the adventures Archives - Love Them Madly

Surprise. They Don’t Like Surprises.

May 1, 2013

The latest wonder of my world: is it really possible that some people, in particular two people born of my very DNA, don’t like to be surprised?

In college, I almost show up a day earlier than my parents expected. SURPRISE! I’m home on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, not Wednesday. Surprise!! I’m home on December 20th, not December 21st. It’s hard to imagine they didn’t catch on, but then again, we all like surprises. You know how some people are susceptible to hypnosis? Well, we Hamills are susceptible to surprises.

When I was newly engaged, my mom asked me what kind of bridal shower I had in mind (at home, at a restaurant, etc.). ”A surprise one,” I answered right away. I completely requested a surprise party, and that’s just what I got when I showed up a few months later at my parent’s home for what I thought was a day of dress shopping and shower invitation assembly. I was a little annoyed, but oddly not suspicious that I’d left my apartment on Boston’s Newbury Street to go dress shopping in the ‘burbs, not to mention I was responsible for stuffing my own shower invitations. I loved that surprise party as much as the one my mom hosted for my 14th birthday, as much as the one my college friends threw for me the day I took the LSATs, as much as the few I have planned for friends and family.

Well, the verdict is in: susceptible or not, my kids don’t enjoy surprises nearly as much I do.

I pulled a trifecta on them last week: after five days at Gigi Pearl’s house, they each found a box like this waiting for them one morning.

lego box

The Lego travel boxes were a hit (check out the DIY here), and so was the destination, but they didn’t LOVE being surprised. I expected shrieks and jumping up and down; instead, I got quiet, confused smiles.

After driving to our hotel in Orlando, we “bumped” into both boys’ best friends from home at the pool. Surprise! There was no crying or bad behavior but not quite the happy delirium that I expected. Within minutes, they were relaxed and happy to be together but they clearly were not so thrilled about being surprised. Ditto, the next day, when we surprised them after a day at Legoland with dinner at Disney World with their cousins, aunt and uncle. Ryan looked embarrassed and uncomfortable — not at all what I intended.

I was aiming for happy, but how did the surprises make them feel? Dopey? Bashful? Grumpy?

I’ve thought a lot about why the surprises fell flat. I think this is it: kids spend a lot of time getting ready – ready for school, ready for karate, ready for bed. If ready is so important, it must feel awfully weird to be surprised, standing there so un-ready to see your best friend or best cousins.

My oldest is becoming very independent and like the rest of us, he likes to be right and in charge. I think the surprise might have been happier if I had given Ryan even five minutes notice of what was about to happen. Or maybe five days. Or five months. Perhaps, for some, anticipating good things is as lovely as being surprised.

I, for one, am still daydreaming of the morning when my husband wakes me up, relieves me of my day’s duties and sends me shopping to the outlets with my friends or sisters.

Lousy surprise predictions aside, the trip did not otherwise disappoint. I was so glad we added a weekend in Orlando to our great visit with Gigi. Our mini-parks vacation – day at Legoland and a day at the Magic Kingdom with best friends and cousins - was just right.

A Look at Legoland:

…Our family went to Legoland. The park was clean and manageable, the crowds were small and the kids could go on nearly every ride. The waffle sticks with whipped cream, chocolate and sprinkles weren’t bad either.

We loved the Lego shows and hand-on activities, like this WeDo Construction workshop Ryan and I attended, where we built an alligator, then programmed it to open and close his mouth to chomp on food.

Everything is made out of Legos. Everything. That little hot dog vendor. The boy walking his dog. Everything.

All Legoland staff have a few Lego Mini-Figures on their name tags and are happy to trade them with guests. This guy is the hottest thing in the park with “TRADE ME” and “TAKE A LOOK” tags all over his minifigure-clad shirt – front and back. If you go, bring lots of mini figures (even mismatched) from home for a fun (free-ish) souvenir.

Day at Disney World (slightly soggy)

The cousins would have been happy just riding the monorail all day together.

wet MK

Don’t forget to check out our LEGO TRAVEL BOXES – easy to create for your next road trip.

The Scooter Guide to Washington, D.C.

April 5, 2013

Scott, Ryan and I spent last weekend in Washington, D.C.

