Playdate With Abbie & Marcella!

The Madoreables and I packed our Summer beach bags and headed out to Dunn State Park in Gardner, Massachusetts yesterday.  The girls and I had a great time with our friend Chrissy and her two daughters, Abigail & Marcella.  (Abbie was born just a few months before Samantha).  

The girls played for a solid 4 hours between the water and building sand castles.    Needless to say the girls slept verrry well last night!

It's been sometime since we've gotten together and thankfully our schedules alligned finally!

Oh The Sweet Things Kids Will Say

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day and very much welcomed sunny day, so we took the Madore-ables to the playground to burn off some energy they've been saving up from the Winter.  


On our way over to the playground, Sarah was talking about how excited she was to go play.  Then Sarah announced,

"Daddy?  Mommy?  I'm going to play with kids my own T"

Jeremy:  "Your own "T"?  What are you talking about?"

Sarah:  "Yeah!  My own T.  You know, I'm 5T, so I need to play with kids who wear 5T clothes."

Playdate At Roby Park

Last week, I took the girls to meet my friend Chrissy and her daughters at Roby Park in Nashua. I've been there several times, and love returning each time.  There's so much to do, and as an added bonus, not that I have to worry about my girls running away, but the entire playground is fenced in.  So no risk for runaways ; )

Although, I didn't get to have too much time to chat with Chrissy because the Madore-ables certainly kept me busy with pushing on the swings, and spotting them on the monkey bars.  At least the girls were entertained.



Bubbles & Vitamin D

The Madore-ables (and Mommy too of course) are really enjoying the Spring weather we've been having.

We've been getting some serious Vitamin D these days between bubble blowing and playground hopping!



Exploring, Frolicking & Playground Fun!

Now that warmer weather is coming, we've been increasing our trips to the playground. We let the Madore-ables have their fun, and the camera just does the rest.

Samantha is airborne!

Sarah insisted on pushing me on the swing

Right after Jeremy shot this, Samantha announced that "Dandelions smell funny"

This is just a tree that fell over by the lake

"Where's Daddy? There he is!"

My Little Red Wagon

About 25 years ago, my grandparents gave me a shiny, new, red wagon.

Today, the wagon is still red, but it's no longer shiny or new.

That doesn't seem to bother the Madore-ables.

I think they had fun, don't you?

Project Playground : Action Cove

The Madore-ables and I continued our "Project Playground" Summer series over the weekend and checked out a new playground: Action Cove in West Newbury, Massachusetts. The girls and I stayed for about an hour or so and had an absolute blast! There were 2 families that came and went in the span of time that we were there, so the girls were able to explore without the pressure of lots of children being around.

The playground itself is huge with lots of room to run around. It's clean, and has lots of bark much on the grounds to soften the steps of those little feet that run around. The contractors were very smart and used not only wood, but also used that composite wood so that there are no splinters. The contractors were also smart to think of the Mommies who would be bringing their children and provided park benches, picnic tables and grassy area for picnics. There's lots of positive "graffiti" and plenty of parking. My only complaint about the playground is there aren't a whole lot of swings to go around for the children, but otherwise, I love it.

Here's a tour of the playground:

A variety of swings for toddlers/children

Swings for the babies too!

Different types of slides

There's a special play area for just the younger kids

I liked this area because there are benches on the sides of the sand area, and the baby swings are to the left of where I snapped this photo. So, if Mom has more than one child, Mom can push baby in the swing, and still keep a full eye out on the toddler who wants to play in the sandbox.

Arial view

Another arial view

Composite wood for splinter-free hands!

Plenty of tunnels, nooks and small crawl spaces for the adventerous

The most positive, uplifting graffiti I have ever seen

Action Cove is very simple and easy to get to. From Haverhill, take route 97 over the Groveland Bridge and take a left at the end of the bridge/blinking light. Follow signs for route 113 to West Newbury. Once you see the West Newbury Fire Department on the right, take an immediate right onto Bachelor Road. Take the 2nd or 3rd right on Bachelor. There are 2 different parking lots to get into the playground.

Splash Pad...Part Dos

My Mom and I took the Madore-ables to Splash Pad in Derry, New Hampshire yesterday. It's the second trip that we've made this Summer, and I plan on continuing to take them. I highly recommend it for all mommies with young-ins. (In case you missed my first blog about Splash Pad, click here).

The girls had an absolute blast once again. We spent a good chunk of time on the playground portion, and once Mom and I couldn't stand the hot Summer sun anymore, we decided to venture our way over to the splash pad portion. The girls were shy at first, but little by little, they got closer and closer to the water sprayers.

