I’ll be convinced of his babyhood. Maybe I’ll feel that way forever – or at least until there’s a new baby, if there ever is a new baby. The future is unclear. But the right now is full of an adorable, slightly ginger baby who is a joy and a light in our crazy family. We all love him to pieces.

At 12 months, Linc wears 12 or 18 month sizes in clothes and a 5.5 shoe, He has at least 8 teeth. There are some molars back there too and his canines are coming through, but NO WAY do I want to stick my finger in his mouth. He likes both real food and nursing. He never crawls anymore.

Likes include water, sand, eating sand, baby food pouches, cheese, meatballs, nursing, cuddles, giving kisses, dogs, cats, anything with fur, his yellow blankie, naps, blowing raspberries, phones, cords, taking trash out of the trash can, climbing, pooping and smiling at everyone.

Dislikes are being hungry, being told not to kill himself, being rescued from danger and milk from a cup.

Add “being still long enough to have his picture taken” to the list of haaaaaaaates.

‘ ‘

3rd baby, 3rd blankie, 3rd favorite lovie

LASHES

Bye! Leaving!

Are you coming??

Ok, well, you sit there. I have places to go.

JUST KIDDING I LOVE YOU!

Come with me if you want to live…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET BOY! Everyone who knows you loves you so, so much.

12 Month Milestones (originally from BabyCenter)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Imitates others’ activities – Pretends to talk on the phone, can throw things away, likes to steal people’s chairs. It’s like he thinks he’s a real person.
Indicates wants with gestures – I feel like he doesn’t really have control over his arms most of the time. He screeches rather than points or signs.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Takes a few steps – Runs. And just learned how to climb onto the couch.
Says one word besides “mama” or “daddy” – He still doesn’t really talk. I don’t have much trouble understanding him, but he doesn’t really say mama or daddy yet.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Walks alone – I feel like if there’s one thing that applies to all children I give birth to, it’s their advanced walking skills.
Scribbles with a crayon – Likes to chew on markers?
Says two words besides “mama” or “dada” – No. I figure in a couple months he’ll just start talking in complete sentences.

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.

Happy (late) Fourth of July! We went to Cape Cod, like we try to do every year. I missed 2014 because I was so pregnant I couldn’t imagine being more than 10 minutes away from the hospital. And then I didn’t have a baby for another 3 weeks. Good times.

Our Massachusetts relatives really know how to throw a party, especially if you are a kid. They rent a big inflatable water slide so I barely saw Evan or Caroline the whole day. I eventually bribed Caroline with salt water taffy to come down to the beach and take some pictures with me, but no one else fell for it.

We stayed super late this year to see the fireworks, which was a mistake. They’re fireworks. Boom, flash, oooooo, aaaaaah. And then an extra 90 minutes of traffic to get off the Cape with three incredibly exhausted children and two very tired adults. We made it home but it took me two days to recover from my completely non-drinking related hangover. I think that makes me a real grown up, which is way less fun than being not a grown up.

Please enjoy a ton of photos of our day:

The parade every year includes a ton of the floats/marchers throwing candy. Like, tons of candy. So much candy. The lady sitting next to us was really worried about her grandkid (kid? great grandkid?) getting enough candy – and by “enough” I mean she felt like he deserved ALL the candy. She kept shoving him in front of my kids (and their cousins) and saying “You have to be faster! Don’t be afraid to get in front of kids! Grab it!”. For the record, her kid was significantly bigger than both of mine and just ONE KID who definitely did not need a zillion Tootsie rolls, Dum Dums and pieces of Double Bubble.

Since my kids aren’t allowed gum (I’m not a meanie, they just don’t understand how to now swallow it) I had them walk over to her kid and give him every piece of gum they picked up.

And then she STILL shouted at her kid to be sure to grab as much candy as possible. Some people are just not good people. I’m really glad I only had to sit next to her at a parade and not live or raise my children next to her in real life.

This is Caroline pretending to swim. She asked me to take a picture.

Fun with glowsticks!

Tired, tired Caroline. Honestly I think the kids have been tired ever since. I put them to bed before dark tonight, so hopefully they sleep in and maybe we’ll have a less melt-down filled day tomorrow.