Move over E*TRADE baby!

Papa Gene is 30!

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I met Gene at a young and tender age of 23.  Let me clarify, he was 23.  I was an old hag of 26.  We always teased him about being the youngest of the bunch but that joke got old (hehe).  This weekend we went out with friends (Friday) and family (Saturday) to celebrate this monumental occasion.  I put together an itinerary for Friday night that was somewhat busy in nature, but hey, you only turn 30 once.  Only four people made it through the entire night (shout out to Sereja and Walter!) and even they concluded that they are too old to party until 4am.  Thankfully, we can now all go back to being old farts and going home by 10pm. 

Friday night started out with a thirteen course tasting (2 of them desserts) at Xixa, in Williamsburg.  Next on our list was the bar Good co., which was really just a stop over on our way to Brooklyn Bowl, where the real fun began.  We bowled, danced and ate the night away.  Yes, apparently 13 courses weren't enough so we gorged on mac and cheese, chicken wings and Mediterranean dips.

After Brooklyn Bowl, the remaining breeders and old farts left and it was just the four of us at Berry Park.  We sat outside, chatted and drank the most delicious grapefruit infused beer. 

The following day Gene slept in (until 1pm!) and I watched Bravo and cooked food for the week.  Our celebration continued with a family dinner at Club A Steakhouse, where we ate more healthy foods like bacon, steak, creamed spinach and the most amazing truffle mac and cheese.  

Gene, hope your Birthday was memorable and special.  You have three ladies that adore you and wonder how you manage to be Superdad 100% of the time, but you do, and always with a smile on your face.  We are really lucky to have you as our best friend.

Lancaster (Thomas the Train, Dutch Wonderland and much, much, more...)

A few months ago Violet went through an almost unhealthy obsession with Thomas the Train, which I hear isn't uncommon for toddlers.  After a little research, I found out that Thomas actually travels around the country and provides kids an opportunity to ride their favorite tank engine. Lancaster was the closest location to us so I decided to create an entire 3 day itinerary around this 25 minute train ride in Strasburg Pennsylvania. Here is what it looked like:

Day 1

12:30pm               Leave for our Big Adventure

3:00pm                 Arrive and check in to Fulton Steamboat Hotel

3:30pm                 Swim in the Pool (@ Hotel)

4:30pm                 Playground (@ Hotel)

5:00pm                 Ed's Buggy

6:00pm                 Huckleberry's Restaurant (@ Hotel)

7:30pm                 Bath, Milk and Cookies, Story and Sleep Time

               

               

Day 2

7:30am                 Wake Up

8:00am                 Breakfast @ Huckleberry's (@ Hotel)

9:00am                 Arrive at Strasburg Railroad

10:15am               Day out with Thomas

10:45am               Thomas Activities (imagination station, car rides, meet Sir Topham Hatt, etc. )

noon                     Hobo Lunch Train  or Trackside Café (stationary)

1:15pm                 Nap (@ Hotel)

3:15pm                 Railroad Museum

6:00pm                 Dinner (Checkers Bistro, Carr’s restaurant, or john j. Jeffries)

7:00pm                 Carmen & David's Creamery

7:30pm                 Bath, Milk and Cookies, Story and Sleep Time

               

Day 3

7:30am                 Wake Up

8:00am                 Breakfast @ Huckleberry's (@ Hotel)

9:00am                 Dutch Wonderland

noon                     Lunch @ the park

2:30pm                 Head Home

Except the Railroad Museum, we actually got to do pretty much everything on our list.  I was very proud of myself and my superb organizational/planning skills.  I will spare you my boring writing and sum up the trip with (mostly) pictures.

Our steamboat style hotel

Pool and Jacuzzi were a great alternative to bath time. I kid. I kid.

 Playground at the Fulton Steamboat Inn

 I couldn't get Gene off the swings. Literally!

Gene kept yelling at me to coordinate their swinging. Sorry, Gene!  I didn't major in Physics!

Superdad!

En garde!

 Breakfast for Violet

 Breakfast for Gene

 Strasburg Railroad

 There's that cheeky Thomas. 

 Ready for our big adventure!  The whole ride is at 5 mph? Oh how exciting!

 Choo Choo!

 Those bastards tried to charge us $15 for a family picture with Thomas, but we showed them!  

 One of them farted.  Can you tell who?

