You may have noticed I didn't blog for five days straight last week. That might be a record. Mike and I took the girls to Poppy and Nonna's house in the Hamptons (aka "The Baby Deathtrap") and I didn't even take my laptop out of my bag.

I must say, as much as I love keeping you all apprised of my daily goings-on, it was pretty nice to take a break.

A lot can happen in five days, especially when you aren't thinking about how to frame it in a blog post, so today I'm going to be a little free form. I've got pictures I want to post and some stuff that happened and it probably won't end up tied all neatly in a bow.

Overall, we had a great trip. The most important lesson Mike and I learned as parents of a three-year-old and a seven-month-old is that five day trips are a hell of a lot easier than two day trips.

For one, packing up your entire house makes a little more sense when you won't be spending half your trip in a car and the other half unpacking. Secondly, having a few days for the kids to get acclimated to their surroundings can only lead to good things. I think it also helped that we had been to Poppy's house a few weeks ago, so it didn't feel like such a strange place.

Which is not to say that Harlow wasn't still on the brink of uncertain death every time she turned the corner. If you'll remember, Poppy's place isn't the safest of retreats for a baby who is newly on the move.

Mazzy didn't get off easy either because Poppy made her wash the windows to earn her keep. Which begs the question, "WHY DON'T I PUT MAZZY TO WORK MORE OFTEN IN MY OWN HOME???"

To make up for the free child labor, Poppy gave Mazzy swimming lessons in the pool. For the child safety fanatics among you, don't worry. Poppy installed a fence around the pool later that same day.

For July 4th, I had packed the girls red, white and blue outfits but unfortunately, only one of my daughters still allows me to dress her. The other wore pink and almost showed up at the Southampton Village Parade carrying a Pirate flag.

The parade was great— just big enough to create an impression but small enough so Mazzy could see everything from Mike's shoulders. Up until this weekend, Mazzy's only parade exposure was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which she viewed from the 25th floor of a highrise. Watching a steady stream of old fire trucks and local high school bands is a slightly different experience than an aerial view of a humongous Kermit the Frog.

After the parade, we walked up the road to the Parrish museum which was having a little garden party. And by "garden party", I mean "the most awesome free family event you could ever accidentally stumble upon".

Not only did they have live music, a bouncy castle, face painting, and a man that made balloon animals (although not shiny mylar balloons in the shape of Dora the Explorer much to Mazzy's dismay), they also had a small family-run circus that was putting on acts like plate spinning, stilt walking and something called the slack wire.

My favorite moment was when the band leader, in mid-song, shouted for someone "to take the microphone" and Mazzy surprised us all by running up to volunteer. Especially since she's been pretty shy lately and I was almost certain she didn't know the words.

Apparently, Mazzy thought "take the microphone" meant "hold onto it for dear life and protect it from other children" because she stood up there SERIOUS AS HELL without ever opening her mouth. I guess, "singing" was never part of the verbal instructions. She must have stood there for a full five minutes glaring at any child that came too close, until the band leader asked someone else who knew the words to take a turn. 

On Saturday, we went to a birthday party/pool party thrown for a one-year-old by Little Miss Party. It was a pig roast which is kind of like your child asking for a farm themed party and then lighting his favorite animal on fire before throwing it on the buffet table.

Actually, it's exactly like that.

Thankfully, Mazzy was otherwise occupied and didn't see Olivia until she had morphed into a plate of delicious pulled pork sandwiches.

We spent the majority of the party in the pool (IT WAS HOT!!!!) and at some point Harlow fell asleep in my arms. Let me tell you— holding a wet weightless sleeping baby in the pool is perhaps one of the best things I have ever experienced.

Second only to taking that wet sleeping baby and cuddling with her in a towel on a hammock.

PURE HEAVEN.

On Sunday, we capped off the weekend by going to the beach. I have many thoughts on taking kids to the beach (check out "Is the Beach Worth It?") but I'll save most of them for future fodder.

The most important thing about the beach on Sunday was Mazzy's new kite.

Mazzy has been talking about flying a kite all winter so it was great to finally give her the oppotunity. Poppy was the real hero because not only did he buy her a kite, he bought her a Cars kite, which was the perfect resolution to THE CARS SHOVEL INCIDENT. 

Allow me to explain.

At the pig roast, Mazzy started playing with a Cars-themed shovel, pretending to garden in the yard. When it was time to leave, Mazzy said she wanted to take the shovel home and I made the huge mistake of saying we had one back at Poppy's house. Later that day, when Nonna presented Mazzy with her shovel options, we learned that the shovel was not the important part of the equation. For, if it was not a Cars-themed shovel, Mazzy wanted no part in it. And here I thought my daughter was developing a love of gardening.

So. Poppy took a page right out of "Grammy's Master Plan" and saved the day with the purchase of a Cars-themed kite. Mazzy's never seen the movie but for some reason she's obsessed. 

Ultimately, Mazzy's takeaway from the weekend was not the slack wire or the parade and definitely not the fireworks (since we skipped them this year), it was that this was the first time she had ever flown a kite.

For the two hours it took us to drive home, we had the following conversation about ten times:

MAZZY: Mommy, do you know what?

ME: What?

MAZZY: Remember when I flew the Cars kite at the beach?

ME: Yes, I remember. It was earlier today.

MAZZY: I never did that before.

ME: I know.

MAZZY: It was my first time flying a kite.

ME: I know! Wasn't it awesome?

MAZZY: Yeah.

ME: I thought so too.

Hope everyone had a great fourth!