As I have probably talked about on here before, I am not the biggest fan of winter. I get so down with all of the long dark days and the lack of sun.
But one of the things that gets me through this is my daughter.
She is so happy and so thoughtful for being so young.
We were sitting at lunch the other day when she said that she had to talk to Daddy about a surprise.
Later I had found out that she wanted to surprise me by getting me flowers and told my husband that he had to take her to Walmart to buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day.
While we were at my in-law’s house she found a bunch of fake roses and asked if she could surprise me with those.
She was so excited to give them to me that she couldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day and she gave them to me right then and there.
They are sitting in a vase in our living room and when I look at them it’s a reminder that even in the darkest of days there is always a little light around, you only have to look for it. My little sunshine helping me make banana bread a few days ago.
Life has been crazy. There is no more of a reason as to why this blog hasn’t been updated forever.
Having a young daughter, finding a house, buying said house and then putting our current house on the market and trying to sell it has been taking all my energy and time.
But I have missed Mousekatots so much so I am going to try and get back into the swing of things and take you on our new house adventure and also the process of trying to sell our house.
Plus, there is a lot of Disney news happening so you might want to come back and check this out.
I love autumn! It is my favorite season out of the whole year. I am obsessed with pumpkins. I love Halloween and we were married, take our vacation and our daughter was born during the season.
One activity that makes me think about fall is going apple picking.
Simmon’s Farm in McMurray, Pennsylvania is a little under an hour away for us. For years, we have been visiting the farm during the fall either to go apple picking or to enjoy some of their other autumn activities like a corn maze, pumpkin picking and more.
However, this was the first year that Lily has gone apple picking. And I think it was a success.
The way it works is that you pay for what you pick. You can choose different amounts like a half bushel, a bushel, etc.
We decided to pick a bushel because I love to make apple sauce and it takes a lot of apples. (I might end up doing a video and sharing the recipe for my homemade applesauce in the near future.)
Since we went during an early part of the season only two types of apples were available, gala and I want to think it was Golden Delicious. We decided to get a half bushel of each type.
While of course it is nice to have the delicious apples to enjoy, one of the biggest benefits is doing the actual picking. Lily loved it and was able to see where her food comes from and learn about how apples go from farm to table.
The day was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for more.
What are one of your favorite early fall activities that you like to do with your family? Leave a comment below!
It is hard to believe that summer is almost over. It seems like it was just Fourth of July and now kids are going back to school and Halloween candy is making its appearance on store shelves.
We try our best to do everything on our “Summer Bucket List” but inevitability we realize that we can’t get everything done.
This year was especially difficult because our weather was more rainy and cooler on Saturdays, the days that we usually go and do our adventures.
After trying for about a month, we finally made it to the Soak Zone at Idlewild park last weekend.
Included with a ticket to Idlewild park is Soak Zone, a small water park.
While we had been to the rest of the park through this year, we hadn’t been to the water park portion.
When I say it is a smallish water park, it is by no means tiny. There are about five different areas in the water park.
Map courtesy of Idlewild
Soak Zone includes an awesome wave pool (which is where we spent most of our time), I think four water slides (it could be more), a lazy river type attraction, a little kids play area and a bigger kids play area that features a dump bucket with a bunch of kid sized water slides, plus a stand alone dump bucket.
When we first arrived last Saturday it seemed like it was going to be a little cool and very cloudy.
However, luck was on our side and it became pretty sunny and warm and we made it out before a storm hit.
Personally, my favorite place to spend time was at the Wowabunga Wavepool.
Lily could swim around and splash between wave sessions, and when the waves began, we sat on the “beach” and let the waves rush up on us.
Lily seemed to really enjoy the little kids splash area.
The pool is only about one foot deep and features tubes that spray water up and down. Kids even have the option of turning a valve that controls how much water sprays out.
We had such a wonderful day full of lots of family fun and memories.
We sure tired out Lily by spending almost four hours splashing around.
We finished the day off by taking a ride on the carousel and grabbing a quick lunch before leaving. Lily was asleep before we hit the main road to home.
Did you get to do a lot on your “Summer Bucket List?” Leave a comment below.
Being a parent means that it can be difficult to find time to go out on a date. But, it is still important to make time for taking a break from being a parent and just focus on being the two of you.
While we don’t go out that much, we have started making date time on Fridays by playing a board game while enjoying some wine after our daughter has gone to bed.
This is the perfect solution because we don’t have to leave and we get to dive into our collection of board games, which doesn’t cost any additional money.
