OUR LIFE IN 3D

The Home of Daddy's Day Dare! ~ I am just trying to stay above water

Archive for the tag “fun”

23 Jan 2013
26 Comments

Party Time!!!

Wait. Wait. Wait!  Put the 5 Hour Energy and the Monster Fuel away. This is not going to be an all-nighter (it better not) I was catching up on some reading and projects when my 4 year old came over and told me its “Party Time!”

This time she means business. She came over and cornered me with her posse, Ariel, Eric and King Triton. There was no getting out of this one!

I explained, “I still have some work to do”!

Dylan put on her sad heartbreak face, as she looked down to the floor with her somber look, barely showing her eyes from beneath her hair hanging down.

I said, “But I have nothing to wear!”

So Dylan pulls out her Dora costume for me; a red halter top and baggie genie pants.

I told her, “This will never fit me!” I tried on the red halter top (please don’t picture this!) And sure enough it was too small.

So Dylan ran to get her Tinker Bell outfit for me.

Sorry! Ain’t gonna be no stinkin’ fairy I thought. Feeling the peer pressure I thought I would humor her. Sure enough, it was not going to fit either. I tried!

“Well daddy why don’t to try dis on?” she says, handing me her pink tu-tu from last Valentines day.

Darn! She got me that time as it was a tie-string format. I reluctantly agreed. ~sorry no pictures of this!

Dylan gathered her friends put them in the lil’ shopping cart she got for Christmas and said, “Come on dad, its dis way to the party.” as she walked back the hallway.

I still had so much work to do I knew I didn’t dare ‘throw down’ like days of old. What to do? She had me. I drew a heavy sigh of relief as I saw where the party was going… back to Grandma’s room, a.k.a. her nap room.

So I told her of the great kinds of parties we had when I was a kid (when we still lived by candlelight). I told her they were the best parties, the most popular ones….Slumber parties! And I explained the concept to her.

I told her, her and her friends could sit around and talk about who they liked and who liked them. And when they wake up we would have pizza for everyone; it’ll only be 5:00pm, so no pancakes this time.

The party crew: Dylan, holding Ariel in her PJ’s, Eric, and King Triton

Seeing she’s buying into this I threw in how I would take some pictures ( I really needed some blog fodder) so that her and her friends could share and save the party forever. As my parents did, I warned her there was to be no talking after I turned out the lights and checked for any flashlights in the room; and cell phones, or games, lip gloss, small computers ~ its so cool to be a kid now a days!    She said, “OK”.

They slipped on their jammies and I put a finger to my mouth, saying “Hush, be quiet. I don’t want to come back here and see you girls talking after I leave.”

Dylan gave me a nod but then sprang up, as in another attempt to postpone the inevitable, and said, “I still hafta go potty!”

You girls better be sleeping back there!

I asked, ” who else in here needs to go potty?” But the room was silent.

She went. She did. She went back to the slumber party with out incident and I shut the door hoping to get some work done in the quiet. Another party under my belt (sigh) Just in time I thought. No more life in the fast lane for me

Wait. Hold on a second. Do I hear boys back there?

She never ceases to amaze me!

Posted in Archives and tagged , , , , ,
27 Apr 2012
6 Comments

WHAT WILL I DO FOR MY SUMMER VACATION?

You know….sometimes you go through those days when you are just attending to one fire, one responsibility, one obligation after another. Where you feel like you hardly have time to look up. The world is grey. No fun. The Blues! Mom’s been calling the bathroom her ‘happy place’ right now! Heck, the other day she called out four names until she got to the right one. And one of them was mine!

Then, some days, your mind gets to travel in those fun things to day dream about. The playgrounds of the adult mind so to speak, when you can escape the monthly Blues and plan some happy, fun things. Planning vacations may fall into this category. Or shopping for new houses. Planning birthday parties. Or fun things going on over the weekend?

