First Time

Last Wednesday, my husband and I picked up our kids from school at lunchtime and announced that we were taking them to Disney World for the first time. As in, right now, the car is packed, let’s go make dreams come true, we have three days to live the magic.

We expected their reaction would be something like this:

Children’s mouths drop, we beam at them lovingly. Their eyes light up as they shout, “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! THAT’S INCREDIBLE! YOU ARE THE BEST PARENTS EVERRRRR!” And then we all melt into a group hug and sing Disney tunes for nine hours in the car.

Instead, it went more like this:

Children’s faces remain blank. They look skeptical and mutter, “I don’t believe you. Are you serious?” We show them the packed car and the magic bands and promise that we are telling the truth. They complain, “But it’s Wednesday. We don’t want to miss P.E.” And we suggest that perhaps three days in Disney is even better than P.E. And then they both say, “Can I play on the iPad in the car?” Twenty minutes down the road they start asking if we are in Florida yet. The only Disney songs we sing are from the Frozen soundtrack on continuous loop.

Hmph. I don’t know what Mr. P is doing in those phys ed classes, but it must be incredible.

The good news is that they got progressively more excited throughout the nine-or-so-hour drive and were totally wound up by the time we checked into our hotel at 10 p.m. Awesome.

Now that we’ve been back home for a few days, I’ve realized that taking your kids to Disney World for the first time is a lot like having your first newborn.

While you’re in the midst of it, you’re completely overwhelmed by the rapid swings between totally amazing and amazingly hard. But once it’s over, you forget all the crying and the exhaustion and that inexplicable sticky mess on your shirt. All you remember are the sweet, fun, photogenic moments and you decide you must do it again because you’ve learned so much from surviving the first one and you want to see if you can do an even better job the second time around.

At least the next time – if our bodies and our bank account can survive a next time – I’ll be expecting a different reaction when we give them the good news. Maybe it will go something like this:

Wow, Mom! That sounds even better than a whole day of P.E.!

Friday’s 5: Take Your Lovey to Work Day

We all stay really busy around our house. Like most families, we're passing ourselves coming and going from gymnastics, preschool, dance class, elementary school, hockey, work, church, work, friends, volunteering and who knows what all else.

But it turns out, it's not just the people in my house who are busy. It's also our loveys.

A couple of weeks ago, Pippi sent her Lulu to work with Daddy. And it turned out that Lulu had a very busy day. Here's what her day looked like:

1. Lulu at work: Lucky for Lulu, she’s in an office that’s been named one of the Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work.” That doesn't means she's not working hard -- but at least she gets some good benefits.

2. Lulu on coffee break: I'm pretty sure she's drinking decaff while reading the Wall Street Journal. She's in public relations, so it's important for her to stay current on the day's headlines.

3. Lulu eating her lunch: Everyone has to eat, even loveys. But there's no time to stop working, so she's eating at her desk.

4. Lulu proofing a press release: Before heading home for the day, she checks to be sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

5. Lulu spots a punch-buggy: As part of the family, of course Lulu is also participating in the ongoing punch-buggy game. Being the giver that she is, she credited that one to Pippi's account.

Photo credit: @pwsoneil

A Week in My Life: Friday at the Fair

Keeping up with Adventuroo's "A Week in My Life" project. has turned out to be nearly impossible. Too much life happening to have enough time left over for writing about it. But I'm doing what I can -- check out my Monday here and my Tuesday here. Then you'll have a good idea about why I'm so tired.

Friday was no ordinary day. It was Go to the North Carolina State Fair Day.

So for our documentation purposes here, we'll skip over the morning part where I went to work, Pippi went to preschool and Junius went to the office with his Daddy, blah blah blah. Let's jump straight into the crazy fun part....

If you can make it, they can fry it. More on that later, but we just couldn't resist a photo on the way in.

Self-portrait so that my dermatologist will be impressed. The weather was NC perfect on Friday -- but definitely required sunscreen and a hat.

The one ride we all went on together was the Ferris wheel (or, "ferist wheel," as Junius calls it). This unedited photo was taken while we waited in line.

Here are my two dare devils, waiting for the wheel to start turning...

...and here are my white knuckles as I gripped the handle. I was seriously nervous on this ride. My children were not. I spent much of the ride telling them to hold on and sit down. It's been a long, long time since my days on the Carolina Cyclone and Thunder Road.

The view from the top of the Ferris wheel was very cool. But it was hard to grip the handlebar with one hand and take a photo with the other hand without dropping my iPhone.

Some of our beach buddies came into town for the day so they could go to the Fair. And what a bonus for us that we were already planning to go on the same day! Pippi was so happy to see her friend, they kept holding hands and hopping around. So adorable...

