Summer

It’s crazy to think that August is almost half over and that school will be starting back up in around 3 week. Sad to think summer will be ending, but happy to be back into the routine of school again! Lilly is going to be starting 1st grade, which is kind of crazy to think how fast that has gone by. Nora still has a bit more time left until she will be heading off to school. However, I must admit I am starting to dream of that day when I will actually be child free for a few hours….. it almost seems impossible that the day will come, but I’m sure when it does I’ll miss these crazy days….. maybe.

Summer so far had been uneventful. Consisting of many many hours swimming in our pool and lots and lots of ice pops. Howie and I did manage a quick 3 day kidfree escape up to Maine where we got to stay at the beautiful Cape Arundel Inn @capearundelinn . It was nice to just get to play tourist for a few days and enjoy how beautiful Maine truly is.

Hoping to get to enjoy these last weeks of summer with lots of trips to the beach, lots more ice cream, and lots of time spent outside.

 

Maine

 

Our bungalow

Howie and I were lucky enough to get to enjoy a little getaway to Kennebunkport, Maine. We were invited to spend the weekend at Hidden Pond Resort. Howie and I have always loved Maine. We use to go up almost every summer BF (before kids). I love everything about Maine, the people, the houses, but most of all the scenery.

The Farm at Hidden Pond

We drove up Friday and made a few obligatory stops at some of our favorite spots. Allie’s Donuts is our favorite donut place in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Only as we are waiting on line did we realize it was National Donut Day, who knew?!, so of course we had to buy extra donuts to celebrate. We enjoyed our treats in Wickford, Rhode Island. It’s such a beautiful town with some of my favorite houses (think pink!).

After a few more pitstops we made it up to Kennebunkport.  I wasn’t  sure what to expect from Hidden Pond Resort but it completely exceeded our expectations. The resort is spread out on 60 sylvan acres. Each group had their own bungalow or a two bedroom cottage (think small house). Since it was just Howie and I, we were in one of the bungalows. It was an adorable cedar shake little structure with a screened in porch, small kitchenette, lovely bathroom, fireplace, and best of all an outdoor shower. Since the resort is a bit spread out they have beach cruiser bikes that you can use to get around the resort and or to explore the area. Of course Howie and I took full advantage of the bikes! Hidden Pond has a sister resort, Tides Beach Club, one mile away right on the beach. As guests of Hidden Pond we had full access to all of the amenities at The Tides as well. We rode our bikes down to the beach and spent some time (think drinks like watermelon cosmos and yellow beach chairs with umbrellas) at The Tides.

 

The Tides Beach Club

At night we ate at Earth at Hidden Pond. The resteraunt was amazing. Outstanding food, great people, great atmosphere, and fresh local ingredients. Then after dinner we went and hung out by the nightly bonfire and had a nice glass of wine and made s’mores.

After two two nights I was ready to head back to my girls (although I think my mom was ready for us to head back even more). Howie and I are already planning to go back up to Hidden Pond in a few months but this time with the girls so they can experience the joys of Maine with us.

(un)Offical start of summer

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Life seems so much better when you can throw on flip flops and hangout poolside all day. Memorial Day weekend was pretty busy. But we still managed to get a decent amount of pool time in.  Both my girls are truly water babies. Lilly is a little fish and swims for hours! Nora cries when you take her out.

We had a few visitors this weekend which the girls loved. They always love when someone new is around to give them attention and play with them. Memorial Day weekend also means party hopping. We were lucky enough to get to go to a house warming party in Sag Harbor. Sag Harbor is one of my favorite towns. It was such a privilege to get to view a historical captain’s house up close and personal.

As the count down to the end of school begins it’s time to start thinking about summer plans and what to do with the little ones. Anyone have any fun summer plans?

 

February

What a crazy month this has been… One day it is -5 out and two days later it’s 50. I spent at least three days this month wondering why I have a horse…because shoveling manure at 6am in -5 degrees out is not fun. Good thing it was 50 a few days later!

Lilly had winter break last week so we decided to go upstate to sled, ski, and ice skate. The day we drove upstate was 50 and rainy so unfortunately we didn’t get to go sledding or ice skating. I have been going upstate for winter week since I was Lilly’s age and this was the first time there was no snow. However, we did get to ski! This was Lilly’s first time skiing. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure how Lilly was going to react. I put her in ski school for a two hour lesson. I decided to take a lesson myself while Lilly was in ski school since I haven’t skied since before kids. It felt good being back on the slopes and I must admit it was just like getting back on a bike. Although I did go down the green trail first just to make sure I could still ski.