This week has been in that happy ‘upswing’ for me because we are trying to plan our summer vacation right now. (sigh) And I need some suggestions. Wanna help? Care to take a trip down the pleasant memories of ‘vacations past’ with me?

You see, we have researched several fun resorts that are awesome for kids only to find our girls can’t go in the same ‘kids club’ with each other as one club is for ages 0 – 3 years old and the next if is for ages 3 – 6 years old. Naturally we want our kids to be happy and feel safe in a foreign land. We prefer that each is able to go to the same kids nursery if Mom & Dad want to sneak out and explore the island. Have any of you ever experienced this problem?

So far we have considered a Disney Cruise to explore the Caribbean, that looks great for the kids, but they are the source of various aged kids clubs. There are lots of fun things for the kids to do. Princess make overs! Disney characters throughout the ship. Great dining it appears, with your own personal servers for the trip. Evening movies on a large screen on the deck in front of the swimming pool and so on. But if we want to go for a swim with the fishes the kids might have to get separated. I picture having the off ship excursion all set up and we drop the kids off at the kids club and one throws herself on the floor crying and wailing. Can’t go then!

Get to play with the toys in Toy Story

We have found this wonderful resort, the St. James Club, on the island of Antigua. This all-inclusive sits in its own peninsula at the southern tip of the island, with water on two sides. It looks very nice. It has a great kids club and small water park. But the airlines make it difficult to get there, mainly leaving our air port at 6:15am and no quick layover anywhere. There’s nothing like passing 6+ hours in an airport with two hungry, tired toddlers! We’ve had that happen when we were ‘rained in’ last August in Philadelphia. It’s no vacation!

Very Tropical…once you get there

We found another resort on Jamaica where they give you a full-time nanny. Well, not really “give you”. We swore we would never go back to Jamaica again after our last trip and being badgered by the locals (Jamaica Mistaika!) This resort boasts itself as the best all-inclusive in the world on its web site. But you can’t even find what part of Jamaica its in unless you click on the ‘Brochure’ tab. ~ its not one of the best all-inclusive web sites in world!

Daddy, what’s the funny smell?

By far our favorite resort to pursue has been Beaches on Turks & Caicos. We’ve stayed with this chain before at a Sandals. The trip was exquisite! The resort and dining were extraordinary! This Beaches resort has the kids clubs, Sesame Street characters, a water park and all the great dining.

Elmo and the crew in the Caribbean

In fact, we had  reservations to vacation at this very Beaches resort 2 years ago! We made the reservations. Booked the flights. Then, 3 days later we got word we were going to be visited by the child bearing stork in a few months with a new born baby girl. We had to cancel.

Bye-bye paradise

That was one airline seat ago. Now, we actually have to pay for 4 chairs on the Caribbean flight, which makes this total package a bit pricey. For what that vacation would cost, flight and rooms, I could pay someone to rebuild our patio-deck-in-progress instead of me laboring over it myself. …..plus the patio furniture….a good sound system for out there…a wet bar fully stocked…well you get the picture. Sadly, this extravaganza is not in the budget this year.

We have considered going to Disney World, Universal Studios and all those other cool parks in Orlando but the idea of paying for a daily tickets yet being some place by 2:00pm so that one or more of our girls can bed down for a nap doesn’t make much sense either.

Last year we rented a house in Ocean City, New Jersey. This was a great kids resort, in a town designed for families. We had a great time. There is a boardwalk built for kids with rides, mini-golf, arcades, bikes and crapfully–unhealthy food to eat. What could be better to a kid? Or the kid inside all of us? Moms and Dads, even got to revisit a childhood memory with a boardwalk players production of Schoolhouse Rock. Are any of you old enough to remember Schoolhouse Rock?

We even frequented Browns Donuts, which was to be my business model for my get rich quick scheme during my unemployed days. Fresh, warm donuts. Mmmmm! The vacation could have been better if our youngest hadn’t picked up an ear infection two days into the escape. The one problem was that our kids were not big enough to get on the majority of the rides on the boardwalk; another problem I see with all the amusement parks in and around Orlando, FLA.

