end of the year activities, little graduations (and lack thereofs), & teacher love

I know this post is about a month late at this point, but...Better late than never, right?

This year, Ollie finished up Pre-K, which means he's on to Kindergarten next year (and yikes! I'm freaking out- currently working on a separate post about this for later on this week...) He has been in the PK program at his school for two and a half years now, so it's very hard to deal with the fact that he's moving on! Unfortunately, they didn't have any sort of commencement ceremony, which I would have loved. (But then, I would have been an absolute blubbery mess, so perhaps it was all for the best)

Peyton went to two little nursery programs this past year and both had adorable little ceremonies to finish up. The first one was at our High School, and as you can see, they pulled out all the stops: Diplomas, A photo slideshow of the year, personalized cake, and a party. It was so sweet and meaningful. (The two girls with Peyton are the high school students that "followed" her for their Human Development class)

These are some photos from the ceremony at her regular nursery school. You can see that she adored her teachers!:

Even though Ollie didn't have any kind of graduation ceremony, I was at least able to go to his end-of-the-year Fun Day, and I got a picture of him with his two amazing teachers. This first and last day shot, though... I don't even have words:

So now it's on to Kindergarten for Ollie and Pre-K for Miss Pey! It's scary and exciting all at the same time. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here- we still have one beautiful month of summer left, and I'm sure we'll have lots more adventures to report!

packing for summer trips

In the summer, it seems like I am constantly packing and unpacking from one trip or another. First world problems? Yes, I've heard of it...why do you ask? We are lucky enough to have Jon's parents' Rhode Island beach house to visit, my family in Massachusetts, plus some little spontaneous trips as well, and that means lots and lots of packing.

 I used to drive myself insane trying to remember what to pack from one trip to the next. I have always been like this. Even as a kid, my mom used to say, "Laurie, it's not like you can't buy it if you've forgotten anything..." And yet still, by the time we got to the airport, my nails would be chewed down to little nubbs.

 Now that I have to pack for myself plus the kiddos (and, let's face it, usually Jon too), I have three (four) times the anxiety of forgetting something. And yeah, I always could buy it if I've forgotten anything, but some things- like Ollie's medications- can't be bought, and other things- like, for instance, my camera- are not cheap little purchases...

Finally, I wised up and made a list (which I saved in a folder on my computer labeled "lists" cause I'm streamlined like that) that I can just print off every time I have to pack and check off as I go. I don't have to worry about forgetting anything, which was always that hanging feeling I used to have before absolutely dominating this whole packing thing.

When I pack the kids' bags, I usually organize their clothes into ziplocks- clothes in a big 2.5 gallon bag, bathing suits and jammies into 1 gallon bags, & hair clips, etc. into snack-size bags. It might sound like I'm overdoing it (which, believe me, I have the tendency to do), but doing it this way makes it a lot easier to find things when we are away. Instead of digging around to find a pair of pajamas, I just pull out the "JAMMIES" bag and voila! I even started putting some of my own things- like bathing suits- in bags.

Also, as you can see in the top picture, I always pack a giant cooler with snacks because sometimes we just don't make it to the grocery store. For the car, the kids each get a lunchbox filled with snacks (Go-Go Squeeze applesauce, popcorn, granola bars, juice box, etc.) which they can independently choose and eat. I usually pack a second set of these snacks (for the return trip) in the cooler as well.

Here are a few more things that have made travel/packing a bit easier for us:

Pop-Up Hamper: I bring this even if we're only going for the weekend. We just throw it in the roof bin on the car, but even if you have a suitcase, you can squish it in on the last day, and voila, unpacking is made that much easier because you don't have to sniff each article of clothing as it comes out of the suitcase to know if it needs a spin in the wash or not. Or maybe that's just me.

Sleep Sound Machine We have one these in every bedroom of our house. They have an electrical plug, but the great thing about them is that you can actually put batteries in them too (great for travel), so we always throw one of these in one of the bags. Even if the bed and pillows ain't the same, the peaceful sound of white noise helps us all (read: Peyton) fall asleep in bedrooms unknown.

Second Set of Toiletries. I hate packing/unpacking my toiletries because they're one of those things that need to be packed the morning of, which means they have the greatest chance of being forgotten (in my experience, anyway) I finally bit the bullet and bought a second set (deodorant, face wash, moisturizer, toothbrush, etc) so I can pack my toiletry bag early and know I haven't forgotten anything. I also got a few key makeup items (mascara, eyeliner & chapstick) just in case I ever forget my makeup bag.

Car DVD players: If we are driving anywhere over an hour, we set up the DVD players for the kids. I'm gonna be honest here and admit that these are for the benefit of us as much as them- Neither of the kids have ever been great car sleepers, and our repertoire of car games only lasts so long, so they generally resort to the old fashioned way of entertaining themselves: bickering, getting handsy, and being LOUD. Putting on WALL-E or Toy Story has proved to be a much more peaceful way to pass the time.

Homemade Car Trash Can: I got this idea off of Pinterest and it has since kept our car-trashing to a minimum.

Labeled Bins: For places that we go frequently (the beach house in RI, the ski house in VT, Massachusetts to visit my family...) I keep designated labeled bins up in the attic so I can just throw things in as I gather them- then they are all in the same place and there's no need to worry if I'm forgetting anything.

If you have some awesome travel tips, add them to the comments! I'm always up for stepping up my game and making packing less torturous!

Happy Travels!