Junius really liked controlling the map. I'm not sure how well-developed his sense of direction is, but knowledge is power -- and now that he can read, he really likes having the power tools.

Junius and his beach buddy directed us (more or less -- okay, less) to the animal area, where we watched the sheep getting sheared. The sheep did not seem happy about this plan. The children were mesmerized. I was considering switching to synthetic fabrics.

I don't know what this lovely girl's name is, but she was one of the people showing off recently-sheared sheep in the animal section. She must be really good at it because she had on one hell of a belt buckle. Pippi was jealous.

And here's another celebrity at the Fair -- my friend, the Practical Cook. In addition to being awesome because of her deep and abiding love of cereal, she is also a Deep Fried Ambassador for the NC State Fair. Seriously. She has a media pass and everything. Check out her blog -- including video of her taste tests with deep fried Kool Aid, deep fried bubblegum and the Krispy Kreme burger. I'm not kidding.

Pippi was desperate for ice cream with sprinkles. Not sure you can see it here, but she ended up with sprinkles in her hair because she was so excited.

Thanks to a tip from the Practical Cook, based on her extensive deep fried Fair research, we located the best stand for deep fried Oreos. After sharing a taste with Pippi, she promptly declared the Oreos to be even better than ice cream. If you'd like to hear an on-the-scene description of what it tastes like, check out the video at the end of this post. Here's a peek inside...

While we were indulging, Junius was busy spending the last of his ride tickets (which we bought in advance because they are SO much cheaper that way). He looks kind of serious in this photo, which could be because he takes his fake four-wheeler driving very seriously or might actually be because he is flippin exhausted.

By that point, we had clearly overstayed our welcome at the Fair. Thus, Pippi got carried back down the long and winding path back to the car (free parking at Gate 8, thankyouverymuch) -- first on a mommy piggy-back and then on daddy's shoulders.

And before you get alarmed that I'm not wearing my hat anymore in this photo, rest easy knowing that it was dark out by then. Seriously time to go home -- but worth staying to see the Fair light up as we said farewell until next year.

LEGO KidsFest for the Whole Family

When I was a kid, I used to play LEGOs with my little brother. He would build all the cool Star Wars ships, while I tried (in vain) to make him sort everything into neat piles. You know, gray pieces with gray pieces, ittybitty light pieces with other ittybitty light pieces. As much as I enjoyed playing with the tiny bricks, I loved organizing them even more.

Getting everything arranged just so was always so satisfying. Like on those cooking shows where they already have everything measured out into those perfect little dishes before they start preparing the recipe. Sadly, my brother never bought into my plan -- but he did make some very cool space ships and he always let me be Princess Leia.

Now that Junius has graduated from the chunky blocks to the small LEGO pieces packed into enormous sets, I have a new partner -- and because he's such a smart OCD first-born kid, he's much more willing to follow my system, as you can see in this photo. [Notice that we've packed up the trains from his train table and dedicated the entire surface to LEGO-building. Reduces the risk of those teeny tiny parts winding up in my vacuum cleaner.]

When he gets a new set, he lets me hand him the pieces for each step. It's like being a surgical assistant. "Long blue piece, mom." [Press said piece into his waiting hand.] "Long blue piece, Junius."

But this Friday, there will be no tiny piles of pieces on Junius' little table. Instead, there will be millions and  billions of LEGOs in more than 150,000 square feet of space... because this Friday we all get to go wild with the hands-on LEGO KidsFest at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Honestly, I'm not sure which one of the four of us is more excited. And here's a sneak peek at why...

Add your own little square to Creation Nation

Check out larger-than-life creations of your favorite characters

Watch the mystery mural evolve

And that's not even showing you the Big Brick Pile, the monochromatic group build, the Race Ramps, the LEGO Master Builder Academy and the DUPLO Build Area.

Crazy. Good. Fun.

So now you want to join us, right? We'll be there on Friday from 4-8:30 p.m., but you can also get tickets for sessions on Saturday (morning and afternoon) and Sunday (morning and afternoon). Each session offers the same exhibits and activities. All the details for the Raleigh tour are online -- they'll be in Cleveland in November and Hartford in December if that suits you better.

Follow me on Twitter this Friday to see what we build -- and I promise I won't spend the whole evening trying to group all those LEGOs into tidy little piles.

Images courtesy of LEGO® KidsFest

Full disclosure: The nice folks at LEGO KidsFest are giving me four free tickets to the Raleigh show. But I promise that my enthusiasm for those tiny bricks is all my own.
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The 12 Days of Mommy's Christmas Wish-List

On the first day of Christmas,
my children gave to me
a chance to pee in privacy.

