A Day at Put-In-Bay with the Miller Boat Line.

So on Sat. we packed up the whole family and headed out to Put-in-Bay.



It was an absolutely perfect day for it.  Beautiful, fall weather.  I know people think of the islands and that whole Sandusky area of Lake Erie as a summer gig but it's beautiful in the fall:

Put-in-Bay is the town on South Bass Island on the western end of Lake Erie.  So to get there you need to take a ferry.  We used the Miller Boat Line and they were great.  They run daily out of Port Clinton - about an hour from our house in Cleveland.

The biggest thrill ever for a 2 year old obsessed with cars and trucks and things that go?  Taking our car on a boat:



Seriously it blew his little mind. CAR ON BOAT! CAR BOAT! BOAT!!!! Pretty awesome.  The ride over is about 20 min so we didn't stay in our car the whole time:

Although I did use the downtime to nurse the baby. In a car.  On a boat.

I have officially nursed this kid everywhere.

Although you don't have to take your car on a boat.  Actually the primary way people get around on the island is golf carts.  Which would have been super fun if not for the baby factor.  I just didn't know how that would work.  Plus we wanted to have our car with us to lug all of our gear - stroller, diaper bag, jammies for the trip home, picnic lunch, etc.  When the kids are older the golf carts will be a blast, though!

Once were were back on land we buckled the kids in and headed straight to the Perry's Cave Family Fun Center.

First on our list was the Butterfly House.

Or BOO-FLY house if you're talking to the 2 year old.  BOO FLY DON'T BOTHER ME!  His fav song.

Because my girl wanted to find an Azure Butterfly like in Fancy Nancy.  I wanted to get a picture of the two big kids where they didn't look like crazy people.  Only one of us accomplished our goal:

Guess which one.

Anyways it was really cool.

Tons of  BOOFLIES:

 And we even go to see to see the cocoons which was a big thrill:

From there it was on to Perry's Cave:

Put-in-Bay just had a huge celebration for the bicentennial of the Battle of Lake Erie and this cave was an important factor.  Apparently Perry's men hid out here waiting for the showdown with the British.  They were able to lay in wait because of the cave's fresh water source. The pool of water is safe to drink b/c the limestone in the cave filters it.  The level of the pool rises and falls with the level of Lake Erie - something I find fascinating.  Anyways with out this cave the battle and therefore the War of 1812 and therefore all of flipping history might have gone very differently:

A very important body of water.

As a former preservationist I love sites like this - that have been tourist attractions for literally over a hundred years.  Because some of the things - actually alot of the things - that early tourists did can be really harmful to the thing they were touring.  So then that becomes part of the history of the site, too.  In this case there were black soot marks from the gas lanterns they used to use.  But my fav part was the remaining parts of an old pipeline that used to run from the freshwater pool to the Liberty Hotel. Yeah someone saw this cool, historically significant cave and thought:  "Sweet.  We'll just go ahead and take that water.  Damage it?  Bah.  Our needs are way more important.  What up."
Kindof like how the southwest looks at our great lakes....  Wait.

Anyways! After the tour the kids needed to run around for a bit.  So we headed to the Fort A-maze-ing.

Which is basically just a huge maze.  The kids loved it.

I got several turns in and had a crying baby in my hands that needed to eat RIGHT NOW OMG.  I... couldn't find the way out.

But with not to much trouble (and alot of mocking) Matt was able to navigate me back to the entrance. 

From there we left the Family Fun Center and headed across the street to Crystal Cave.  Which is the world's largest geode.  My kids LOVE geodes - my mom collects them kindof so they've seen a few in their lives.  Once they understood what they were seeing it blew their minds.

We skipped the winery portion of the Crystal Cave tour, sadly b/c the kids were in dire need of some downtime (read:  AWFUL).  So we took a driving tour of the island:

When everyone seemed back to rights again we had a bit more time to kill before the ferry home but not enough for another attraction.  So we went to the park:

Always a strong play.

And climbed some cannons:

 And got ice cream:

Perfect end to a lovely day.

The ferry home was pretty fun, too!

We had a great time in Put-in-Bay.  Which you can probably tell just by the fact that this turned into about the longest post ever.  And we still didn't see all of the things we wanted to see!  Matt's super bummed about missing the Longest Bar in the World (yes. that's a thing), and I want to go to the top of Perry's Victory.  So we will be returning to the island again soon.

I'd highly recommend a trip if you're looking for something fun and easy to do with your family this fall!

Disclosure:  Miller Boat Line provided me with tickets to the island and the Perry's Cave Family Fun Center attractions.  All opinions are my own.

Superman.

So you guys this week has kicked my ass.  Seriously.  HOW IS IT ONLY WED?!?!  Matt's working a lot and the kids are being... well a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn.  And school is taking some getting used to.  I know it's normal for the kids to be super tired and puddles of human beings the first few weeks but I didn't think that would apply to me, too!  I basically just want to curl up, drink wine, and knit some mindless garter stitch.  So instead of the post I have half finished I present you with this.

24 seconds of ... well... this:

Yup.

Truth be told I was cooking dinner and they came in that way.  I made them do it again for a video because AWESOME.

The First Day of School. 2013.

So!  It's that time of year again.  Time for the obligatory First Day of School Post:

This year I was just as excited as last year but for completely different reasons.  My poor girl has been stuck home with me and the boys for weeks now.  And WOW was she bored.  I tried.  We did lots of fun things and went lots of fun places.  But honestly there's only so much I can do with 2 other little ones vying for my attention.  Girl needs intellectual stimulation that does not come from just me.

