Trips
The Relax Inn
Jul 29th
My parents own a little slice of heaven in the middle of nowhere. It looks like this:
On Tuesday I packed up the car and took my girls to spend a few days here. It may not look like much but it’s such a break from the ordinary chaos of life. It’s a place where no one cares if you’re showered or properly dressed because no one really sees you anyway. It’s a place where you eat yummy food that’s not so good for you. It’s a place where the phone rings maybe once a day and there’s no internet connection. The closest store is twenty minutes away and excitement is seeing the legendary beaver or snapping turtle swimming by in the lake.
It’s been called many things: The Camp, The Cottage, The Lake House, The Relax Inn. But it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s just awesome. It’s decorated with lots of little trinkets both old and new. And inside the cabinet doors you can find little news paper clippings and such with instructions for wound care and “recipes” for things like paint remover and drain de-clogger. We all sleep in one room that has 5 beds and a crib. And the kids bathe in the kitchen sink because there’s no tub. It’s not big, it’s not fancy, but it’s one of the greatest places I know.
My girls love it up there. They get special treats and we take a wagon ride over to the other side of the lake where there’s a little beach. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, just go there. It’s amazing to see what some of the locals wear for swimming attire and how they just have no shame at all. It’s so peaceful and the view is amazing.
It’s a little place to go and get away from it all. And sometimes that’s all you need to feel refreshed (even if you were up all night with a feverish teething toddler!)
Really, Burger King? Really?
Jul 20th
I’m not Team Edward OR Team Jacob. In fact, I don’t even know which one is which. I’ve never read any of the Twilight books or seen the movies. And I don’t plan on it. Ever. But all of that is really beside the point that I’m about the make here.
This past weekend we were on a road trip and stopped at Burger King for a quick, unhealthy lunch. Of course the entire restaurant (if you can even call it that) was plastered with Twilight and Eclipse posters and paraphernalia. I understand that big chain places like BK are going to market hot movies and do promotions based on them. It’s always been that way. It’s a money maker for both parties. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is that Burger King continued the Eclipse marketing in the form of their kid’s meals. WTF!
To me, kid’s meals are just that, meals for kids. And when I say kids I’m implying someone under the age of 12, most likely even younger. Most teenagers I know can and do consume much larger quantities of food than are given in a kid’s meal at Burger King. So, if kid’s meals are geared toward kids under 12 then why would BK put an Eclipse “prize” in the kid’s meal? The movie is rated PG-13 due to some violence and scenes of sexuality (according to IMDB.com) so it seems very counter intuitive to me for BK to do this. I know all they’re doing is seeing dollar signs but still. It’s not like there aren’t any other big blockbuster movies that they could use in their marketing. How about Toy Story 3? Of course, I’m not a marketing expert or anything and I’m sure one has to offer the other the deal. I’m sure they don’t just get to choose what they want to use for prizes, but I simply can’t understand this.
After bringing this topic up with some of my family and friends I have heard that some Burger Kings offer an alternate “toddler prize” for the kid’s meals upon request. However, I was unaware and the cashier who took my order at BK clearly saw that I had a 3 and 1 year old in tow. Obviously they had no idea what Eclipse was. I was never offered a toddler prize and I didn’t see any signs anywhere that they were even available.
In reality I know that BK and [whoever produced this movie] do not care about whether or not my child actually likes the prize. I know they just care about the money, but really Burger King? Really? (a la Seth Meyers on SNL)
Image borrowed from www.bellasdiary.com
The “prize” we received was the mini tote bag. Seriously? It’s a little piece of fabric with a handle on it. It’s not even big enough to hold a pack of gum. Oh and I love how the poster says keepsakes for girls and guys. It’s clearly not targeted toward kids, otherwise it would have said girls and boys. Ok, rant over.
Life’s a beach…
Jul 6th
Saturday was our five year wedding anniversary. Since it falls on a holiday weekend we decided not to celebrate this big milestone on it’s actual day but wait and do it the following weekend (this weekend). With that said, we traveled down to visit Scott’s side of the family for the day. His brother lives right on the beach and always has a big gathering on July 3rd. So we packed up the girls early that morning with beach gear galore and drove a little over an hour. To our HUGE surprise there was no traffic! We got there in record time, grabbed some food for the kids and headed to the beach. It was PACKED beyond belief. I can’t say I’m surprised but the tides were not cooperating with the 90 plus degree weather and everyone was jam packed in about 10 feet of space between the water and the sea wall. And the tide kept rising meaning we had to push back our chairs and bags about every 5 minutes. The girls had a blast though and even though I despise ocean beach sand, it was completely worth it. The water was even warm enough un-numbing enough that you could go in and actually enjoy it. Brinley made sand castles with her cousins and swam in the ocean with her daddy. Nora ran around non stop the entire day, ate everything in site and tried out everyone’s beach chair. She attempted to go in the water many times but every time a wave came toward her she’s run for the sand. It was too cute.