Any guilt I felt about leaving our three year old with his grandparents melted away with our first walk around the White House. No naps, no stroller…just lots of patriotic sightseeing.

First, What Makes Me The Wisest Lady in the Land

One word. Scooter.

Having his own wheels gave Ryan lots of playtime and independence between monuments, museums and meals. It saved us from piggyback rides and whining about tired feet (I complained just a little bit).

We held or checked the scooter in the museums, but I had to let Ryan take a spin in the lobby of The W.

What We Did

Once in D.C., we relied entirely on The Washington Post’s Explore DC app for directions, museum hours, event listings, and restaurant listings.

Monuments: White House, The Mall, The Sculpture Garden, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial. The scooter made it all possible.

My sister Kim tipped me off to bring cash to DC, if only for the photo opportunities. Even better, Kim and her husband overlapped on our weekend in DC and Dean even had a $100 bill ready for Ryan when we happened upon a statue of Benjamin Franklin.

dollar collage

Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum: Fantastic and endlessly gigantic. Lots to look at and much to make me aware that I am NOT a rocket scientist. I don’t think I answered a single question Ryan asked. The Hubble 3-D IMAX, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, was visually stunning and raised more questions than answers…starting with how could we give up our space program?

Bureau of Printing and Engraving (“The Money Factory”): Made possibly only by my husband waiting on line for tour tickets for over an hour one chilly morning. Simply cool to watch money being printed in sheets, view stacks of hundreds of thousands of bills and explain corny signs like “Free samples: Tomorrow Only.”

National Museum of Natural History: Built in 1910, the halls and exhibits look unbelievably modern and fresh and we could have spent a full day here. Highlights included The Live Butterfly Pavilion, Sant Ocean Hall (especially replica of 45 foot whale), Nature’s Best Photography Exhibit, the Hope Diamond and the Dinosaurs.

National Building Museum: A welcome respite from the crowds on The Mall, the Great Hall of the National Building Museum has hosted inaugural balls and DC society events since 1885. My pick for serious hands-on playful learning.

You can see how challenging it is to build an arch.

arch

You can borrow Tool Kits for $5 and explore building themes like housing, patterns and our choice, construction.

In one toolkit exercise, we measured these columns in hugs. Six and half hugs around…or 25 feet.

There’s a play area for kids under six, and a “Play. Work. Build” zone for all ages, with real and virtual blocks for building and knocking down.

Apparently, the Great Hall is also an excellent place to nap, according to Mr. & Mrs. Love U Madly.

What We Ate:

Acqua Al Due: Sweet to bring our son to the DC cousin of the restaurant Scott and I enjoyed when we studied abroad in Florence, Italy.

Native Food Cafe at the National American Indian Museum: Kids may gravitate towards the cheese-filled fry bread and corn bread, but I fell for the vegetarian side dishes like this wild rice salad I’m making today.

Lebenese Taverna: The Woodley Park location (near the Zoo) is a perfect spot for families to try some new cuisine amid comforts like hummus and pita.

Teaism: This “collection” of teahouses and restaurants offer quick, fresh meals and snacks with Asian influence. Don’t tell Ryan the crispies atop his Soba noodle bowl were fried Shiitake mushrooms.

Good Stuff Eatery/“We” The Pizza – Toasted marshmallow milkshake lives up to the hype at celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn’s cafes.

What We Missed/Are Saving for Next Time:

Newseum, International Spy Museum, National Museum of American History, Eastern Market, the Old Post Office Tower, the National Postal Museum. The banana fluffernutter at Founding Farmer. Oh, and those stubborn Cherry Blossoms which are probably blooming this weekend.

For the (Not-So) Clueless Guide to Washington, D.C, visit Love U Madly today.

Maple Snow Candy: A Sweet Taste of Winter

March 12, 2013

Wondering how to get through the last month of winter? An extra hour of daylight (thank you, whoever thought of that brilliance), spring skiing in the sunshine and maple candy made in the snow should certainly do the trick.

skiing

We recently spent an uber-New Englandy Saturday morning tapping maple trees at a local farm. The kids loved drinking the fresh sap along with a few sips of locally made maple syrup.

I don’t think topping the tapping experience off with maple candy was entirely necessary, but we had to do something with all the snow that arrived a few days later.

