Successful Sleepover

M and I had an adult-only wedding to attend Friday night, so the kids stayed over at a friend’s place (they have two boys and their older son used to be in the same preschool class as big sister K).  Big sister K has been looking forward to the sleepover for ages now, but I was worried that baby M wouldn’t do as well (I started prepping him weeks ago).  He usually sticks to us like glue, so I was afraid he’d be crying up a storm at night time when he didn’t have mommy and daddy there.  To my surprise, he did really well and didn’t cry at all!  I was told he only woke up once at 3:00am and asked to go pee pee, but he went right back to sleep afterwards.

 

It was our first time ever without the kids (almost six years… sad huh?).  I am extremely grateful for having such wonderful friends to watch them, though it felt weird not having to constantly run after the little munchkins (definitely not used to all the peace and quiet!).  The kids had a blast and came home Saturday morning all smiles.  I’m sure big sister K will be asking for another sleepover in the near future.

 

Hubby and me at the wedding...

Flying

Prior to our trip, baby M was looking forward to getting on the plane and flying somewhere.  Now that he’s old enough to understand what that entails, I don’t think he’s as much of a fan anymore after being on one.  He did pretty well on both flights, but towards the end, he kept saying he wanted to get off the plane.  During landing, he refused to sit by himself and insisted on plopping himself on my lap (it was a total waste of money to get a separate seat for him).

 

While I am happy that baby M is potty-trained, it does make traveling a bit more inconvenient at times.  He must’ve gone potty at least six times during the flight to Los Angeles, and I made sure he went right before we landed, but as we were landing, he started crying that he needed to go potty again.  I had him in a diaper (just in case), but he didn’t want to go in the diaper.  Everyone around us was staring as my son started making a scene.  Begrudgingly, I got us out of our seats and made our way to the restrooms.  Unfortunately, they were locked and the not-too-compassionate flight attendant rudely informed us we needed to get back to our seats.  Once I was able to calm baby M down, I told him he would just have to pee in his diaper, and as soon as we landed, we would get him cleaned up.  He did as told, and as soon as he was relieved, all was well with the world.

We came back from California on Wednesday.  The trip was good, but the return flight was one of the longest I’ve ever had.  We were delayed leaving San Francisco that morning.  Rather than departing at the scheduled time of 10:38am, we took off at 12:15pm due to anticipated bad weather back in New York.  That should have been a sign of worse things to come, but at that point, I think we all just wanted to leave.  I was able to occupy big sister K with my iPad while baby M slept for a good two hours.  Of course, a six hour flight would get anyone antsy towards the end.  As we approached Newark, the pilot announced that the air traffic controller would not allow us to land (apparently there was a backlog of flights).  We circled around the air for about two hours before the plane ran out of fuel, at which point the pilot came back on and told us we’d have to land in Syracuse to refuel.

 

Fortunately, we were able to leave Syracuse after refueling (there was some concern that they wouldn’t let us fly out and we’d end up spending the night there).  It was past 10:30pm when we landed in Newark… add to that the delay in getting our luggage, plus waiting for the shuttle bus to pick up our car… by the time we got home, it was 1:00am.  Oh the fun!  It could’ve been a lot worse if we had two cranky kids, so I am thankful that for the most part, they were in good spirits.

It will take me some time to put together an entry about our 13-day vacation in California... stay tuned!

Barbecue Dance-Off

We went to my sister-in-law's place for their somewhat annual July 4th barbecue.  That night, the kids built a fire and started roasting up s'mores.  Then someone came up with the idea for a dance-off.  First prize winner gets $25, second prize winner gets $5, and third prize winner gets $1 (cash donated by all the adults). Those of you who knows big sister K would know how much she loves to dance.  So despite being totally exhausted (it was way past her bedtime), she was willing to go up on "stage" and put on a solo performance.  Everyone paired up... big sister K wanted to dance to the "Happy" song, but the other kids already their own songs in mind, so she ended up going by herself (and she was by far the youngest contestant).  Sorry there's no video, but take my word for it - she did great.  She came in second, but even if she didn't win at all, I would be just as proud of her.

Here are all the winners!  Big sister K is boldly displaying her $5 winnings.

Photo with almost all the kids... a combination of family and friends.

Water Play

It is true when people say that if you have more than one child, they tend to be total opposites of each other.  Big sister K LOVES the water (I can’t emphasize enough on the LOVES).  Once she is in the pool, she refuses to come out.  Baby M, not so much.