They never even napped on the way home, so after dinner and a bath, it was a very early bedtime for the Madore-ables.

Here are some highlights from our Splash Pad adventure yesterday:

My Old Stomping (Play)Grounds

My mom and I took the Madore-ables yesterday to Drummond Playground, which is a playground that I used to play at when I was a child just outside of Boston. Granted, the town has dramatically changed the playground to updated equipment since I tore up those grounds, but just the same, it's nice to see my girls play where I used to.




Here are some of the highlights from yesterday:

Someone's Baking In the Kitchen With Samantha

Today was a fantastic day with the Madore-ables. After Jeremy left for work, Sarah and I started off the day with breakfast. (Mommy Note: Sarah has been eating solid foods for a long time now...no more food pureeing for Mommy! Yay!) After we were finished, Samantha was up and awake.

So after Sam had her breakfast, we decided to run some errands. First stop to the bank. Samantha knows that anytime we go to the bank, there's always a lollipop involved. There was a pretty long line, which I always dread. I really wish the bank down the street from us had a drive-up window...it would be soooo much more convenient. Second stop was to Winnikenni playground for a few hours. I love getting there so early in the morning, not only is the sun not too hot and beating down on the slides and swings and toasting the Madore-ables legs, but there's nobody there except for a few other Mom's and their kids who have the same idea I do.

After nap, the Madore-ables were refreshed and in great spirits. I think Sarah's 2nd year molars are coming in, so she's been randomly cranky with horrendous diaper rash. Poor girl. Nothing a little Desitin can't fix...God I love that stuff. So we made a third stop to Walgreen's down the street from us to buy some store brand children's Tylenol. Since the latest recall is still happening, all the local pharmacy stores have cleared their shelves of all Tylenol products. So, I was able to finally find some Walgreen's brand after stopping at 3 different stores in my area. After we got back home, there was still an hour before Jeremy got home from work, so the girls and I made brownies. Samantha likes loves to cook, bake, make, you name it! Anytime I remotely breathe the word that Samantha can help, she's immediately by my side asking how she can help. It's very cute.

Here's how our afternoon went:

Chef Sarah Dresses The Part...But This Chef Coat Lasted For Less Than 30 Seconds

Samantha "Reading" The Directions

Adding The Brownie Mix

Sarah Supervising As Sam Makes Sure All The Brownie Powder Is Out Of The Bag

Adding The Vegetable Oil

Adding The Water

Mixing It Up In The Kitchen-Aid

Mixing It Up Some More...

Are We Done Yet?

Samantha's Favorite Part Of Baking With Mommy...Licking The Beaters

Totally In Her Element

Before and After

Splash Pad...Fun For Any Age!

Today I took the Madore-ables to Derry, New Hampshire to Splash Pad. We were joined by my mom and my friend Kerry and her daughter Shannon.

My girls had an absolute blast. I had a blast just watching what they were getting into. First of all, there are so many reasons to like love Splash Pad:

1. Easy to drive to...if you're in the New England area that is. (Sorry out-of-state readers)
2. Plenty of parking (1 medium size parking lot, and 1 large size lot)
3. The parking is separated from the playground area
4. Plenty of playground space (1 large land lot with 2 playgrounds with various types of challenges for all age levels)
5. Plenty of swings
6. Plenty of picnic tables and grass...even a picnic area with a roof for large groups
7. Concession stand
8. Lots of areas to walk and explore
9. Clean bathrooms
10. Clean playground area
11. Everything looks updated, and safe...especially the stairs and the ladders
12. Did I mention Splash Pad is FREE?!?!?

That's just the playground part...I haven't even mentioned the "Splash Pad" part. In case you're wondering, the splash pad is an area with sprinklers, and water jets spraying from the ground. It's honestly just a bunch of fun for any age. "Splash" doesn't even touch the amount of fun the Madore-ables had today...more like "cannon ball".





Here are some photos from the day:

Splash Pad is located off exit 4 off of Interstate 93. If you plug in 14 Humphrey Road in Derry, N.H. into your GPS (if you have one), it will come up. The entrance looks like a long driveway to some one's house, but I assure you, it's not.

The 3-story large playground (red slides) in the foreground, and there's a smaller playground (blue slides) in the background of the photo.

3-story larger playground from a different view

The Splash Pad portion

Another view of the Splash Pad

Smiles were all around at Splash Pad

Sarah was a little timid at first, but she got more daring as the afternoon went on.

I think Sam had fun...don't you?