Hidden Gem...

At least it was to us.  We decided to take advantage of the week between when preschool ends and most other schools get out for the summer - figuring less traffic, crowds and all around hassle.  I always love trying out new places and thought perhaps South County, RI.  Pre-twins, Kurt & I spent a lovely day on an ocean view bike path down there and I've always wondered what else there was to see.  Turns out quite a bit really!

Day one we decided to stop & take a RI Bay Cruise on our way down to our hotel.  The dock was in the middle of an industrial shipping area that was unlike anything I'd seen before.  Aidan was THRILLED to find out that the just-one-year-old catamaran was named the Ava Pearl since his favorite friend from preschool is named Ava.  We saw 10 lighthouses, Newport Harbor, a house built into a rock and lots of other cool RI landmarks.  A very enjoyable trip indeed.  And as Aidan kept saying, "WOW, the Ava Pearl goes really fast!".

Killing time waiting in line for the potty.

M braving the high speed winds experienced on the front deck.

HOT HOT day and the sun and wind took a lot out of them!

We checked in at an adorable little motel in Charlestown, RI.  Lots of excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com and a reasonable price to boot.  Room was small, but very clean and had a kitchen and spacious bathroom.  The owner was super friendly and gave gifts to M&A.  She clearly takes pride in her motel and you could tell by the little touches. 

Somewhat overpriced dinner (I think we are spoiled by the 99 kids' meals) and it was still almost 90 degrees, so we decided to check out the local beach.  It was gorgeous with soft sand and good size waves.   Aidan almost didn't wear a swimsuit, but that would have been a big mistake.  The kids spent almost 2 hours splashing in the waves.  As per usual, Aidan was making friends and even gave out our home address in the event they ever wanted to visit us (we did discuss the appropriateness of that at a later time).

We'll only briefly mention the Aidan's urgent #2 at a beach where the bathrooms closes at 5pm incident.  Luckily Kurt had a very creative solution!

Braving the cold water while Mom rested on the beach.

Sleeping in a room with 2 double beds, 2 adults and 2 wiggly kids is never ideal; but I'd say it went better than expected.  Quick takeout breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts (another plus for the motel location) and we decided to try another local beach called Blue Shutters.  80 plus degrees at 9am and another gorgeous beach with soft sand, minimal rocks and even bigger waves.

Merman Aidan

 

After a little nudge from me, Daddy & Maddie spent lots of time together braving the waves.

Proud of their castle

 

Just a quick trip, but well worth it!  South County, RI beaches were beautiful and it is a much less crowded and commercial area than the cape.  As Kurt said, "there's nothing like the cape", but this is a close second for me (tropical destinations excluded).

A great start to our summer!!!!

Father's Day 2013

The kids have never been so enthusiastic about Father's Day!  Everyone was up before 7 and Daddy was seated in the chair of honor.  Maddie threw her homemade confetti at him and they both showered him with gifts/cards made at school. 

On to café on the common (or comet as M&A like to say) for a Father's Day breakfast.



Kids weren't feeling overly cooperative photo-wise

Next stop - Ward's Berry Farm.  Took a hayride out to the fields (not sure the short ride was really worth $2 a pop - next time we'll walk).

Our Bounty (flower added by Maddie for aesthetic purposes)

Then we hit the playground.  Maddie may or may not have climbed to the top of the huge slide only to remember she's afraid of heights. 

Rocket Girl

Very proud he got himself to the top

Kids were well behaved and Kurt feels very appreciated and loved.  A definite success!  Only issue was trying to explain to Aidan that you don't typically invite the random 7 year old girl you played with for 15 minutes over to your house for a playdate.  "Please Mom, oh please...I really like her".


Back on the home front, the siding is going up quickly and looking great!  They start with the windows on Tuesday.  



Looks like we better give a little attention to the bushes too

And I was certain I had killed our rose bush, but it looks like I may not have to abandon gardening all together...

The lone rose

Happy Father's Day to Kurt, Peepa & Buppy!  We're very lucky to have you all in our lives :-)

Our Clubs

Today we formed 2 new family clubs: 

The DAW Running Club (DaddyAidanWillner)
and
The DoubleM Club (MommyMaddie sort of random, non-specific club). 