 

After my lesson was over I decided to go spy on Lilly. I was was shocked to see Lilly going down the bunny slope on her own doing a little pizza wedge. It was so cute! Of course she later threw a tantrum because she didn’t understand how come she couldn’t go down the big slopes with me. But at least I can say she enjoyed it and is looking forward to going again sometime soon. Guess the pressure is on for another ski date sometime before spring!

The last few days have been so nice. It’s actually starting to feel a little spring-like. It’s a bit early to start dreaming about spring but lately I feel like it’s in the air. It was finally in the 50’s and all the snow has melted. Birds are singing and I was so happy to see a few crocus had opened up on my lawn. I am hoping that we have more of this weather in our near future. I want it to warm up a bit so I can get back into a walking routine and get these two girls outside and back to some playgrounds. I guess now it’s time for me to start breaking out the Easter decorations and to start dreaming of Spring.

 

 

 

January ?!?

 

Not really sure what happened to January…not that I’m complaining because I despise the winter months but January has truly flown by. Nora turned 1… Not sure how that happened so fast but we survived! I think the first birthday should really be a party for the mom. A celebration of surviving the first year. Thank God Nora is so darn cute!

We just got home from a week in London. I decided to tag along with Howie when he went to London on business. I made the hard choice to leave Nora behind with my parents for the week and just take Lilly. This was our first trip to Europe where we brought children. I wasn’t really sure what to expect traveling with Lilly on a red eye. Cannot say that was very fun. The one thing that I learned from traveling with a four year old is that you’re not going to get a lot done. I made a mile long list of all the touristy things that I wanted to do with Lilly. We ticked off a few boxes but not as many as I would have liked. Walking with Lilly anywhere took twice as long and triple the amount of stops than if she wasn’t with us. The positive side of this is that you get to see and experience more than if you were rushing around trying to get from place to place. Lilly was super excited to see the Paddington Bear statue! She also had fun visiting Windsor Castle. Her favorite part was the ginormous doll house. Lilly asked if we could buy her one…. A girl can dream! She has always loved playing princess… After this trip and seeing real castles Lilly’s comment to me is “mom I want to be a real princess when I grow up and I want to live here.” Sounds like a plan to me!! Prince George you better watch out, I think you may have an older lady on the prowl!!

Glad to be home and get back in a normal routine. Can’t believe Monday is February. Guess it’s time to start thinking about Valentines Day…. Only 2 weeks!!💗

New Year

 

Happy New Year….. Kinda crazy that it’s 2016. This year went by really fast… Although parts of it went quite slow (like newbornhood).  Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve…Can’t say I made it to midnight but I did manage to sneak away with Howie and go to a friends house for a few drinks and still be home and in bed by 11 (because kids don’t know you were out late and are still up at 5:30AM).

I must say I am probably the only person who is excited that tomorrow is Monday. I’m ready for Lilly to go back to school and to go back to a normal routine. I feel like it has been a week and a half of staying in pjs until noon and eating Christmas cookies for breakfast. Being back into a routine again will be sort of nice.

 

The weather has been getting cooler so it has started to feel like winter. We took a drive out to Shelter Island just to enjoy the quieter season.  Love going out east and to the Hamptons in the off season. It is so nice not having to deal with crowds. I hope everyone had a great Holiday week and that going back to work tomorrow is as painless as it can possibly be.

 

 

The Aftermath

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We are still picking up all of the pieces here… and by pieces I mean Barbie shoes… Calicoe Critters… Legos… and Disney princesses. It was fun watching Lilly and Nora open all their presents and see which ones were their favorite. It was also funny watching Lilly steal her little sisters toys saying “sharing is caring.” Of course if it was the other way around that would be a no go.

It was such a warm day so I decided to take the horse for a nice Christmas ride before dinner and presents with the rest of the family. Then we proceeded to celebrate Christmas with the rest of our families. By the time we got home for the girls bedtime the amount of toys had tripled! So we spent the whole day today opening/assembling/sorting toys. I am still not done. I really feel the need to purge and donate some of the old toys.

