Weekend Get-Away

Earlier this summer, I noticed that Tom's seven days off this month fell in the middle of July. I suggested that we block off the weekend and save it for a family get-away. There were times when it was difficult not to schedule something on one of those days, especially as our free days started filling up. Boy, am I glad that we stuck to our guns!

A couple of weeks ago, I spent an evening online trying to figure out where we should go. Where can you take a toddler and an infant without making the trip more stressful than it's worth? What would we do if it rained?

I started by looking for ideas on Expedia. They have a cool tool for planning a driving trip. Somehow, this led me to check the list of children's museums that offer reciprocal benefits with the Providence museum. It was here that I found the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut. While browsing on their website, I discovered that the museum is located in Niantic/East Lyme, CT and that the town would be hosting their annual street fair with fireworks the day that we'd be visiting. Once I found a room at the Niantic Inn (complete with kitchenette) the deal was closed.

We headed to Niantic Friday afternoon. The kids were great in the car. We spent a good part of the ride singing with and to Norah. Some of her favorites right now include "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "ABC's," "Ring Around the Rosie" and "Row Row Row Your Boat." When we ran out of kids songs that we knew the words to, we went through several James Taylor tunes.

After checking in to our room, we walked down the road to The Black Sheep. It was a pub style restaurant with delicious food....and a waitress who has a toddler and was really helpful! We stopped at the ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel for a treat to eat while we watched the Red Sox game.

Saturday morning both kids enjoyed playing at the Children's Museum. We thought we were going to get a thunderstorm, but all we had was a bit of drizzle. Norah really enjoyed the museum, especially the weather broadcast room and the Mexican restaurant. We headed back into town for lunch and then back to the hotel for naps....this part didn't go so well. Once it became clear that Norah wasn't napping, we packed up our sand toys and headed across the street to the beach. Norah had a ball!! This kid is such a beach baby....loves the water and playing in the sand.

A couple hours on the beach left us all sticky and sandy so we headed back to take showers. Once cleaned up and refreshed, we put the kids in the double stroller and went to check out the street fair. There were all kinds of vendors selling yummy food, crafts, jewelry and trinkets. Norah got an inflatable Dora that she is madly in love with. It didn't take long for her to crash in the carriage. We let her rest a bit before getting dinner and heading back to the beach to get a spot for the fireworks. This was the first time that Norah ever saw fireworks. We weren't sure how she'd react, but she loved it. There would be a bang and she would say "again."

This morning we went to breakfast at the Niantic Diner and then it was back to the beach. We enjoyed a few more hours there before packing up to head home. We were barely out of town when Norah fell asleep. This made a stop in Mystic for a yarn shop excursion possible!! I only left with one skein on hand-dyed yarn and a great pattern book, Knitted Gifts.

We are back home now, doing laundry, but I am still spinning from such a wonder family weekend.

See the pictures here!
I have just set a record for hyperlinks in a blog post....hope you enjoy!