August 7, 2024 Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: Afternoon at the Barnstable Fair
Every year we head down to the Cape to spend the day at the Barnstable Fair. It’s a fun place to bring the whole family. They have rides and games, fried food, live music, animals and shows.
You can buy day passes or multi day passes. Kids under 5 get in free with paid adult tickets. Always a good idea to try and go on wristband days where you can do unlimited rides if you have kids. Best deal for ride tickets are $40 for 40 tickets, with most rides being 4 tickets. Games are $5-$10 to play.
They do have a section where the smaller kids can do rides – tea cups, spinning dragons, a carousel etc. My kids were big enough this year to do the rides that make me want to throw up just looking at them! Hahaha!
If you want to beat the crowds, go earlier in the day when the gates first open. Have you ever been to the Barnstable Fair? What’s your favorite fair food?
https://capecodfairgrounds.com/barnstable-county-fair/
Tags: events, family friendly, kids
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August 6, 2024 Gotta Catch ‘Em All: A Very Pokemon Birthday
We have been really getting into Pokemon lately. I have no idea how to play or what anything means, and I think my kids really just like the shiny cards 😉 We decided to go with a pokemon themed birthday – so I created this door decoration with a red foil fringe backdrop and taped on these pokeballs that I made on the criut.
I decorated the wall to make a photo backdrop with red, white and black paper plates and made some of them into pokeballs. Pikachu looks like he has seen better days…
For the birthday party I made these cupcakes – silver and gold foil cupcake wrappers with home made cupcakes, red sanding sugar sprinkles and topped with these pokeballs from Amazon.
As party favors for the kids, we made these pokeball shirts – the boys got red shirts with black pokeballs and the girls got red shirts with sparkle pokeballs. The pokeball on the outside was a gift tag made with my Cricut and the name tags were stickers also made and cut with the Cricut.
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August 5, 2024 Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Baseball Favors
We played spring baseball this year and Jimmy Fund summer baseball. We decided to up our team spirit by handing out these cute baseball favors. Red plastic baseballs hats (Amazon), eye black (Amazon), Big League Chew – my son thinks grape is the best flavor – I tell him he’s entitled to his opinion :), and sunflower seeds. What would you add?
August 2, 2024 Puppy Themed Birthday
My daughter is obsessed with my brother’s dog, which is perfect, because this means we never have to get our own dog. We get to have it over for a few hours, love her, play with her, and then we get to give her back. We never have to walk her, or take her to the vet – all the good things, none of the tedious things.
So obviously she wanted a dog themed birthday cake. I like to do one “professional” cake for the kids and one “mom” cake for the kids, to show them that I at least I gave it the old college try. So the cake above is one that my friend made for my daughter, a pretty close replica of “Mei Mei” the labradoodle.
Here is the mom cake. Cute in its own way if I do say so myself. Made with different sized smarties, it was cute and colorful, and decorated in under 10 minutes.
Here it is from another angle. Do you make cakes for your child’s birthdays?
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August 1, 2024 Kindergarten Survival Kit
Have a child that is heading to Kindergarten this fall? Check out these cute gifts that are sure to keep the kids prepared for anything!
Backpacks: Dollar Tree. Supplies, Target and Staples: Crayola crayons, glue sticks (because, you can never have enough glue sticks), composition note book, Crayola markers inside the green pencil case and Crayola colored pencils in the dinosaur hard pencil case.
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July 31, 2024 Easy Summer Birthday Desserts
By the time those summer birthdays come around in our family, I am burnt out. My daughter loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I whipped up this fun little cake with rainbow frosting.
And just because you’re celebrating a birthday, doesn’t mean you have to bake. How cute is this stack of frosted (!!) whoopie pies from Concord Teacakes? Throw on a fun cake topper and you have an instant party!
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July 29, 2024 Looking for the Perfect Party Favors?
I am always on the lookout for ideas for party favors. At the end of the summer season at Target last year I picked these bubble makers up for just a couple of dollars each. I like the idea of one big party favor lately, instead of lots of little things, so this was perfect. I added on a personalized tag (made with my Cricut) to complete the look. How cute are these for our art themed birthday party?
Tags: birthday
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July 13, 2024 How to Up Your Child’s Summer Reading Game with Hummingbird Books!
Want to up your child’s summer reading? Hummingbird Books can help! Just read 10 books (download the form here) and bring in your completed form (before September 1st) to the store to claim your prize pack like we did! You get your choice of Needoh from Hummingbird, a coupon for a free burger from Shake Shack and a free scoop from Van Leeuwen!
Make sure to check Hummingbird Books out on Sundays at 11am for their complimentary storytime at The Great Oak Tree inside the store.