Although the weather has been nice and warm I miss the sun. So far we have had the last 4 days with alternating fog/rain/clouds. Although I kinda love the fact that we have had no snow to date and it is the end of December (but don’t tell Lilly that because she is dying to go sledding). Lilly has all next week off of school so now I need to be creative and come up with some fun adventures… Let’s hope the warmer weather keeps on coming!

 

 

 

The countdown

The countdown to Christmas has begun. And so has the craziness that surrounds it. I swear Lilly has become a totally different child the past few days thanks to the anticipation of Christmas. We have attended Christmas recitals, holiday parties, and ogled holiday decorations. Lilly keeps adding every toy that she sees on TV to her Christmas list. (Thank you commercials – I officially hate you!) Hopefully we are ready for the big day on Friday.

This week is going to be kinda nutty so we tried to take it easy this weekend but we were not too successful at that. Sunday we took a drive out to Sag Harbor to see some friends. There is just something about the Hamptons around Christmas time. It is probably my favorite time of year out there. The summer is kinda crazy…. Christmas time is much quieter and everything is decorated so nicely. We ate at LT Burger right on Main Street in Sag Harbor. Always a great place to have a burger and a shake. Especially an rated “R” shake! And thanks to them Lilly got an orange balloon that has already been the catalyst to at least 3 meltdowns. I will have to make sure I pop it tonight and blame it on Gary, our Elf on the Shelf.

Tomorrow I have guests coming in and staying with me, so I look forward to hanging out with some old friends and possibly going out to a kid-free dinner. Hope everyone is enjoying the last few days before the Big Day! Have a great Christmas everyone!

Plaid dress is Vineyard Vines

my red cape and dress is from JMcLaughlin JMcLaughlin

My hat is from Pinkpineappleshop

 

 

 

 

Greetings from Caneel Bay

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As I write this I am sitting on a beach at Caneel Bay in Saint John USVI. Of course we planned this trip months ago so who would have thought it would have been in the 60’s back home in NY. But at least it’s 81 here and the water is warm. This might be my last swim until May so we are all trying to enjoy it. It feels a little strange being away so close to the Holidays and to be honest it’s my first time not being around home for the Holiday season, but I am enjoying some warmth and sun before the mad rush.

 

To be to be honest I am really dreading how much stuff I need to do in the next two weeks. We have so many parties and engagements and kid’s birthday parties that I’m not sure how to fit it all into all the Holiday stuff I have to get done. At least for now there are donkeys, pelicans, sea turtles and the ocean to distract me from reality for the next 24 hours.

Traveling with one kid now seems like heaven. Traveling with two kids is more like travling with 10…. and for those of you who have more than two, I have much respect! I swear one kid starts to cry and the other one joins in just for fun. We have managed to spend all day at the beach for the past 4 days and no one is sun burned so I call that a successful trip. Hope everyone is enjoying their week!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving week hustle

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (extra long) weekend. The weather could not have been any more perfect this week. I got to ride my horse Sean and Howie got to go paddle boarding. Thanksgiving came and went in a blink of an eye and then poof it’s Christmas time! The day after Thanksgiving we always go and cut down our tree at Lewins Farm. This year was a little extra special because it was Nora’s first time and the weather was wonderful. Some years we go and it is so cold we just cut down the first tree we find. This year we got to wander around and explore a bit before choosing our tree and heading home.

We spent the afternoon decorating the house and the tree. This year Lilly was much more independent and really helped to decorate. I think only three ornaments were casualties. Then to stick with the holiday spirit Lilly and I went into the city. I wanted to see the big tree and visit Santa at Macy’s. But if you ask Lilly what we did in the city all she will say is we went to the American Girl store. We went to do a girls lunch at the store. I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. I had pretty low expectations for this lunch but they truly made it a magical experience for Lilly (and I must admit that I enjoyed myself as well). I would highly recommend this to everyone! And just an FYI they do sell wine and champagne there … Just saying!

Overall this weekend was a wonderful start to the Holiday season. Howie and I also shot some photos for a JMclaughlin takeover this weekend. Follow along to see even more photos from this fun filled weekend.

Jmclaughlin

But first here is a little peek into our takeover.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying this exciting time of year. Oh and I’m sorry if there are any typos I am going to bed instead of proof reading! I know Nora is going to be up at 5 so I need to get to bed as early as I can! Night!