Sandy Beach on Lake Quassapaug

It took us a while to get there with our cousins Jennie, Ryan, and Matthew...but we made it!  It was par for the course there -- the kids played in the sand and lake, joined a game of wiffle ball, caught some minnows and crayfish, tried to climb a few poles, ate ice cream & candy, and we ran into some people I haven't seen in ages. It was a beautiful day :-)

 

Matthew is the master of catching fishies in the lake -- Gage is learning from the best!

 And, Gage is working on his impression of Aquaman -- or bug eye man. Either way, thanks to cousin Ryan for letting us borrow your goggles :-)

Kent Falls

We took a ride into the Litchfield Hills of Northwestern Ct and stopped by Kent Falls park. Although Grammy couldn't make it up the trail because she is stuck in a boot again for her foot problems, we went about halfway up.

 

 

We also took a ride through the Cornwall covered bridge that runs over the Housatonic River.  The kids said "HEY...Scooby Doo went through a bridge like this when they went to visit Shaggy's uncle." And yes, they were correct!!

Happy 3rd birthday to Gage!

We celebrated Gage's birthday on Sunday along with Elizabeth, who turns 4 in two weeks.  Gage had spiderman cupcakes, and did a great job blowing out his candles (he wished that Stash & Zoe would come back -- our 2 kitties that have run away since moving to AL).  I love how he does "3" on his fingers -- he holds his ring finger down, and worked very hard to master that :-)  We couldn't believe that after desperately wanting spiderman (miderman) cupcakes, he only took one lick of the frosting. He beelined it over to the presents to get into the good stuff!

At 3, Gage is becoming a very big boy. He is talking a lot now  -- it seemed like he didn't say a word for 3 years and suddenly started speaking in sentences. He LOVES superheroes and the ONE thing he wanted for his birthday was Spiderman Legos. He got spiderman legos, but it turns out he is most interested in his Batman batcave trio blocks from Gram Rooney. He also got a few new super hero squad guys that he loves and carries with him everywhere now. Gage is a sweet sweet boy who doles out lots of hugs & kisses. Lately, I love when he tells me "I wub you mama,  I no throw you in the garbage."  Translation - I love you Mommy, and I won't throw you in the garbage".  No idea where he got that one, but to him, it is a way of saying her really really loves me. Funny.

Hanging out on Grammy's front porch

 

 

A trip to Grandma & Grandpa Rapp's in PA

We headed west to Oil City, PA to visit Adam's parents last week. It's a long drive (7+ hours), so we broke up the drive and stayed in a hotel in Wilkes Barre each way.  The kids love to stay in hotels, and I always let them jump on the bed when we get to our room.  Our first night in the hotel we went our for sushi and noodles, where the kiddos loved watching the hibachi "show" with the chefs throwing food in people's mouths. Gage also managed to dump lemonade into my purse and ruin my camera :-(

 

But, we made it to PA and Grandpa somehow found a kid sized bow for Savannah. Since seeing Brave, she has wanted to shoot a bow. He also cut down a few arrows for her, showed her how to shoot, and pulled out a deer decoy for target practice.

 We spent a lot of time driving the golf cart around the yard...

 And, posed for pictures while shooting all of grandpa's "stuffed animals" that he has in the living room -- coyote, bears, peasants, deer, etc.

 It was a great visit, and so nice to see the Grandparents Rapp!  We snapped this great shot just before we hit the road to leave....

A berry good day

I have to say, we still miss Happy Berry Farm in SC -- well, at least *I* do.  There was something special about that place that I can't put my finger on.  But, while in CT we tagged along with Great Gram to pick berries early one morning at Evergreen Farm in Watertown.  The kids picked out their buckets according to the string color (Savannah = purple, Gage = green), and off we went. Picking is serious business for Gram - she is like the energizer bunny of picking. The kids and I nibble, pick a little, wander from bush to bush. The kids decided they were hungry, so we had to spread out a blanket between the rows and have a picnic of chocolate milk and biscuits.  We managed to pick a few pounds of berries and then sneak over to the raspberry bushes. Yum....

 

Another children's museum off the list

A day we had planned to go to the beach turned out blah & rainy.  We were going to just hang out in the house, until Savannah and Gage started fighting with each other and driving Mommy crazy enough that she decided we HAD to get out of the house and do something. So, off the the West Hartford children's museum. This one was a bit of a dud as kid's museums go, but hey...it kept them occupied for a few hours on a cloudy & drizzly day. Gage would not pose for a picture with this dino at the entrance because he was worried they were real "that real, mama?" he asked 10 times...

We checked out the animals when suddenly, I almost pooped myself when a man suddenly appeared holding a snake about a foot away from me. I knew there was an "animal encounter", but I wasn't expecting to have a python walking by and I am NOT a fan of snakes. The kids sat nicely while Mr. Snaketamer talked about snakes. When it came time to pet the snake, Savannah was all for it, Gage touched it with a finger, and Mommy just politely declined and moved further toward the wall to get away.

We learned about -- and acted like -- chimps in the chimpanzee exhibit and were VERY disappointed when we went to make a chimpanzee mask craft and they informed us they ran out of material :-(

We also made a dinosaur. They have a bunch of "spare parts" with velcro that you can attach to a dino body. I got my first clue that Gage was tired when we walked away from this and Gage suddenly freaked out that a little girl took our dino's head off. He was trying to wrestle it away from her saying "put that back...put that back".  He then proceeded the throw himself on the floor and cry/scream because I told him it was another person's turn to make a dino. At that point we had seen it all, and I carried him out of the museum over my shoulder while he screamed and cried.

