It’s well documented that matching pajamas are one of my favorite things. I did my Christmas pajama shopping super early this year, since I was worried about getting them in time for our early December events. While I was shopping, I came across a pair of baby deer pajamas with a matching hat. I thought “My baby has plenty of pajamas, he does not NEED these pajamas.” And then I thought about the state of the world right now and how I’m willing to throw money at basically anything that makes me super, super happy so I bought them.

Please enjoy this photo shoot of Finnegan, 14 months, frolicking like a fawn in the leaves. He ate sticks and dirt and threw rocks and drooled everywhere and was just perfect.

If you need deer pajamas, you can find the hat here: deer pilot cap

And the pajamas here: baby sleeper 

I don’t usually dress up for Halloween. Grown-up costumes are either too cheap or too expensive and never fit right, if they fit at all. I don’t want to be a Sexy Crayon or a Sexy Elmo or a Sexy Fire Hydrant. I just want to be a regular mom in yoga pants who steals all the peanut butter candy after the kids go to bed.

But this year, we needed some extra Halloween magic, so we did a family Halloween costume.

Putting on a Supergirl costume – and wearing it in public – is terrifying. I am not Supergirl. I am a 35-year-old mother of 4. But during this deployment, I don’t get a choice. I HAVE to be super, all the time. With the kids, the house, the dog, the finances, my work, the holidays, all of it. It feels like I am lifting heavy objects, dodging bullets and leaping over obstacles on a daily basis. So if the cape fits, I’m going to wear it. And the boots. And some bright red lipstick.

And if I’m going to put that much effort into our family of superheroes Halloween costumes, you can bet I’m going to turn it into a photo shoot. We headed down the street and borrowed an abandoned mill (possibly the old Hopkins & Allen firearms factory? I’m not good at telling the many abandoned brick buildings downtown apart) for a cityscape. The kids had a GREAT time playing superhero and even if I still don’t love looking at myself in photos, I know I won’t be sorry to have these. I can’t wait for E to get a chance to see that I’m using my super strength to hold everything together well enough to still have fun.

Any of these that I am in were taken by Evan and/or Caroline. I taught them how back button focus, framing, and shooting works (with the camera safely on a tripod) and they did an awesome job.

In case you were wondering, Evan and Caroline’s costumes came from Chasing Fireflies (Caroline this year, Evan last year), Finnegan’s Robin and Supergirl are from Zulily, and Linc’s was bought on a local resale page. I’m pretty sure it’s pajamas, but it’s comfortable and he loves it.

Lake Compounce provided us with free tickets to visit this month, but all opinions, statements, and photos are my own.

Here is the Top 10 List of reasons we had a great time at Lake Compounce:

1. Right in the middle of Connecticut, so it’s close to us and lots of other places.
2. Tons of rides in the kid section that everyone over age 2 could ride without grown-ups.
3. Super fun scary roller coasters for the grown-ups.
4. Wicked friendly employees.
5. Lots of shade and places to sit down when you’re tired.
6. Free fountain drinks all over the park so no one ever complained they were thirsty.
7. Stroller-friendly.
8. Nursing-friendly.
9. Parent-friendly (My husband changed all the diapers all day, because the men’s room had changing tables.)
10. Just the right size to spend the whole day.

E and I took Evan to Lake Compounce several years ago, back when he was Baby Evan, and had a great time then too. But I had a very tiny Baby Caroline and didn’t get to ride very many things myself, so I mostly remember just the toddler area. Since then, they’ve done a bunch of renovations, added new coasters and spruced things up so even though it’s the oldest amusement park in the country it’s beautiful and clean. Don’t worry, about the nostalgia though, because it’s still got plenty of that.

We got there at 11 am on a Sunday and the kids walked on to every ride until at least 1 pm. They’re the only ones on those drums!

The only photo of me from the day: Caroline LOVED this thing and was super mad she couldn’t go on the grown-up version.

We got free soda while we waited for E to ride Phobia. It took me several more hours to decide if I was also going to ride Phobia. I did. It was fun.

Praise hands for this Joovy stroller we still love. Finn was happy riding/sleeping/chilling in it all day, between rides in the Tula so I could nurse.

After Evan suddenly, drastically changed his mind about roller coasters (Saturday: “I WANT TO RIDE THEM ALL!” Sunday: Won’t even get on the kid-sized coaster Linc rode with his arms up) I wasn’t sure he would try any of the rides. But he loved the log flume.