 

At daycare, baby M has water play once a week.  The toddlers don’t get submerged in water or anything, but there would be water tables and sprinklers for the kids to play with and run around in.  Big sister K used to love water play and would get soaking wet.  This is the second week of water play for baby M, and both times, his clothes and towel have come back bone dry.

 

When I dropped baby M off this morning, his teachers told me that he was trying as hard as possible not to get wet yesterday.  Here are the different tactics he went through:

• He held onto his towel for dear life, for he knew that as long as he had it, he wouldn’t get splashed.
• He started taking off his water shoes and swim trunks when they were outside since he figured if he didn’t wear them, he wouldn’t have to do water play.
• He told his teachers he had to go potty, so he went inside to go in one of the other classrooms.  Every time the teacher asked if he was done, he always said no.  He sat on the toilet for so long that eventually, the rest of his class came back inside.  When the teacher told him his friends were back from water play, he instantly said “All done!” and jumped up from the toilet.  He never did go pee… the little sneak.

On the one hand, I am a bit dismayed that he doesn’t share the same fondness towards water as his sister does, but on the other, I can’t help but be impressed that my 2-year old would think of and go through such lengths to avoid water play.  He’s got the rest of the summer to go, so let’s see what new schemes he’ll come up with in the upcoming weeks.

Lancaster Trip

The kids had a blast on our 3-day weekend trip to Lancaster.  No particular reason why we picked Lancaster, but I felt like every time we went on vacation, it was always more for big sister K.  I wanted to do something that baby M would really enjoy, so knowing how much he loves Thomas the train, much research went into the works.  I purchased the Day Out With Thomas tickets months ago and pretty much planned everything around it (worked out well that it also happened to be right after our wedding anniversary… nine years baby!).

 

Our excursion started off Friday morning at Herr’s Snack Factory.  I had made tour reservations for 10:30am, and we got there with five minutes to spare.  We made good time considering the pit stop we were forced to take for baby M (avoided an accident in the car, phew!).  No surprise that the kids’ favorite part of the tour was eating the warm potato chips that just got pulled out of the production line.

 

In case you were wondering, yes the big white bag next to us is loaded with chips!

 

After Herr’s, we went to the Turkey Hill Experience, an indoor attraction where kids can play, learn how ice cream is made, and even make their own ice cream flavor.  This place is fairly new; it didn’t exist the last time M and I were in Lancaster (though that was probably more than a decade ago).  We spent the entire afternoon there and the kids had a great time.  Big sister K used the computer to create her own ice cream flavor, designed the packaging, and even made her own commercial to market the product.  Baby M went into their ball pit and refused to come out (he could’ve easily spent all day there).  Best part (or worst, depending on your perspective) is the unlimited ice cream sampling.  Add to that the pint of ice cream we were each given to create our own ice cream flavor with, and I have had enough ice cream to last me the entire summer!

At the start of the Turkey Hill Experience...

My whole family is nuts!

 

Did somebody say BALL PIT!?

Woohoo!  We even get matching hats!

 

By the time we checked in at the Lancaster Marriott, it was close to dinner time.  The hotel was located downtown near a bunch of shops and restaurants.  We took a nice stroll around the neighborhood, but after all the ice cream we had, none of us were in the mood for anything heavy, so we just got some wraps and brought it back to the hotel to eat.  The kids slept soundly that night, as did us.

 

Saturday marked the official start of summer and was also the longest day of the year.  Baby M has been looking forward to Saturday for quite some time now because he knew that was when he would be seeing Thomas (we’ve been threatening not to take him to see Thomas whenever he misbehaved… now we need to find a new leverage).  I had gotten tickets for the 10:45am train.  The ride was only 22 minutes long and didn’t really go anywhere, but just knowing that you were on Thomas the train was what made it special.  They also had a lot of other activities at the Strasburg Railroad for the kids to do.  They got to meet and take a picture with Sir Topham Hatt, go on different mini-train rides, get a temporary tattoo, etc… we didn't expect to spend the whole day there but by the time we got done, it was well into the afternoon.

 

All aboard Thomas!

 

 

Photo op with Sir Topham Hatt.

Enjoying other activities at the Strasburg Railroad.