She insisted on posing like this.  Apparently we were doing a first day editorial shoot.

This year Preschool  is 4 days instead of 3.  And it's an hour longer and much more real.  The philosophy is that they are kindergarten trainees.  See kindergarten these days is what first grade was back when I was a kid.  So this gets them ready for that.  And let me tell you she is SO READY.  She wants to learn. She wants to be a big kid. BRING. IT. ON.

She was mildly nervous before she saw her classroom and met her teacher.  But once she did that she was fine.  No real first day jitters at all.

So the thing I was most worried about this year was this:

First day of the carline with THREE of them.

Getting everyone dressed, fed, prepared and out.  Mornings in this house are intense.  But it's not so much the addition of another kid as the fact that this year one of them is a 2 year old.  I basically need a combo of jedi mind tricks and witchcraft to get him moving in the morning.  Also someone was NOT OK with being left behind:

MINE SCHOOL.  ME SCHOOL.  WAIT ME NEEAH!  MINE SCHOOOOOL!!!!

Yeah.  Poor dude was beside himself the first day.  So to make him feel better we did this:

ROCKS WATER!

He ended up so muddy he rode home in just his underwear.  Perfect attire for a popsicle snack (ssshhh don't tell his sister):

The next day he was fine with leaving the girl at school.  Heh.  And what's extra cute is seeing him step up as a big brother now that his sister isn't around:

I think I'm going to have fun rolling with my boys this year.

And when they were reunited they had a whole conversation comparing their mornings that was basically the most adorable thing that's ever happened.

So yeah. Yay school!

this photo has nothing to do with school.  BABYSMILES ZOMG!

Balls in the air.

So!  That was a whole lot of sponsored business before disappearing for a week.  I'm sorry about that.  Not my hope for this blog.  It seems that in the juggling act that is my life right now I can't quite keep ALL of the balls in the air yet.  One goes up (blog) and some others come crashing down (knitting, housework, etc.).  Then the next week I flip them.  BUT!  At least there are balls in the air other than just KEEP ALL THE MANY CHILDREN ALIVE OMFG.  Baby steps, right?

So instead of a real, nicely themed post how about some random?

Three kids on a crazy ornate bench in a Mexican Restaurant.  RANDOM.

1.)  The kids have been watching (read: obsessed with) Jake and the Neverland Pirates lately.  So Pirate themed play is big right now - treasure! maps! swords! throwing sand at each other and claiming it's pixie dust! digging holes in the back yard!  Anyways the dude opened up my jewelry box and goes WOOOOW.  TREASURE!  NO PIRATES GET IT.  NO.  MINE HERE.  NO PIRATES GET MOMMY TREASURE.

And I was all wait... are you trying to say that the pirates won't get my treasure because you're going to protect it for me?

YES.  MINE 'TECT IT.  NO PIRATES.

This btw is why it's awesome to be a mom to a boy.  The first time my daughter found my jewelry box she asked me how long until she would get everything.  Yeah.

2.)  The dude is now potty trained.  Which.  Not going to blog about b/c NO.  However I will say this:  The whole "boys are so much harder than girls" thing is BULLSHIT.  I don't know if that's a lie boy moms told to make themselves feel superior but yeah... not the truth at all.  I think this - as for ANYTHING - in parenting depends on the kid.  I will say, though, potty training a boy I learned... some.... new things.  Like the importance of aim.

between no longer wearing a diaper and his new chucks The Dude's coolness is complete

3.)  I was chatting w my daughter about the wedding we're going to this weekend I told her that Aunt Lori Beth would be there. Her response:

"Yay yay yay!!!! Wait a minute. Is she going to be in our posse?"
"Wait what?"
"You know, mommy, a posse. The people who roll with us?"

I told her that LB would most definitely be in our posse.

wondering if our whole posse will have to wear flowers on our noses?

4.)  So the dude and I have this thing where when I'm tucking him in at night he puts his hand over my mouth and I kiss it.  Well lately he's been rubbing his hands together after I kiss them.  Just a bit of toddler crazy, right?  Well then last night I didn't kiss his hand.  I was in a hurry and it was a step and I had laundry to fold and... yeah.  So he's all KISS MINE HAND MOMMY.  KISS IT.  Freaking out and getting all upset and throwing a temper tantrum.  So I take a deep breath, collect all of the patience I have left for the day, and go back in to kiss his hand.  He rubs his hands together and says this:

MINE KEEP IT MOMMY KISS.  

I... wow.  See he's hit the two's lately.  Hard.  In the face.  But moments like this make me realize that two can be pretty damn awesome if you let it be.

5.)  The little guy discovered both his hands and his feet.  Obviously this is the most fun ever:

I have a picture of him using his hands but this one has BABYSMILESOMFG.

Also he's starting to lose that newborn look even while sleeping.  I'm not sure my heart is ready for that yet:

Milk. Coma.

6.)  I went to target this morning and I swear everyone there was pregnant.  All I could think was HAAHAAHAAAA!!! SUCKERS!  Obviously I am responding to not being pregnant anymore with both grace and dignity.

7.) Anyone have any idea how to make a My Little Pony Halloween costume?  Specifically Twilight Sparkle?  Because I got nothing...

Nothing except mad pony hairstyling skilz.