It all started when I asked what everyone wanted to do in the morning since we already knew we'd spend the afternoon on our planned hike.  I suggested the craft they were having at the town library.  Of course Maddie jumped on it and Aidan declared the library "too loud" (really??). 

After about 5 minutes spent trying to convince one or the other to change their mind, we decided it might be best to split up.  We definitely have a tendency to try to do everything together as a family and only lately have started giving thought to encouraging the kids' individual interests and incorporating special one-on-one time. 

The boys went for their flagship run and it went really, really well!  Kurt's been mildly disappointed (though he'd never say so) that Aidan isn't showing much interest in Hockey.  It turns out running is something they can bond over.  Aidan ran 3/4s of the way around the entire neighborhood never slowing down and kept declaring to Kurt that running makes him feel really good.  WOO HOO!

Since I wasn't there to capture the actual run, we did some recreations at home later:

On your marks...

Kurt's never one to do something half-heartedly

The girls decided to take Daddy's new car for a spin and show up at the library in style.  We took advantage of all of the crafts and came home with a garden gnome, a tissue paper dinosaur and some necklaces we painstakingly created for both Maddie & Aidan.  Of course the string was the slippery kind and Mommy managed to spill the beads from Aidan's necklace all over the floor of the library.  Maddie took it in stride (she isn't one for disappointments), which I duly praised her for and we pocketed the beads to recreate the necklace at home. 

The girls

 Perhaps Momma should have cut the strings a little longer so the necklaces actually fit over someone's head.  *sigh*  I'm starting to worry I'll be kicked out of the club...

Pretty Princess

Seems the clubs are going to morph a little bit and we'll all be going for a run tomorrow.  Hopefully nobody tries to get mommy to do any more crafts :-)

Oh, and Aidan was right...the library was shockingly loud. 

Happy almost summer!!!!

Signal Hill

As part of our Father's Day weekend jamboree, we decided to go for a mini hike at Signal Hill in Canton.  A relatively small climb with a big payoff (gorgeous views of Boston skyline and Great Blue Hill).  Kids asked for a snack break about 2 minutes (no lie) into the hike, but we coerced them into hanging on a bit longer.  Such a perfect day and we really enjoyed relaxing and having our picnic at the top.  It's funny to see the differences between the twins.  Aidan was so content just to sit on the rocks and enjoy the view while the breeze swept over him.  He's our nature boy and really seems to recharge with some peaceful outdoor time.  Maddie kept asking when we could move on and explore more.  She's always got to go-go-go.

Very pretty scenery



Best Buds

After our break up top, we decided to explore the trail heading to the canoe launching site.  About 7/8ths of the way down, Maddie noticed that Piggy was missing one of her shoes (my fault for thinking an outfit for Piggy was an excellent Christmas gift). 

Oh Piggy...

Girls waited at the bottom while the boys climbed back up to find the shoe and save the day.  They only had to go all the way back up the hill to find it.

Reunited...and it feels soo good!

We located the canoe area, which was largely submerged due to the torrential rains of late.  After a brief contemplation from Mom and Dad about whether or not renting a 4 man canoe would be a great experience or one that could go very, very wrong; we noticed the kids playing in the mud.  Oh joy.  Aidan's new stuffed dolphin, Laguna, took a header and now is pretty much on par with Piggy in the dirtiness contest.

Oh Laguna...

Of course that was NOTHING compared to the "incident" where the canoe rental guy's new "puppy" playfully jumped up on Aidan, knocked him down and stole Laguna.  The whole ride home Aidan giggled about how Laguna fell in the mud and got "dog mouth pee" all over him. 

Always an adventure...

Fruits of our Labor

I have never been known to be particularly crafty and I most certainly do not have a green thumb.  However, last year we embarked on a project to grow some of our own fruits and veggies in an effort to teach the kids about healthy eating.  We bought deck boxes since we live in the woods and can't imagine a garden surviving in our yard.  Last summer brought us lots of tomatoes that pretty much nobody ate.  And we managed to kill all of our cucumbers by turning them yellow.  This summer we got smart and decided to try for foods that our kids eat by the barrel. 