Evan also loved the Ghost Hunt ride, probably because he likes shooting games. I did not partake, because haunted houses are not my thing. Caroline and Linc both rode, because they take after their father.

That is possibly the best picture I’ve ever taken.

I don’t remember the dinosaurs from the last time we visited, but the kids loved it.

Caroline clearly didn’t enjoy herself at all.

Despite Evan’s skeptical face, we rode Thunder Rapids twice in a row and got SOAKED. It was great.

The lake/waterpark opens this weekend. I promised the kids we could come back for it later this summer.

I bought extra clothes JUST IN CASE they got wet, which is why they’re in different clothes than the beginning of the day.

Goodbye Lake Compounce! See you again soon!

If you’re in the New England area, I would definitely recommend making the trip to Bristol to have your own super fun day. You can use this link/code to get a discount on your internet tickets:

Link: https://www.lakecompounce.com/blogreader?promocode=BeBehSBlog17

Promocode: BeBehSBlog17

Thank you again to Lake Compounce for providing us with the tickets (p.s. kids under 3 are free)!

I bought two new cameras recently. One is a new DSLR, the D750 I’ve wanted since the very first time I heard the term “full frame” and imagined maybe some day I would be good enough to justify such a large purchase. The other one was a Nikon N80 film photography body, an SLR camera released in 2000 that uses 35mm. I paid $26 for it on eBay after losing out on half a dozen other Nikon film cameras. The best part is I can use my good lenses on that cheap camera, so I can shoot at 1.4 or 1.8 and my film doesn’t all come out super dark.

I’ve been carrying both cameras around with me since they came. The D750 is everything I’ve ever dreamed of – fast, incredible in low light, super sharp, amazing with my favorite 35mm lens. It’s making me excited to shoot again, trying out how it does with all my lenses and getting used to the slight differences in button set-up from my last Nikon.

But the film camera has my heart. There is just something about that delayed gratification that makes me really treasure my film photos more than my digital. Which is funny, because even though I take the photos on film, when they’re developed and sent back to me they’re digital files. So it has less to do with the tangibility of the product and more to do with thinking of each frame as a valuable commodity – is this moment worth capturing? When I develop this roll will I want this picture on it? Does it go with all the other photos?

I’m making it sound more serious than it is. I’m trying to make sure my shots aren’t a disaster but I’ll still take a pic of the kids making funny faces or toes in the grass or someone twirling even though I’m pretty sure I will never take a twirling photo in focus. There is still SO MUCH I don’t know about film and honestly, I might never learn it all? But that’s ok. You don’t actually have to know everything about something to enjoy it. I like cooking, but I can’t make a turducken. I like knitting but still can’t do short rows. I really like money but who even knows how that stuff works?

My only goal is to be proud of my work, and thus, here is my whole first ever roll of Fuji 400H Pro (the film stock of fancy wedding photographers). I love them all, even the technically bad ones.

If you have an old film camera laying around somewhere, I am happy to answer questions that might help you start using it again!

During spring break we took the kids to Old Sturbridge Village, which is one of our favorite places. We only made it 45 minutes before Evan started complaining his feet hurt, and after 3 hours all the kids were D O N E with the walking and looking at stuff and waiting a whole 10 minutes for a carriage ride. It does not fill me with confidence that our trip to Disney World will go well.

(Have I told you we’re going to Disney World??? We’re going to Disney World! I am SO EXCITED.)

The kids don’t know we’re going yet. I’m not planning to tell them anytime soon. But I do need them to get used to walking, so I’m instituting the Disney Training Plan. Basically, that just means we’re spending a lot more time hiking and a lot less time watching Netflix between now and June.

But I’m not trying to make their lives miserable, I’m just trying to whip them into shape, so I’ve planned our hikes in places they will have fun. I need them to enjoy the walking now so they will REALLY enjoy the walking when it’s between rides and parades and restaurants in Florida. Our first training day involved a 3.5 mile hike around Bluff Point. I wore Finn, Evan and Caroline walked the whole way, and Linc did about half walking, half in the Tula on E’s back. We all survived!

He really wasn’t as annoyed as he looks in that last photo.

Everyone went to bed very early with no argument tonight. I think *I* am going to need the longest to recover, I haven’t hiked with a baby on my back since last spring and it’s a lot of work when you have a super chunk for an 8-month-old. Our next walk will be a nice short one around the neighborhood, then a longer hike again. I’ll let you know how the Disney Training Program worked out once I force them to walk 10 miles a day for four days. I figure if we all survive, that’s a success.