After we were all drained from the sun and ran out of cold drinks and food, we headed back to my brother-in-law’s house for a BBQ. Burgers, sausages, steak tips, chicken, pasta salad, fruit salad, coleslaw, cookies, brownies, margaritas, beer… you name it, it was consumed! The kids all played in the yard while the adults talked and ate. Around 9pm we all paraded back down to the beach for the most amazing fireworks display ever. You’d never have known that lighting off fireworks was illegal in Massachusetts after seeing the show that was put on by the locals. Probably some of the best fireworks that I’ve ever seen. We kept the kids up waaaaaaaaay late but they were amazing. Nora stayed awake for the show and Brinley fell asleep in daddy’s arms under the fireworks.
At about 10:30pm we trudged back to the house and packed the girls up in the car. Nora was still awake so I managed to get her into her PJs. Brinley was already passed out so we just plopped her in the car. They both slept for the entire ride home and then we transferred them to their beds. Scott and I followed suit and passed out just as our heads hit the pillows. We never originally planned to stay for the fireworks but the girls were being so good and having so much fun that we just went with it. I’m so glad that we did.
Road Trip!
Aug 16th
On Saturday, our family took a road trip to New York to visit our friends Kelli and James. We typically make this trip for New Years but didn’t make it there this past January, so we were due!
Scott and I were both a little bit weary about taking Brinley on a 4 hour car. To prepare we went out and bought a portable DVD player that she could use in the car. Much to our surprise we didn’t even turn it on on the way there. For the first leg of the trip Brinley amused herself by reading books in the back seat. She also went through what we affectionately call a “brain dump”. This is when she will just start spitting out almost everything she knows back to back. It usually goes something like this: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the ABCs, counting to 11 three or four times, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, more ABCs, more counting… etc. When she’s done she often asks Scott and I to sing some of her songs as well. Its quite amusing.
We stopped for lunch about 3 hours into the trip. I’m not entirely sure where we were but we stopped at Friendly’s for about an hour. Then we made a quick pit stop at my all time favorite store, Target. Once we were back in the car, Brinley fell asleep and slept for the remainder of the ride. Scott and I got to have some much needed adult conversation.
We spent 3 nights with Kelli and James. They are such awesome hosts. They made sure to plan fun things for us to do that would also be fun for Brinley. On Sunday we went over to James’ parents house and had a BBQ and went swimming. Brinley got to run around and play in the yard and got to go swimming in the pool. The water was a bit cold but she didn’t seem to mind (daddy was a bit chilly and mommy chose not to go in).
On Monday we went to the Bronx Zoo. This was the highlight of the trip. We were joined by Kelli and James’ friends Carlos and Sarah and their children Little Carlos and Gabby. It took us about an hour to get to the zoo from their house but the ride was sooo worth it. Though at first we thought the day was going to be a bust since it began to torrential downpour less than 5 minutes after we purchased our tickets. Luckily there were a few indoor exhibits that we could escape to. Once the rain stopped we began our tour of the zoo. Brinley was in awe. I’ve never heard her say “wow” so many times. She was so excited to see all of the animals. Her favorites were the giraffes and the zweebas (zebras). Scott and I were equally amazed by the animals. (Please check Brinley’s website for pictures of the animals that we saw.) On the ride home from the zoo we stopped for dinner and then headed back to Kelli and James’ house where we watched the Olympics and played Rockband (which Scott and I will be purchasing soon!).
Our visit came to an end on Tuesday morning. We packed up the car and set up the DVD player for Brinley figuring that we wouldn’t be as lucky the second time around. We put Finding Nemo on but Brinley only lasted about a half hour with it. She is not quite yet capable of following a plot of a feature length film. We made a pit stop and changed the DVD for her. We drove about 2 and a half hours before stopping at Ted’s Montana Grill in Connecticut for lunch. This was quite an experience. Ted’s is a totally environmentally friendly restaurant. Their straws are made from cardboard and their take home containers are made from CORN! It was pretty cool. We got burgers and they were pretty good but about 4 inches thick so a bit difficult to eat. After lunch Brinley fell asleep for the rest of the ride home. We had an awesome visit with our friends who we don’t get to see quite often enough!!The Butterfly Place
Jul 28th
Today Brinley and I met some friends and went to The Butterfly Place in Westford. Its a big, enclosed butterfly and flower habitat. There are tons of butterflies just flying around and plants are everywhere. The butterflies will occasionally land on you if you are still. One landed on Hannah and stayed on her leg for almost 20 minutes. It was pretty amazing. Brinley was in awe of all the butterflies. She just kept looking up and saying, “wow Mommy!” It was so cute. She said that her favorite was the yellow one. There was also a really huge moth that was hanging onto a tree. It was bigger than some birds that I’ve seen. It was so crazy. All of the butterflies were very beautiful. There was an awesome blue one but it wouldn’t stop so we could get a picture. We also saw caterpillars and learned how they transform into butterflies.
After visiting the butterflies we went over to Kimball Farm for some ice cream. We also saw a few goats and some roosters. We had a nice little lunch under the tent and then enjoyed some ice cream. Brinley enjoyed looking at the bumper boats and walking through the country store.