Our strawberry plant did survive the winter despite our neglect.

And miraculously it has bloomed!

Kids are thrilled and last night we had our ceremonial first pick!

Tada!  Sliced it in two and it was gone before it hit the plate.  Success!!!

Let's hope we can get them all before the critters do...

Grand Slam ala Mansfield

Seriously not sure I've ever experienced anything quite as adorable as the twinkies taking tennis lessons!  The first lesson was cancelled due to rain and the instructor (Chris) called to let us know.  From that day forward Aidan kept talking about when he would get to meet 'Coach Chris' (because "Coach Chris is just like me I think" - I assume he meant that he was a boy??)

The lesson had a mish mosh of adults and children, but M&A were definitely the youngest out there.  They started the lesson with some stretches and M&A were trying so hard to do them just like the cool college aged instructors.  Then a jog a round the courts and right into action.  Mostly just drills, but a few really fun games mixed in. 

Whenever Aidan would actually hit one of the balls, he'd look back at us and call out "Hey, I'm really excellent at tennis"!  All the other parents got a giggle out of that.

Anyone who knows Maddie knows that she LOVES to be the best at things.  She took this very seriously and tried very hard.  The other 2 kids on the court with them were older and had taken lessons before - so it was a no-go on being the best.  But she kept right at it and eventually found that if she ran after the balls super fast, she could be the best ball collector.  And she was!

I could tell that one of the instructors was getting a real kick out of Aidan and they way he beats to his own drummer.  During one of the games, the goal was to run fast and steal balls from your opponents tennis racquets that were laying on the ground.  Aidan decided it was more sportsmanly to actually add balls to the other kids' racquets.  I know it's because he doesn't like to see anyone else get upset and would rather have none for himself - but the instructors just thought he was a zany, silly kid!

Practicing his stance...

Not gonna give that ball a chance to even get over the net!

Capturing the 10 second period their backs weren't to us...

The Dodge ball/run to the net game...

the only time it's "OK" for instructors to huck balls at the children!

The ONE photo I didn't have to take by shoving my camera lens through the holes in the chain link fence and Aidan decides to be a jokester!


They are definitely looking forward to their next lesson and Kurt & I are looking forward to maybe being able to get back to playing tennis ourselves someday!

Mother's Day Weekend

It was a lovely Mother's Day Weekend.  Maddie, Grandma and I spent it at the spa getting our nails done.  This was Maddie's first time and the nail tech was so impressed with how still and non-squirmy she managed to be.  Grandma could have done without the 8am start time; but this is wedding/prom season after all (next year I'll plan a little more in advance)!

Enjoying the Spa!

 

 

Meanwhile, the boys (Aidan, Grandpa & Kurt) made an appearance at the Mansfield town fishing derby.  Aidan was one of the youngest there and Grandpa & Daddy were impressed with how he stuck with it for more than an hour before he got a bit restless.  Lots of nibbles, but unfortunately no official catches.  Aidan suggested that perhaps the fish would like a food tastier than worms!

 



 

Our handsome fisherman!

 

 

Better luck next year!!!!

 

With his Pa!

Post soccer game in the pouring rain, we capped off the day with our first family "bonfire" (as the twins like to call it).  They were quite enamored with the fire and thoroughly enjoyed the marshmallow part (M enjoys roasting and A enjoys eating - so yet another activity where they are a perfect match)!

Marshmallow time!

 

So far this spring/summer is shaping up to be a good one.  Finally, finally we are reaping the benefits of all of our hard work and Maddie & Aidan are more independent.  We actually get to sit down for a few blissful minutes and enjoy the outdoors (until someone needs a snack that is)!

 

No photos to share, but we did finish off the weekend with a visit to Mimi & Buppy.  The kids love to scoot around their neighborhood.  The fresh pavement is a huge plus when it comes to scooting.

 

Now we have to start planning for Father's Day...(though Maddie did ask the other day when it will be Kids' Day...um...pretty much always)!