Depending on what types of games you like to play, you could spend all evening playing or just an hour. For us, we usually like to find a game that takes about an hour and half to play.
When you are looking for a new board game it can be difficult to figure out which game you want to play because there is a huge selection available both in stores and online. Here are just a few of our favorite selections.
Photo courtesy of Amazon
“Betrayal at House on the Hill”
We really enjoy this game a lot. The premise is that your character (or characters if you are just playing with two people) have stumbled upon this house. You take your time building the house by drawing room cards and laying them down.
Once you draw too many “haunt” cards, that is when the fun really happens.
Depending on what card was drawn, what room you were in and who drew it will decide on what “story” in the book you will follow.
The final part of the game is following the instructions and watching the scenario play out.
Depending on how long it takes to draw the final “haunt” card, the game can take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half to complete.
Photo courtesy of Target
“Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City”
If you are a fan of the computer game “Sim City” then you would like this game.
You spend time building up your city, winning money based off of what business you put in your town and trying to make your city bigger than your opponent’s.
What I really like about this game is that there are different ways to play and different strategies on how to win.
Plus, having a little friendly competition makes it extra fun.
Photo courtesy of techartgeek.com
“Mysterium”
If you are looking for a game that will test your mental connection as a couple, then you will want to try Mysterium.
In this game the set up is sort of like the game Clue. You have to find your suspect, the weapon and the place where the murder happened.
However, one of you is the ghost and the other person is a psychic. It is up to the ghost to use beautiful cards of fanciful images to try and relay this information to your partner. You can’t say anything, but just give them the card and they to try and interperate it to solve the case.
These cards can help you see if you two are on the same wavelength.
These are a few of our favorite board games to play on our date night. But, you don’t need to have in-depth games to play. Just a simple round of a card game or even video games can make a quiet night at home more exciting.
We are so lucky to live close to Pittsburgh that has a bunch of different activities and places for families to visit on the weekend.
The city hosts wonderful history, art, science and children’s museums, which provide families the opportunity to have places to explore over the weekend.
Since we try to go out and do something every Saturday as our “Adventure Saturday” the cost can really add up if you try to pay out of pocket each time you go.
Luckily, many of these places offer the opportunity to purchase memberships.
For example, the Carnegie Museum system (which encompasses the Natural History Museum, Art Museum, Andy Warhol Museum and the Carnegie Science Center) if our family of two adults and one child wanted to visit the Natural History and Art museums it is $19.95 per adult and $11.95 for our daughter. That would be a total (without tax) $51.85. This can really add up if you like to go frequently.
However, if you go with a family membership, which is two adults, four children and a caregiver it is $150 for unlimited visits for the entire year. This membership also covers the Andy Warhol and Carnegie Science Center.
The same is for the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. One visit for the three of us is $46, but a year long membership is $135 for the same family.
As an added bonus, this membership (and the one at the Carnegie Museum system) can also be used at other participating ASTC centers across the country.
One of the best things is these memberships can be given as gifts.
When Christmas time rolls around, we like to ask for these memberships as family gifts. This way we have a whole year of experiences to look forward to.
It is great because if we just want to stop by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, we can just pop in, say hi to T-Rex and then leave. We don’t have to worry about cramming in so much stuff so that we get the most bang for our buck.
This past weekend, we went to the Carnegie Science Center and just visited the Exploration Station Jr., an area that is geared toward Preschoolers with a water table, playground area, ball factory, big blue building blocks and more.
We just popped in and played there for about two hours and left. We didn’t feel the need to try and do too much, which is great with a preschooler who can become overwhelmed if you try to do too much in one day.
Here is just a brief video to give you a look of the Exploration Station Jr. area of the Carnegie Science Center.
What do you and your family like to do on the weekends? Leave your comment below.
Growing up as a kid in the Pittsburgh region, it wasn’t summer until you made the annual pilgrimage to the holy land of childhood fun and memories: Kennywood Park.
Since my dad worked there for many years when he was younger, I grew up going to the park ever since I could remember.
When I was younger I remember riding The Turnpike with my Dad in the passenger seat thinking I was a big deal because now he was the one in the the back seat.
When I got older, high school age, I couldn’t wait to go to Kennywood with my friends as part of our school picnic. We would ride from morning to dark when the lights would come alive and transform the park to a magical, neon fed world that made it seem like summer would never end.
Then for awhile it seems like life gets too busy and you are between college classes, work and starting out on married life and you just don’t think about going back for awhile.