So help us out. Where have you been to? What great ideas or adventures have you gone on, been to, relaxed at with two small children? (a contradiction in terms?) I would love to hear your ideas! I could really use your good ideas here! Or maybe just come along with us if you want to be a nanny to two sweet kids for a week! Please hurry as yesterday Mom was actually sitting down watching Sponge Bob with the kids! And she was smiling!

“What are your kid vacation tips?”

“Which do you think we should choose?”

“Where have you gone to on vacations?”

Posted in Travel and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
25 Jan 2012
17 Comments

FIELD TRIP!!!

Remember those days in school? When the words ‘Field Trip’ sparked such excitement? Field Trips might have been one of my best classes! Today we have a field trip planned. I am taking the kids to the local aquarium downtown this morning (the official South Carolina Aquarium). I was excited!

Sand Dollars sparkling in the surf

Field Trips just weren’t about getting out of class to me. It was a time for discovery. I love finding things, noticing small animals, seeing why things are the way they are. It is one reason I enjoy going to the beach so much. The discovery of new things, shells, crabs, strange living creatures, mollusks living in shells and so on. You never know what you might find?

Today I was happy for my kids. The aquarium is not a huge place but it does have a lot of interactive things for the kids to draw them in. A new exhibit they offered was the saltwater marsh and feeding the rays, as we put a small shrimp in the end of the stick and watch the rays hover up to it and gulp it up.

We're not going to feed the gator

The aquarium has the always enjoyable otter tank with the little cutties swimming around. Lots of snakes and reptiles. Plenty of turtles that populate our area, both inland and in the sea. Exhibits on the tides and evolution of shells. Even an albino Alligator. Very curious! Let the day of discovery begin!

We entered the aquarium and my girls ran right by the Bald Eagle exhibit, right into the river otter display. Once there they found one or two large puddles to play in! Onward into the swamp and marsh displays, where they darted right by the solitary albino gator, finding much more enjoyment pressing the buttons that replicate all the sounds of the swamp (crickets, owls, etc.).

Next was the outdoors tidal display where my girls could feed the rays. This was so cool! Wait! Where are they? They ran back to the kids play tug boat. Dylan was steering it and blowing the horn. My two year old found a turtle she could climb on and slide off. Those rays will just have to go hungry I thought!

Finally, my kids ran through the outdoor tidal display, scattering the wrens and seagulls. Even the fish hid for their life from this kiddie romp!

These two fish feared they might be found


In the next room was our favorite, the two-story deep water fish display. This tank had the barracudas, sharks, puffers, groupers, colorful reef fish and more. Being an avid diver I couldn’t wait for the girls to see this in hope they’ll want to learn to dive with us as early as possible.

Those are her new red shoes on the carpet

I held my two year old up to the glass as the shark swam by but all the excitement behind her caught her attention. It seems toddlers would rather ‘discover’ the joy of climbing on a fake whale, and sliding off the tail, than the discovery of seeing a real mini sperm whale through the glass. The fish, bigger than she was in most instances, were just no match for the smooth plastic slide off a whales bum. I wondered if they knew these fish were even real?

"Hey! Get back here!"

I herded my kids once again and tried to make my way to the restroom. ~ you know how the sound of running water can affect you ~  Instead, they have the idea of running all the way back to the play tug boat and sea turtle. Help!

We finally make it through the doors, outside into the overcast day where their energy and enthusiasm had no end. Because outside…they could chase more seagulls!

Hold still !

Not even a photo op with Mr. Frog could hold their attention.

Not when there was the supersonic ray gun pointed up to the stars where they could shoot down enemy planes landing at our local airport. Discovery!

Their discovery ended when they found out the ‘ray gun’ needed 5 quarters to make it work.

"Skylar, maybe you could shoot this bird instead"

Is it nap time yet?

Posted in Archives and tagged , , ,

Post Navigation