We modified Catherine Newman’s maple snow taffy recipe into these coin size sucking candies. The kids played Willy Wonka as they made candy molds in the snow and wrapped and decorated our treats.

Maple Snow Candy

Ingredients

1 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup salted butter
clean snow (or ice cream)

Instructions

In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, melt the syrup and butter together until the mixture reaches 220ºF-235ºF (about 5 minutes after it comes to a boil) or until the mixture is a bit thick and a light brown caramel color.

Let the mixture cool for a couple of minutes. You can pour it by the spoonful over bowls of clean snow (or ice cream). We made our candies by poking holes in a tray of clean snow (with a clean finger or the tip of a funnel), then filling in the holes with our syrup mixture.

In a few minutes the maple candies harden. Now just a little snow removal and you’ve got homemade sweets.

We poured some of the maple syrup mixture into a plastic candy mold and also made lollipops to be a bit safer for my little one. You can see quite a bit difference in the candy colors – the candy mold batch was a nice light caramel color which looked and tasted much better than the slightly burnt lollipops.

What Happens (When Dad Is) In Vegas…

March 5, 2013

Well, the truth is we don’t know what happens when Dad is in Vegas at a beer convention (yes, he calls that work).

I do know that we miss him and we’re grateful that he manages to fly cross-country, attend a bunch of (beer) meetings and make it back home in 50 hours.

I do know that it’s both easier (french toast for dinner) and harder (Mommy! Mommy!! Mommy!!!) without him around.

I do know that I enjoy a certain independence and freedom being the only grown-up around. I might act like I call the shots all the time, but I do defer often to my husband’s good sense. Without him, I do things like painting in a 30 degree garage while also cooking breakfast for dinner in the kitchen.

And this was AFTER I took my kids to Sunday’s opening of our new local Home Goods store. This may deem me an unfit parent, but at least I know I’m not alone in my excitement as there was a theme park-like “thirty minutes from this point” sign in the check-out line. We WI-WA-WO-d it (walk in, walk around, walk out), wistfully leaving behind a lovely 8 by 8 nonstick brownie pan to move on to Michael’s and the grocery store.

The kids were kindly enthusiastic about my choice of errands. On the way of out Home Goods, I did promise that our next stop had an excellent selection of C-A-N-D-Y. Noah looked at me with the biggest, most sparkly grin and whispered “Mickey Mouse????” (You know, like M-I-C-K-E-Y…)

Though we are on our own plenty, something about Dad being across the country always prompts me to make a few special memories with the kids. I mean the kind you can’t make at a very crowded Home Goods.

At bathtime (usually dad’s domain), I had the kids close their eyes as I got the tub ready.

They held hands and opened their eyes – one, two, three.

I’m not sure who had more fun. We took the glow stick lanterns apart (50 cents at Michaels) and put them back together, then made one giant lantern. The boys swam with glow worms and electric eels.

We played basketball in the tub, and eventually in the bathroom sink.

The boys went to sleep with the lanterns glowing by their beds.

I’m counting on the glow lasting just about until Dad comes home tonight.

The Beach Is So Sandy

February 28, 2013

I like the beach. Ideally, I like it from a padded lounge chair, with an unspoiled view of the ocean. A light breeze, a thick towel and a good book. Easy on the sweating, the stickiness and the sand.

My kids feel differently. I admire their willingness to be knee deep in the sand, to roll around and be caked in grains for hours.

To keep us all happy in the sand, I did some beach homework before we headed to Puerto Rico.

Did you know if you sprinkle baby powder on your sandy hands, you can rub the sand right off? That worked just as advertised and now I get to be the crazy lady on the beach chasing her kids with baby powder.

I brought some random supplies for beach play – a plastic ice cream scooper and some little cups for an ice cream shop and a half dozen plastic test tubes (the watering vials from my Valentines’ roses) for my beach scientists. Coupled with a few sand toy sets our awesome Aunt Ginny picked up at the local Walmart, the kids were set.

We also had fun with our beach shadows.

Miraculously, I remembered to bring along these wood craft dinosaur models I picked up months ago.

My husband helped me stage a little dinosaur dig for Ryan, Noah and my 5 year old nephew. After I tagged each set of bones with a color for each paleontologist, Scott hid the “bones” in a mound of sand in a small, defined area of the beach.

