Another day, another destination

Today, after spending the morning taking 300+ pictures off my phone and organizing them into folders on the computer, I decided to take the kids to Ben and Jerry's for a tour. That's right, I decided to drive an hour away, after lunch, during nap time, on a day when everyone went to bed really late. Foreshadowing anyone?

It ended up being a decent visit overall, but not without a lot of effort on my part. (And when I say effort, I mean effort not to sell the children to the nearest tourist)

We started and ended our visit at the playground. In between we managed to complete a tour without exhibiting any temper tantrums along the way! (oh, and the kids behaved well too). We also, of course, ate more than our fair share of ice cream.
At Ben and Jerry's today, Wyatt discovered the hand dryer. He would not move his hand! Very cute.
After the hour long drive home I decided to swing by the site of the new playground. Our town is building a (much needed) new playground. Read about it here.We've been following the construction of the playground for the past few days. When we drove by it yesterday the signs said that it would open tomorrow.
So, on the way home I figured I would drive by with the kids to see the final stages of construction before the big trip tomorrow to break it in. However, the playground was ready tonight. Yes, tonight; when I had my exhausted,un-dinnered, sugared-up, fighting children in the back. As soon as they saw the playground they screamed (in unison, like they rehearsed it) "OHMYGOD the playground is ready RIGHT NOW!!!!" I am not sure how I could have pretended not to notice that they wanted to go play. So, against my better judgement, away they went.

Sadly, although perhaps not surprisingly, it didn't end well. It involved hitting and maybe a little yelling from me. In fact, Connor was told he would not be able to go tomorow. That makes me really upset because I was planning on bringing everyone for a bike ride to the playground in the morning. However, he did the exact opposite of what I asked him to do, and he knew the consequence ahead of time. So, in the morning I will take the girls to the playground while he stays home. I hope that I will be able to take him in the afternoon, we'll see how his behavior is. These are the moments that make parenting really difficult.

Overall it was a decent day. Perhaps not the best day of vacation, but it was still nice to be with the kids. Today was also the first time we went to a place where it made sense to bring Wyatt. It was really nice to be able to bring him along, and I think he had a good time.

A mixed day

Yesterday we did a variety of things. We started the day by headed to the library for story time. When Connor and Aisling were toddlers I worked part time. Therefore, I used to take the two of them to story time every single week. We were always at the library. When Siobhan came along things changed a little bit. I spent most of last year fighting for a job it turned out I didn't even like; so I wasn't available to her as much as I would have liked. Then, this past year I began working full time. So, obviously, Siobhan hasn't spent nearly as much time at the library. We went yesterday for toddler/preschooler story time. It was so fun with her there! She was so enthralled with the whole thing, and had a blast. She was also clearly amazed by the number of books available to her. I think she would have taken out at least 97 books if I had let her! She settled for 7. Connor and Aisling were great too. Aisling participated in story time and even made the craft.Siobhan made the craft too, but miss cranky pants didn't want her picture taken! Connor wasn't interested and instead searched for books. It was a great time had by all.

When we got home Aisling had over one of her best friends from preschool. They had a good time and spent some time in the pool. I have no idea how they tolerated this, because it was pretty chilly!Connor headed back to the librarby with the same friend from yesterday's post. There was an event going on there with the producers of the local cable access channel. Apparently they made a public access commercial for the library! Since we con't have cable we won't see this on TV, but I think we'll be getting a copy on DVD. It sounded like he had a blast! He was then able to head out for ice cream with the same family.

Siobhan and Aisling and I spent the evening having some girl time and headed to the Shelburne Museum for their Doll Fashion Extravaganza! This was a blast. The theme of the evening was, obviously, fashion. We started the night at the "house of chic hair salon". The girls were able to do the hair and make up of their dolls. They had special American Girl brushes and tons of hair supplies for the girls. They girls were able to take the hair things with them, and were able to do their own hair as well!
They were also able to do their dolls' make up. Aisling was a little disappointed to learn this was just pretend, but was able to get into putting pretend make up on her doll!
After that we headed over to the "modeling school" where the girls were able to don fancy modeling clothing and practice walking up and down the runway. They had a blast with this!





Of course, no matter where Aisling is, if she hears music she dances. There was music pumping while at the modeling school, and while I was helping Siobhan out of her garb, I happened to notice Aisling cutting a rug!



From there we went to the "house of bling accessories" where they were able to make jewelry for themselves and/or their doll. Siobhan worked hard to make a necklace as well as an anklet for her doll. Aisling made a bracelet and an anklet for her doll.


After that we headed to the "material girl photo studio" where the girls got modeling headshots of themselves:

The girls were also able to make a frame for their pictures:

The building where the frame making was also had a play kitchen, which of course draws my two girls in like a fly to honey!
From there we left to go to the runway. The girls were able to participate in a fashion show, which they loved.






We ended up staying for a little while so that the girls could walk up and down the runway about 5,000 times!





Like any good Vermont event, this one included free Ben and Jerry's ice cream!


The event ended at 7:30. It occurred right at dinner time, which was a little bit of a pain. We ended up hitting Subway for dinner after 8:00, so that was a little nuts!
Once we had all the dolls (and girls) in their pajamas and clipped in safely, we were ready to head home!

The girls were wound up and didn't head to bed until around 10:00. But, it's summer vacation! I love having time to spend with my kids and this evening was nothing short of perfect! My girls love any opportunity to dress up. Pair that with spending time with your favorite doll, and you've got a perfect evening on your hands.


Note: Yes, I realize this entire event basically flies in the face of that article that's been going around on facebook: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html?ref=fb&src=sp

I do agree with EVERYTHING in this article. I also believe there is a place to have fun and celebrate being a girl. My girls had a blast, and there's nothing wrong with that!

We actually stayed home today!

Today we opted to stay home. I almost took the kids out for an open gym session at a place nearby, but couldn't get respite for Wyatt. That turned out to be a good thing. I think we needed a day to hang at home! We did some crafts in the morning, which was cool. It was neat to be with all of them working together. They all were in a great mood and were working together really well. Even Wyatt seemed really happy to be hanging out with us. Of course, we were sitting outside which is his favorite place, so that may have helped!

In the afternoon Connor went over a friend's house for a playdate. He went to the house of a friend who we have known for ever, but they've never had a playdate before. It worked out really well, and reportedly they had a blast!

While he was gone I was able to get Siobhan down for a nap, and Aisling and I had some time together. Given that we had some many strawberries from t
he other day, we decided to make chocolate covered strawberries!

Aisling, of course, stayed in her pajamas all day. It is, after all, summer vacation!