If you're at all curious: Jon, Ollie and Peyton's  bags are LLBean Boat & Tote Bags (size large, long handle, zip top). Our Toiletry bag (size large), Zoe's Bag, and the Softpack Cooler are LLBean as well. My bag is a Petunia Pickle Bottom Wistful Weekender .

summer trip: north conway, nh

Oh my gosh, guys: North Conway!

The only way I can describe our long weekend there is magical. Ollie and Peyton had so much fun that by the second to last day, O started (wishfully) calling our hotel room "our new home"

We go on lots of trips to places that the kids have been before, usually to the homes of family or friends. But we rarely go on vacations which require a hotel for more than one night. So this was kind of special to begin with. The inspiration to go to North Conway was actually Oliver's: he found a brochure for the Conway Railroad with Thomas the Tank Engine on the back and asked, "We go there?" And so I started researching.

A friend told me about the Red Jacket Mountain Resort, which has its own indoor waterpark, so the lodging decision was really a non-decision. We didn't discover until we got there but the resort is actually located such that every activity we had planned was no more than 7 minutes away, so no cranky kids asking 'are we there?' love it love it love it. I also didn't realize (even though there is literally Resort in the name...) that it would offer so much more than the average hotel. Upon check-in, we were given a sheet of paper with all of the activities going on around the grounds each day. We were able to join in on some of the activities, like roasting marshmallows by the campfire each night and the horse-drawn wagon rides. Some of the other events we (regretfully) missed- like movie and popcorn nights in the great room (Turbo and The Croods), popsicles by the pool, and the kickball tournament- but just the fact that they offered them made our stay there that much more special. What I'm sayin' is, if you're going to North Conway with your brood, we would absolutely recommend this place. The rooms are big (though, admittedly outdated... but then, we weren't there for an interior decorating convention, so no biggie).

We made the mistake of going to one of our stops, Storyland, straight off the road without even checking to the hotel first. I think we naively thought that the kids would enjoy the fun and leg-stretching after hours on the road, but in reality, they were just tired and cranky. So after paying the (in my opinion, hefty) entrance fee, we spent about 30 minutes asking the kids if they wanted to to the Lazy River ride ("Nope") or the Cinderella's Tea Party ("Nope")... It started to feel like we had just shelled out a bunch of cash for nothing....

STORYLAND

Look at them. So happy. Hmm.

It was nothing a little ball pit action couldn't pull them out of, though:

^Little Man's got some serious camouflage going on in here. It's like, where's Ollie?^

And with that, my little grumps started to get into Storyland. Or, Candyland, as they both insist it's called.

^I don't even know. She was punch drunk at this point...^

^Lookin all cool like, yeah we just did Candyland... what of it?^

Candyland gets a thumbs up from Peytie girl.

Oh, and if you're curious, the answer is yes: I dress my kids in florescent colors when we go to parks and museums so I can easily spot them. They are tiny little flight risks.

Some serious World Cup watching in the morning...

On Day 2, it was off to the Island of Sodor (also known as Conway Scenic Railroad) to meet and ride on Thomas. We got there an hour before our ride, but there was plenty to see and do:

DAY OUT WITH THOMAS

^He actually talked. Peyton was screaming with excitement^

^There were about 10 train tables set up. Ollie's playing it cool in these pictures, but really, kid was psyched.^

^When you're Peyton, you have an entourage of face painters at your service.^

And then we got to ride Thomas. And it was epic:

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, and after a quick nap we went to dinner at Flatbread for the second time (Three times, okay. We went there three times. We would have gone a fourth but we left too early on Monday...)and followed it up with a round of Pirate Adventure Golf:

HOTEL POOL

^Always making friends, big and small...^

^O learned a new trick- after watching some other kids do it, he now holds his head under for 5-10 seconds. Adorable.^

FLATBREAD PIZZA

^The gods were good to us and set us up at this couch/coffee table so our kids could be the gremlins that they are and not really disturb anyone else, namely Jon and me while we're fighting over the last slice of Punctuated Equilibrium.^

PIRATE GOLF

^P was very concerned about the captive pirate in the cave and brought a few people up to assess the situation^

^Don't even ask cause I don't even know^

^Had I played, Ollie definitely would have easily beat me. No joke, the kid's a natural^

^Aargh^

On our last day, we went to the indoor water park, called Kahuna Laguna, at the hotel. It was awesome. So awesome, in fact that I barely took any pictures. I was having too much fun.

^Loved it^

This is how hilarious my kids are: At the end, Ollie scraped his toe and it was bleeding pretty bad. As he was showing it to me, he got some blood on his thumb. I was about to grab a napkin for him, and he wiped it across my forehead and said, "Sim-ba" (you guys have seen the Lion King, right?) I still get the giggles when I think about it.

Here are a few of the other things we did: 

HORSE-DRAWN WAGON RIDE

ICE CREAM AT LICKETY SPLITZ

This place was awesome- they had a playground on site.

Before we left on Monday morning, we played some Pacman (and fine, I'll admit it, we let Peyton play Buck Hunter too...) in the Game Room, and then we borrowed some binoculars from the front desk to check out the beautiful mountains one last time before we drove back to our flat home... 

It's funny, Jon and I stayed in North Conway for our First Anniversary and aside from a couple of nice dinners and some outlet shopping, we didn't do much of anything. I love being a mom for a million reasons, but one of the big ones is that I get to be a kid all over again. It's so incredible discover all of the fun and exciting things that this world has to offer through the eyes of my kids.

I'm pretty sure the kids will remember this vacation for years to come... today they were pretending to drive my car and when I asked them where they were going, Peyton said, "We go-nin to Ham-sure."

"Yup," Ollie said. "Our new home."