But everything changes when you have a child of your own and you want to take them to give them the same kind of experience that you had when you were growing up.
Luckily for us Kev’s work hosts an annual company picnic at Kennywood and we take advantage of the offer and spend the day in the park where I grew up.
I remember the first time we went to Kennywood with Lily it was a different experience then the one I just had this past week which was three years later.
Kennywood 2016
This year we were able to try Lily on a couple of different rides that she was unable to ride last year, like the Kangaroo. She really enjoyed this ride, but at first she was afraid that it was too fast, but she ended up really liking it.
We did spend a lot of time in Kiddieland riding the numerous rides that she enjoyed a couple of times. I felt bad for the poor ride operator that had to basically pull her out of the helicopter ride while she was a sobbing mess.
The carousel was my favorite attraction to enjoy with Lily. We rode it twice and the first time Lily didn’t like it because she said her horse went up too high. But the second time we opted for one that didn’t move. She liked it a lot better.
But, her favorite ride was Garfield’s Nightmare. This 3-D boat ride through different scenes depicting a nightmare for the orange fuzzy cat (ie attacking ice cream cones, a menacing vet getting ready to give a shot, and more).
The ride is more funny than it is scary and is brightly painted and highlighted by a black light.
Speaking of things that are funny, Lily has the best of luck when it comes to playing games at amusement parks.
She loves the fishing game or duck game where you pick three of the animals to see what you win. Lily picked three ducks at Kennywood and she walked away with a large prize, which was a big frog that she named Ribbit.
We had a wonderful day and were so thankful to Kev’s company for having the picnic and giving us many more memories that we will cherish for years to come.
This past weekend we decided to plan a small weekend getaway.
We were looking for something close to home, but still something that made us feel like we had escaped reality for a little while.
Luckily the Uniontown KOA is pretty close and was the perfect fit for us.
We rented a a cabin for the weekend that had a large bed in the main room and a bunk house off to the side with a sliding door that could be closed or kept open.
On Friday it unfortunately rained all night and we weren’t able to cook out. So we went out to eat and then stopped at a restaurant and then went to get groceries for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday morning it started of a little cloudy but turned into a beautiful day.
We started off the morning making pancakes on the fire pit, However, we just couldn’t get the logs to catch fire so we decided to move the griddle to to the grill to finish everything.
They actually turned out really well after we got the hang of how long we had to cook them. Even Lily enjoyed her plain pancakes that were made before I added the blueberries.
One of Lily’s favorite things was the playground that was in the campground. She made several trips throughout our trip to the playground where she would spend so much time exploring everything and just enjoying the finally beautiful weather.
After paying a visit to the camp’s gift shop and purchasing a little disk of wax with wood shavings, the fire started right up.
Luckily we were able to make our dinner of veggie dogs with crescent rolls, foil pack veggies and grilled cheese for Lily right over the campfire. It was delicious and I am so happy we were able to do that.
Afterwards we made s’mores which Lily just enjoyed eating the graham crackers with chocolate.
It was the end of a perfect day.
The next day we woke up to a beautiful morning and ate breakfast before we left to join our mothers for a great Mother’s Day meal later in the day.
Breakfast was made on the grill again that included oatmeal and cinnamon rolls.
We had a wonderful weekend and we can’t wait to do it again sometime soon.
How did you spend your Mother’s Day weekend? Leave your comments below.
This past Saturday the weather was so depressing. It was raining, cold for May and just a horrible day.
Luckily, we had some fun activities planned for the day.
The first stop we made was to the huge Cabella’s store in Wheeling, W.V.
When we walked in I didn’t realize that there would be a bunch of animal dioramas and an aquarium.
Lily loved looking at the aquarium the best. She thought that the fish were swimming over to say hi to her. She loved them so much she just had to have a stuffed rainbow trout.
We were also really into all the different animal displays and wanted our picture taken near the crocodile. She was really upset that she couldn’t get closer the crocodile.
Our main goal was to get some stuff for our upcoming camping trip. We grabbed a wire cook top and a griddle we could put over the fire and a few other odds and ends.
Lily also got a Mickey Mouse fishing pole that came with some foam fish and a foam fish hook that she has been using in the house, but can also use it to fish in her Nana and Papa’s pool this summer.
We are not hunters or fishers, in fact as I have mentioned before, we are both vegetarians. But, I can still appreciate all of the great camping options that Cabella’s has to offer and the fact that they are very serious about conservation.
After a long day I think we were rather tuckered out.
Where is some place that you have never gone before but were happy that you tried it out? Leave your comments below.
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