Join their rewards program and for every $300 spent, earn a $20 voucher.
Hummingbird Books
55 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA
Monday – Saturday 11am to 7pm
Sunday 12pm to 6pm
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June 28, 2024 A Second Mother’s Day at Hidden Pond
Year two of our mother daughter trip to Hidden Pond! We can’t wait to do some of our favorite things we did last year and try a few new things this year! We stopped at Lil’s Cafe in Kittery on the way up to Kennebunkport to get some crullers, Lil’s makes the best!
This year we are in #6, First Light, just before you get the the front office, and very close to the pool.
Speaking of the pool, it’s the first place that we head to as soon as we put our bags down. This year, they have a glow stick party and blow up toys and we are just in heaven!
S’mores are back and we fancy them up with our own cookies, just to be a little extra.
We had dinner at a sister property downtown, The Boathouse, that offers valet parking, which is a plus – street parking at night is hard to come by – you either have to find street parking or get lucky in a pay lot. You can also use the hotel shuttle to get down here. Lovely views of the water, make sure to bring something warm to wear at night, as it is cooler by the water. They do not take reservations, so go early if you’d like to grab a seat outside on the deck.
We woke up the next morning do go searching for sea treasures. We went to middle beach and did manage to find a few small pieces of sea glass and a few small shells. Does anyone have any recommendations foe sea glass beaches in Kennebunkport?
After our beach walk, we came back into town and did a candle class at Sea Love. You get to pick your scent, pick your vessel, pour your wax, and decorate your label. Such a fun way to make a memory for our trip. Come back two hours later and the candle is all ready to go. A fun thing to do if you’re having a girls trip, if you’re in town for a bachelorette weekend, or just looking to do something with your family. The scent combinations are endless! We can’t wait to go back next year to try something entirely different.
We have been looking forward to craft hour for weeks, and making a tie dye shirt for grandma, who couldn’t make the trip this year. Ryan was here again this year, and always makes craft time a blast, even offered to go above and beyond and teach this little one how to ride a bike without training wheels!
Spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the pool with a few other moms and families. Perfect way to end the day.
The next morning, pastries and coffee were brought to our door, but we decided to have a special morning out and headed over to Earth for our last breakfast in Maine.We were the only ones here it was so early!
There is just something so good about a hotel breakfast!
And a trip to Maine would not be complete without a stop at Congdon’s in Wells. Make sure to wake up early, because they go fast. I mean the kids love the strawberry frosted, I can’t stay away from the lemon filled (and when you are in Maine, how do you pass up a blueberry filled, right?) and I also love a good chocolate coconut, because you can’t really find those around here very much these days.
Year two was just as good as year one. Customer service was top notch, as was expected.
Hidden Pond
354 Goose Rocks Road
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
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June 27, 2024 Mother’s Day at Hidden Pond
Two years ago (2022) we started a wonderful tradition of going to Hidden Pond for Mother’s Day. It’s a wonderful time to go before it starts getting busy. We have the property to ourselves for the most part, the restaurants aren’t crowded yet, parking is a breeze, and while the weather is a bit cooler, we almost prefer it.
We stayed in a one story cottage, #12, Firefly. Two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and one with an outdoor shower, which is the highlight of the trip for me.
They have everything you could need at the cottage, kitchen items should you decide to stay in for a meal, or even have a chef come in and cook you one! Don’t feel like eating in? Head to Earth, their on site restaurant for a delicious meal or have the shuttle take you to one of the sister properties other restaurants for the night.
They have a bunch of bikes to choose from on the property – feel free to grab one from the bike barn and keep for the length of your stay. Bike down to the gym or to breakfast!
At 5:30pm every night they offer s’mores at the fire pit. Such a fun family activity. We took advantage of this every night after getting out of the pool.
I loved the individual bags of s’more kits.
Every morning, they drop off a thermos of hot coffee and some delicious baked treats at your front step.
One night we decided to bring in pizza from Roma Pizza in town. I recommend calling early if you go on a weekend, they do get busy.
The next day for lunch we wen to the Clam Shack, right in town, for some of the best lobster rolls I’ve had. 5oz of lobster, served with your choice of butter, mayo or both (but butter is the right answer here). You won’t be disappointed.
We came back to the pool where they have a food truck and go these amazing donuts as a little sweet treat! You can get a variety of snacks there, from tacos to chicken fingers to salads.
I think our favorite part about the trip was the kid’s craft hour with Ryan. And our favorite craft was the tie dye. Make all the mess, do none of the clean up 🙂 Took these home for a special memory of an unforgettable trip.
Hidden Pond
354 Goose Rocks Road
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
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