On the second day of Christmas,
my children gave to me
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the third day of Christmas,
my children gave to me
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me
seven toys a cleaned up,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
eight easy bedtimes,
seven toys a cleaned up,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
nine "please" and "thank yous,"
eight easy bedtimes,
seven toys a cleaning,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
ten laughs a tickling,
nine "please" and "thank yous,"
eight easy bedtimes,
seven toys a cleaning,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my children gave to me
eleven "Love you, Mommy,"
ten laughs a tickling,
nine "please" and "thank yous,"
eight easy bedtimes,
seven toys a cleaning,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my children gave to me
twelve solo trips shopping,
eleven "Love you, Mommy,"
ten laughs a tickling,
nine "please" and "thank yous,"
eight easy bedtimes,
seven toys a cleaning,
six days a playing,
five FULL nights' sleep...
four great big hugs,
three whine-free meals,
two smiling faces,
and a chance to pee in privacy.

Friday's 5: Lessons from the Fair

We took the kids to the N.C. State Fair yesterday -- it was their first trip and they were jumping out of their skins from excitement.

As this was only my second trip to the Fair and the first time with kids, I learned a lot from the experience. A trip to the Fair is a lot of fun, but it's also some serious work for the parents. Here are five lessons from the day.

1. Bring a stroller. Even though Pippi never uses a stroller anymore (unless I'm trying to exercise when she's home), I realized too late that we should have brought one with us. My arms are still aching from carrying her30 pounds of fabulousness to the fairgrounds, around the event and back to the car.
2. A footlong hot dog is not too big. At least, not for one five-year-old Junius. Kid barely stopped to talk between bites because he was enjoying it so much. Seriously, just look at how happy he was.
3. A map counts as a prize. Junius was very excited to have his own copy of the Fair map. Probably even more excited than he was about the Nemo look-alike he got from one of the fishing games. And it was free.
4. Look for friends. Even with thousands of people streaming through the gates each day, it's still possible to run into someone you know. We ran into friends from our neighborhood and didn't even know they would be at the Fair. And while you're watching out for friends, you can enjoy the people watching. Because there are some crazy-looking interesting people out there.
5. Don't be afraid of the kid rides. And I mean that advice to the mommies. I was very hesitant about letting the kids get on the tiny roller coaster (and by coaster, I mean a little dragon train that goes up and down around the circle), but they LOVED it. Was totally worth it to watch them cracking up and yelling around the curves together. 

And one bonus tip for watching the fireworks: Before we actually went to the Fair yesterday, Junius and his Daddy watched the fireworks show on Tuesday night. Because Juni isn't really old enough to stay up until 10:00 at the Fair, the two of them drove to a nearby (free) parking lot around 9:30, put the top down, enjoyed a milkshake, and watched the show from outside the Fairgrounds.

So how about you -- what's your best tip for going to the Fair?

A Perfect Way to Welcome Fall

Today, while doing laundry, I found four hardened kernels of corn at the bottom of my washing machine. Under normal circumstances, that might seem strange -- but we spent last Saturday at Hill Ridge Farms, so I actually knew where they came from.

Apparently when you let your kids play in a huge sandbox filed with corn instead of sand, they're likely to bring some of it home in their pants. They're also likely to have an absolute blast.

Despite other people's recommendations, I've always been a little skeptical about the hayride-pumpkinpatch-cornmaze-farmanimals events that get publicized each fall -- just sounded itchy, smelly and cold. But some friends invited us to join them and the weather was perfect, so I agreed to go along.

As it turned out, I couldn't have hoped for a better day. From the moment we turned off Tarboro Road in Youngsville, the staff at Hill Ridge Farm was friendly, organized and attentive. We had an easy time in the parking lot, quickly got our tickets and were inside playing without any trouble (think Caniac Carnival, not that other family outing). We even arrived early enough to get in our train ride and hayride without waiting in line.

At $10 per ticket, it's not a cheap outing -- but each ticket gets to take home a pumpkin, so it's not a bad deal either. Plus I didn't feel as guilty about taking pictures while my kids wandered around the pumpkins as I do when we're pumpkin shopping at the farmer's market.

After all that playing and pumpkin-picking, we needed a break and a snack. Pippi begged for kettle corn -- and again I was suspicious, as I'm a traditional movie-theater popcorn kind of girl. But oh-my-delicious-freshly-popped-sweet-and-salty-goodness, I take it all back. The suspicion, that is, not the kettle corn. Because we ate it all.

And we didn't feed any of it to the animals, even when they tried showing us their most clever tricks. Because the signs say not to share people food with the animals, and it was hard enough sharing it just among the four of us.