 

 

We headed out hoping to make it to the Intercourse Pretzel Factory (which big sister K was looking forward to), but when I looked at my notes back in the car, we realized they closed at 3pm.  We decided to go outlet shopping instead.  Both kids were asleep when we got to Tanger Outlets, so M and I took turns looking around while the other stayed in the car.  When the kids finally woke up, we all got out and did some major damage to our credit cards.

After the outlet, we went to Overlook Falls Mini-Golf.  We tried to teach the kids how to hold the club and hit the ball, but they refused to listen, so we eventually gave up and let them do their own thing.  Every time M missed a hole (which was pretty often), baby M would go grab the golf ball and hand it back to M (instead of letting him take another shot).  It was quite endearing.  I told M baby M would come in very handy if we ever went to play tennis… we’d have our own little ball boy!

 The only way we got such a big smile out of baby M was when M shouted "M&Ms!"

 Surprisingly enough, baby M actually posed for this picture.  He loved climbing on all the rocks and sitting on them.  And there's big sister K in the background, ready to take a swing.

Most places were closed on Sundays, and much to my chagrin, that included the Intercourse Pretzel Factory.  I googled all of the pretzel places in the entire Lancaster County, but couldn’t find one that opened for tours on a Sunday.  I broke the news to big sister K when she woke up Sunday morning, but she took it with stride and simply said, “that’s okay, mommy.”  (Oh how I love her!)  Instead, we went back to the outlet and did some more damage to our credit cards (though it felt like I spent more time running in and out of restrooms with the kids than anything else!).

 

Overall, it was a good weekend.  Now to plan for our next trip!

Fun Saturday

After big sister K's dance class today, we promised the kids we'd take them strawberry picking.  We decided to try a new farm in Plainsboro called Stults Farm.  To our dismay, we found out they didn't have any pick-your-own strawberries when we got there (despite what it said on their website... and we did try calling before making the drive there, but only got their voice-mail).

Since we were near Princeton already and the kids were napping in the backseat, we decided to drive a little further to Terhune Orchards in Lawrenceville where we knew did have pick-your-own strawberries... but lo and behold, we were faced with another disappointment!  Apparently too many people came the weekends before and had destroyed the crop, so they no longer opened it for pick-your-own with what's left.  No strawberry-picking, but the kids still managed to have fun at the farm.

After the farm, we went to a playground near home (baby M had been wanting to go all day). There were two girls around baby sister K's age playing with each other.  At one point, big sister K heard them say "Frozen."  Instantly, she goes up to them and asks if she could play with them. I was a little surprised (though pleasantly so) that she was so assertive.  My little girl is definitely not shy anymore!

When we got home, the kids still hadn't had their fill of the outdoors, so we went back out and hung around the front of the house.  Big sister K drew with her sidewalk chalk all over the ground while baby M rode his tricycle in circles around the driveway until dinner time.  I love weekends like this... so this is why we moved to the burbs.

Kindergarten Graduation

I am so proud of my little graduate!  I can't believe big sister K will be moving on to first grade in the fall.  She has learned so much this past year, not only in academics, but in building up her self-confidence and social skills as well... definitely not the same shy little girl she was when she started kindergarten last September.  Congratulations big sister K!  I love you!

Here she is walking down to the front of the stage:

Big sister K and her fan club... glad I was able to con the grandparents into coming!

Pigging out on cupcakes:



M and I had driven separately to fit everyone in the cars.  He had his mom in the Honda Accord while I had my parents in the Honda Pilot.  As we were getting into our respective cars, big sister K goes, "the Chinese people go in the big car, and the Spanish people go in the small car."  LOL!  I don't know where she gets it from.  The kids went into the Honda Pilot with me, so I guess that makes them Chinese!

Homework

I was helping big sister K with her homework last night and we were going over rhyming words.  She had to come up with words that rhyme and she was stuck on the word “pan.”  She wrote down van, can, and fan, but needed one more.  This is the conversation that followed:

Me [Pointing at M]: What is he?

Big sister K: A father?

Me: Yes, but what else?

Big sister K: A daddy?

Me: Yes, but think of something more general.  He’s not a girl, but a…

Big sister K: A boy?

Me: What’s a grown-up version of a boy?

Baby M [Shouting]: A MAN!

I started cracking up and gave baby M a high-five.  I didn’t even know he was paying attention!  Big sister K has a competitive streak in her, so I don’t think she appreciated the fact that her little brother got to the answer before she did, but I thought it was hilarious.  Good job baby M!