The kids dug and sifted through the sand, looking for bones and sorting by the colored dots – pink for Milo, blue for Noah and green for Ryan.

heads together

Dino Dig

noah's hands

The boys loved the digging and amazingly found every last bone (at least 60 pieces each). Putting the dinos together was a bit trickier. N.B….use the diagram on the instructions to number the bones BEFORE you pop them out of the wood board. Once, we labeled the bones, fitting them together according to the instructions was easy and the kids could build their dinosaurs with just a little guidance.

The dino sets are now available half-price at The Mill Stores at 74 cents each. No sand required – you could “bury” them in a tray of rice, couscous or cereal or just about anywhere. I think it would be very cute to decorate them with markers or paint before (or after) putting them together, but Ryan plans to spray paint his white to make it look more like real bones.

Sunrise, Sunset

February 27, 2013

I mean to boast only about the amazing innovation of modern air travel.

Airport

My husband’s family has been traveling to the sleepy resort community of Palmas del Mar for over 30 years. I made my first pilgrimage with them when I was 19 or 20. Then, on college break with my boyfriend’s family, I can’t imagine it ever crossed my mind that I’d return someday with a duffel bag stuffed with sunscreen, children’s Motrin, swim vests, jigsaw puzzles and Go Fish!

The main hotel has changed names and ownership a dozen times and so have the local restaurants. There’s still a lot of rice and beans, tostones and mofongo (fried plantains, two ways) and a decadently nostalgic David’s Cookies bakery. The beach has eroded a bit, but the tree frogs still sound their coquí, coquí all night long. Listen here, if you like – the first night, you think you might never sleep amid the echo of the male frogs marking their territory with their shrill song (it could be worse) but after a week, you’d bring the sound home on a white noise machine if you could.

With four kids under six between my boys and my nephews, there’s a lot less time for endless sunbathing with a good book in hand (though both Baseball Mysteries #3: The L.A. Dodger and Orangey the Goldfish proved excellent beach reads).

These days we spend much more time spent covered in sand.

Lots of awesome discoveries, especially this sandcastle city. Thank you to whoever left it for us to find.

Now I feel a bit dopey about this, but truly, I didn’t know this is how coconut trees grow.

And grow and grow until you have this.

These guys are far more fascinating and far less scary when you have little guys who want to check them out with you.

To think our boys might return with college girlfriends someday.

Yikes.

I’m still on Puerto Rico time, which means everything is happening very slowly, but tomorrow, I’m hoping to share some of our best beach activities (besides coating ourselves with a thick layer of sunscreen, then rolling in the sand and then crying about the sand in our eyes).

Away We Go – And You Can Too

February 21, 2013

Happily, we ditched the remains of the blizzard for some warmer weather and a family beach vacation. I’ll share our adventures soon, but until then, here’s a trip you can take without leaving your house.

As I was busily packing our bags one day last week, the boys were noticeably quiet. Then Noah peeked in, told me Ryan was taking him to Puerto Rico and asked where he could find his suitcase.

Pretty sure they stole my creativity/pretend play worshipping heart.

Two rows of seats (I was seated in the cushy green seats which I think is first class), a luggage compartment, some interesting passengers and even a beverage cart – stocked with items raided from the pantry.

I have a few ziploc bags of themed pretend play props in a drawer in our toy room – one for playing restaurant, one for playing pirate and one for playing airport. The airport bag has some photocopied boarding passes from old flights, some real baggage tags and forms from the airline ticket counters (you could make up your own), the cloud printouts (in photos above) and our Pilot’s hat and flying “wings.”

tickets

I probably will add some maps and travel brochures, and to boost the literacy value, some airport-like signs for restrooms, baggage and boarding areas. Maybe we’ll even venture to make a cardboard box airplane like our pals at Homegrown Friends did recently.

I generally initiate this kind of play (or I used to when I had just the one kid), but look what happens when you pretend a few times and leave the kids with a few props? This was one was all the boys. I could just sit back and enjoy the friendly skies.

Delicious to watch my boys ready themselves for our trip. Even little brother got a turn in the pilot’s chair.

This was Ryan’s loudspeaker.