The morning's big finish involved a slide built into a hill, complete with little burlap sack to help the ride along. In the not-too-distant past, Junius would have been too afraid to try this on his own, but here's my big boy now. Might have made me a little misty-eyed if he hadn't been having so much fun.

All in all, it was a spectacular morning for the whole family, plus we all took glorious naps when we got back home. A perfect fall Saturday, if you ask me.

A few final tips, in case you're planning to head out there this weekend:

• Go early. Farm opens at 9 on Saturday -- be there.
• Wear sunscreen. It may be fall, but little faces still get sunburned on a pretty day.
• Buy the regular tickets plus one train ride. The super pass is more than you need (at least for little kids).
• Bring a picnic, if you want to save a little money. Plus, your kids may fall asleep on the ride home, so it's easier if they've already had lunch.

Friday's 5: Type-A Mom Conference

I'm about to do something that, two years ago, I would never have expected. I'm leaving Friday afternoon to go to a blogging conference.

Yeah, I know -- it sounds crazy to me, too.

But it's a lovely, fall weekend in Asheville hanging out with smart, interesting, clever blogging mamas (and some daddies, too) -- which honestly sounds like a lot of fun.

Except that now that I'm about to go, I've decided it's a supremely bad idea. Now that I really think about it, going to a blogging conference goes against all the reasons I actually like blogging. Here's why:

1. Clothing: When I'm blogging, I can be in my jammies, my sweaty tshirt or whatever I happen to have on. No one sees me and no one cares. At a conference, all that goes out the window. Suddenly I have to think about what to pack and what I could possibly wear that didn't come from Target or Old Navy.
2. Location: When I'm blogging, I'm at home. Doesn't take any planning or traveling or coordinating. I just sit down at my computer and start. With this conference, there's the four-hour drive there, the four-hour drive back, plus the cost of the hotel in between.
3. Timing: When I'm blogging, I squeeze in time during Pippi's nap or after the kids go to bed. My husband probably gets slighted the most, but I try to write when it's not taking time away from anyone else. This conference means I'll be gone for three days -- Daddy will be parenting solo. He's more than capable, but he's going to be one tired man by Sunday night.
4. Editing: When I'm blogging, I don't have to be clever on the first try. I can edit, tweak, delete, add, link and change to my heart's content. In person, at a conference? It's all live, with no time to rehearse.
5. Popularity: When I'm blogging, I know that at least five of my relatives and two or three friends are going to read every post. It doesn't matter if I don't have hundreds of subscribers as long as someone I know leaves a comment now and then. At this conference, there will be actual blog celebrities in the house. Meanwhile, I'll be loitering in the lobby with a pocket full of Triangle Mamas business cards hoping someone recognizes me from my avatar @convertiblelife.

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm going to get over myself. Truth is, if I get to hang out with the Triangle Mamas and some of the other talented local bloggers I've already met, it will be a great weekend -- no matter what I wear or say or do. 

And at the end of it all, I'll get to come home to my sweet family and appreciate them that much more for having been away.

Traveling mercies -- see you next week!

Carolina Hurricanes Bring On the Fun

Sometimes weekends are just as hard as weekdays when you have kids -- maybe even harder if you're used to being in an office all week. It's not that being home with your children is bad, it's just a different kind of exhausting. The trick when the kids are little is to manage your time together so that no one gets bored and crabby.

So a big weekend win around our house involves finding an activity that is:
a) fun for the whole family, and
b) tiring enough for the kids to take a long afternoon nap.

Our trip to the Caniac Carnival on Saturday met both qualifications, plus (unlike our recent baseball outing) it was also:
c) light on the wallet (free admission, free parking and $1 hot dogs -- does it get any better?),
d) easy to navigate (no traffic problems, plenty of parking spaces and lots of volunteers), and
e) quality time outside on a beautiful day (complete with bouncy slides, obstacle courses and a really good band).

And if all of the above weren't enough, we got a super double bonus: Junius and Pippi were selected (by one of the lovely Storm Squad) to participate in a group photo with the team at center ice after practice. I'm not sure who was more excited, my son or my husband, as the kids walked through the home team tunnel and out onto the ice.

As a lifelong Southerner, I never expected to be a hockey fan. It's a cold, rough sport for a Carolina girl who usually keeps her sports time focused on basketball season. But now that I've experienced the Hurricanes' hospitality, I'm thinking I just might be a hockey fan after all.

Note: As I mentioned above, the event was free of charge. Neither the Hurricanes nor any of their representatives (including Stormy) offered me any sort of compensation for writing this post.