 Sibling Love

 Imagination Station- Mega Blocks, Trains, Railroads, Tattoos, and more.

 Like my tats?

 Mom, is this how you got to school when you were a kid? Did you give rides to the dinosaurs?

 Thomas Kitsch.  We got Violet two things and when I offered her another thing to buy she said, "No mommy, that's too much stuff."  Do I have the best kid or what?

 Feeding the goats before going for a buggy ride with Mike and Denny (our horses).

Denny was a lazy and slow horse that slowed Mike down and made our journey VERY long.  Gene quickly deduced that I must be Denny.

 Dutch Wonderland

 My knight in shining armor.

 Baby version of the famous Splash Mountain ride at Disney World. Violet said she was most scared when water got into her eyes.

 Airplanes - Violet's favorite ride. 

Watching story time with princess Brooke.

 Violet gets front row seats to story time.

 Duke's Lagoon

 Ivy could have spent hours trying to catch that stream of water.

This is Laura.  We picked her up from a balloon store shelter on the way home.  She now has no legs because Ivy ate them.

Poop Machine

Did you read the title? Why are you still reading this?  Close out your browser and go back to checking Facebook incessantly, even though you know there isn't anything noteworthy happening there. Ever.  I digress.   Gene told me not to give too many details but now is not the time to start taking Gene's advice.

Let me back up a bit and tell you what my typical Monday/Tuesday is like.  Monday after work Gene drops me off at Trader Joe's and I do our grocery shopping while he picks up Violet from daycare.   We get home around 6:45 pm and after putting away the groceries and feeding and bathing the kids I keep swearing that I will cook dinner for the week.  This of course never happens.  Tuesday is when I hand over both kids to Gene and I go into heavy duty cooking mode.  This Tuesday I made the following:

- Baked Salmon with a honey, mustard and garlic glaze
- Yukon Gold potatoes with butter and scallions
- Sweet and Sour Pork with vegetable stir fry (onion, mushrooms and asparagus)
- Spicy Soyaki Wings
- Turkey Nuggets (for the kids)

That level of detail wasn't really necessary and has nothing to do with the story, but I really miss my food blog.

So as I am cooking all the dishes, Gene is bathing the girls.  Suddenly, I hear Gene scream, "Nooooooo!!!"  I drop the ground turkey meat and run to the bathroom with my hands dredged in bread crumbs.  Violet is standing naked by the tub and Gene is holding Ivy in midair.  I look into the tub and what do I see?  You guessed it.  Poop.  Lots and lots of poop.  Why oh why do these things happen at all the wrong moments.  We grabbed the kids and ran to the master bathroom all the while thinking about how our children are probably covered head to toe in poop particles.  This is the part where Gene would probably say, "Why do you need to go into such detail?" I jumped into the shower with Violet and held Ivy (almost dropping that slippery baby like 3 times) and washed them off as quickly as possible, which wasn't easy since Violet cried the entire time about the water hurting her eyes.   Once done, I had to go back to cooking and then cleaning the kitchen.  It wasn't until 11pm that I was finally done with everything and was able to treat myself to a glass of wine and some much needed brain numbing Bravo programming.  This grown-up business is no picnic.

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

I haven't update the blog in a while and that's partially due to my lack of inspiration and partially because I have been very lazy.  While I am sure all three of you have been patiently waiting for my next Shakespearean masterpiece, you will have to settle for some pictures with cute captions.

Underwear on your head is what happens when play dates end at 10 pm. Actually, my play dates with Gene end in a very similar manner.

 Heading to her Yoga class.  Not really.  She's just coming home from school with her nap mat.

Violet fell asleep in her stroller and we ended up taking Ivy out for ice cream.  Shhhh.  Don't tell her.

 Never too early for iced coffee, especially on a hot Spring day.

 

 Self photo of me braving the park with both kids and giving Gene some much needed time to sleep.

 Ahh, it's good to be a kid.

Ivy reflecting on her day in E. Hampton.  

Violet and Mia building sand castles on a very cold Memorial Day weekend. Notice the jackets.

Yep, definitely related.

 Breakfast time with the family. Must. Have. Sunflower. Flagels.

 After 10 failed attempts at a picture where everyone has their eyes open, I demonstrated how to do that.  This was the result.

Wassssupp?!?!?!