He made frequent announcements like this: “Hello passengers. This is your pilot speaking. We will be flying at one million feet today. Please relax and enjoy the flight. And drink a lot of chocolate milk and eat tons of applesauce and cereal bars. It is the only time your mom will let you eat these things in the living room.”

Special Winter Storm Edition: Just Keep Shoveling

February 9, 2013

They weren’t wrong.

And it’s not just snowdrift.

Winter storm Nemo dumped a heck of a lot of snow on New England. I was as giddy as a ten year old as I did responsible things like fill up on gas, batteries and groceries — and giddier still when my sister Kim and her husband Dean arrived on the last train out of Manhatten just in time to be snowed in with us.

Mid-blizzard, there was skiing in the backyard, courtesy of the dad/uncle Dean human chairlift.

Post-blizzard, lots of road closures (okay, the whole state is still closed) and lots of shoveling. Neighbors pitched in, digging out driveway after driveway. Sadly, I was excused from active duty on account of my bad ankle, so my sister and I were in charge of feeding the kids and shovelers.

To make your own Nemo snacks, cut an apricot in half and stick a toothpick through it (this is your Nemo tail). Then add another apricot to the toothpick as the body. Add stripes and an eye with your choice of frosting, cream cheese, yogurt, white chocolate and chocolate chips. We used vanilla frosting and mini-chocolate chips – a total treat as good as candy.

Another fishy hit of the storm: PBJ and cream cheese & jelly sushi! Just trim the crusts off sandwich bread, flatten with a rolling pin, add toppings, roll up and slice.

Ski Ya Later

January 23, 2013

I haven’t had a family ski weekend since college.

The wait is over.

How cool is my mom skiing with her grandsons?

Not only do I have a skier (Ryan), but I have a skiing joke Ryan thought up on the chairlift:

How does a skier say goodbye? Ski Ya Later.

Apres ski with the rest of the family was nearly as fun.

A mix of cousins – my kids + my sister in law’s kids + my sister’s kids – had a blast together, all marvelously hosted by my in-laws.

There was yoga.

And lots of puzzles and games and Hide-and-Seek. The grandparents and outdoors provided the bulk of the entertainment but in the downtime, we had fun with some downloads from a smart and adorable website, Mr. Printables. I printed this set of ABC flashcards and the 3 to 6 year olds ran around the house finding objects and people starting with each letter, then handing the cards over to the “writing” cousins for labeling.

I guess we should have expected this when we got to “T is for…”

We also liked this 6 page “doodle on the moon” activity (can print twice as big on 12 pages too).

The frozen lake surrounding the house felt a bit like the moon to me (except there was plenty of gravity and I have the bruises to prove it).

Lots of happy campers. Me included. As my older sister watched me play the Disney HedBanz game with our kids, she said I looked completely returned to (or did she say stuck in?) my childhood. No matter. Not such a bad place to be.

For outtakes from the weekend, check LTM’s facebook page here. And if you haven’t already, be sure to click the LIKE button. Thanks!!

Happy Holidays to Me!

January 2, 2013

Our holidays brought many new awesome toys to our house. Here’s one I sort of bought for myself:

Playing doctor is a big part of pretend play at our house (see what we did with our giant stuffed grizzly bear here). Our supplies have grown with the addition of personalized doctor’s lab coats and a fantastic doctor’s office kit from the boys’ birthdays (thanks Aunts and Uncles).

This rolling kitchen cart from IKEA has enlivened our play (and kept a New Years’ Eve playdate very busy with M&M medicine). At $49.99, its an investment piece in our toy room. To boot, it allows my vision of having a doctor son (or two) to punctuate the other oft-played out career scenarios — professional wrestler/demo crew/candy hoarder and tester.

The cart is available for shipping from IKEA and I imagine would be great for baby doll/accessory play, art supplies and other toy storage. And if the pre-med dreams happen to pan out, the boys can roll the cart right into college for dorm room supplies.

skull

We’re also quite hooked on these Smart Lab kits for kids that allow you to build a body, brain and hand with a mix of hard and squishy parts. I just made the mean in my Bio 101 class, so this stuff is not natural teaching for me, but the activity guidebooks that come along with them connect the science to a kid’s reality — we’ve watched ourselves chewing pretzels (in a mirror) to see how your teeth and saliva start breaking down food, and made pretend stomach acid in a balloon.