I thought visiting the giant whale would console him....I was wrong. He sat on the sidewalk throwing a tantrum.  Savannah sat in the whale's mouth and got sprinkled with his spout. At that point Gage decided he wanted to get sprinkled and of course...we stood there waiting for for the whale to spout again. Gage was crying that he wanted to get sprinkled and of course...it seemed take that stupid whale an eternity to spout again. It finally did, and the kids spent all of 30 seconds dancing in the sprinkles. During that time, they -- of course -- ended up covered in mud. So, West Hartford children's museum -- been there, done that.

Lunch at the beach with Great Grandma

We TRY to make a trip to Jimmies in Savin Rock to have a giant pile of fries shrimp every time we are in CT.  This year, Grammy couldn't make it but Grandma Rooney could.  She has been going to Jimmies since it was a little hotdog stand at the beach many many years ago. We did a little sea shell hunting before lunch and then saved all of our extra french fries to throw to the seagulls.  Savannah didn't seem very interested in throwing french fries until the gulls started swarming us -- thennnn, she thought it was pretty cool and ran around trying to catch them all.  Gage just sat in the car watching and screaming because he thought we were throwing HIS leftover fries to the birds.

Pickin' & Fiddling Contest

We spent a sunny Saturday at the 38th annual pickin & fiddlin contest in Roxbury, CT.  The weather was hot, the kids were cranky, mommy was cranky, but it was still nice to hear some good ol' fiddlin'! The kids played on the big playset (at lot) and left Grammy to fend for herself in the shade. She was probably glad to have a moment of peace -- I know I would have been ;-) Grammy said the last time she was there was when I was 4 or 5 years old!!!

Mystic Aquarium

Friday we took Grammy & Great Grandma Rooney to Mystic Aquarium for the day.  Mystic is a very picturesque New England coastal town, but all we had time to do was the aquarium and some shops adjacent to it. The kiddos were so wiped out that we canceled our plans to visit the seaport with all the old ships. The beluga whales passed by to say hello to the kids...

 We got to see the penguins (and watch their trainers hand feed them all fishies), and hang out with the penguin artwork...

 Gage is still not brave enough to tackle the touch pools, but Savannah is.  She had a blast at the ray pool, and touched all of the starfish and little crabs before working up the nerve to pick up the big spider crab here...

 after the aquarium we went to the shops in Old Mystic Village, had lobster rolls, ice cream, and stopped at the Swedish store. My great grandma came from Sweden, and a few of us in the family collect Swedish horses called dala horses. Aunt Karen told us they had a BIG one at the store in Mystic, and she was not kidding!!!!  We racked up quite a bill at the Swedish store, buying Xmas ornaments and decorations, some interesting dala horses, and letting the kids each pick out their own horses (or course, Savannah chose a pink one!).

The kids tried on some viking helmets too. This one with braids was just too cute....

So, we never made it to see the "pirate ships" in Mystic Seaport, or to see Mystic's neat bridge that lifts up and down as boats pass through the river. Although Gage was crying to see the big ships, I said they were alll about to "zonk out". Gage insisted he was not going to "zonk out" but he did  -- in minutes. Next time...

Quassy

In the small town I grew up in - Middlebury, CT -- there is a tiny amusement park that has been there for ages. Time stands still at Quassy.  Most of the rides (for the kids, at least) have been there since before I even started going there as a kid.  It is perfect for little kids, though, and we always make sure to go with cousin Elizabeth when we are in CT.  On the big red slide, Savannah screamed so loud coming down EVERY TIME that the entire park could hear her.

We rode the little train about 5 times. Every time, we have to put our hands up in the air and scream when we go into the train tunnel.

When I was young, Quassy's carousel was very old and VERY fast. They auctioned off all of the old horses years ago and made a fortune, but the new carousel is just as fun for the kids now...

 

Mommy agreed to buy cotton candy (or a giant bag of colored sugar),and Gage loved it....

 and we road all of the rides over and over and over. Gage had to be sure to get on ALL of the different superhero planes, but Batman was his favorite..

Longmeadow Pond

Right down the road from Grammy's house, we discovered that we can sneak into Longmeadow Pond without being residents of Bethlehem :-)  After our first day there, Savannah declared that we should go there EVERY DAY we don't have anything else to do. I tend to agree with her. The water was warm, there were lifeguards, nice shallow water, a big playset, swings - really nice place.  We have been there twice already and plan lots more visits!

The Grove

Grandpa Pauly's best friend (Tiger) owns a gorgeous piece of property in Woodbury that his family uses for parties. We played in the river catching fishies and (Mommy) failed miserably at finding crayfish....

 

We played ball, and frisbee, and catch, and football...

 

 We ate a lot of donuts with frosting & blue sprinkles...

Gage tried to catch Mommy in a net and picked some flowers for me...

We went for a few paddle boat rides...

 And while waiting for the fireworks to start, the guys shot off some parachutes for the kids to catch...

 And then...we just messed around while waiting for fireworks. 

Gage made it up for about half of the fireworks, and then crashed asleep.