Egg-Tastic Tree!

I am always on the hunt for another craft to make with Lydia (and eventually Vivian.) The other night I was on etsy and saw wooden eggs. I thought they would be fun to paint and showcase in an easter basket as decoration. Since they were wooden I thought we could take pictures every year and repaint them. Sadly when they arrived they are a little too small. The description does say they are about 2 inches tall but in my head so is a regular egg, turns out not so much.

Instead of going out and widdling the size eggs I had hoped for, I opted for another project instead. Similiar idea but just slightly less expensive. I found the inspiration on pinterest to make an Easter egg tree. I thought it was cute. It was easy to make.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 water

I mixed it up in an average bowl and rolled it out. I used a circle cookie cutter but bent it a little to make an oval shape. It made an easy dozen eggs. Then, I used one the of the straws from Lydia's sippy cups and made the holes on top. The oven was set at 250 and I put them in the oven for an 1hr and 30 minutes. We have a gas oven so I took them out a little earlier than the instructions stated. They were great. I even forgot to add parchment paper and they didn't stick which I was so thankful for. I let them cool and stored in a baggie until we were ready to paint.

http://www.designmom.com/2013/03/diy-salt-dough-eggs/ This is the Easter Egg Tree link that inspired me.

The one thing to know going into painting with a toddler is that anything can happen. Lydia is pretty good at not getting paint every where but I still add paper underneath and make sure she isn't wearning anything I love. We have a set of smocks that I use too.

I let her paint them, any way she wanted. In my mind I had grand plans of going on a little nature hike at one of the many amazing parks in the area. Instead I walked outside of my house with the vine cutters and jumped up and cut off a branch that I thought would work. It wasn't easy because I am short and I am positive if my neighbors would have seen me they would have laughed at my nuttiness. Turns out that after all my trouble hacking at our tree, we have a giant bucket of twigs on the back yard so I grabbed a couple of those too. I had an empty planter and stuck the twigs into a piece of styrofoam. I tied ribbons through the holes and we hung them.

I think it turned out nicely and is now at the center of our mantel over the fireplace. I put the painted wooden eggs in a basket I had at the house and set it on the table, so not to waste any crafty efforts.

Day 6 Savannah

We learned a few things in travel today one being that Savannah is not terribly toddler friendly. They have a children's museum that was just created and it's outdoors which led us to another hurdle in a nonchild friendly city, rain. Not super storming stay in your bed rain but persistent incessant drizzle. So we stumbled upon an Easter kid event at the mall.




We rode the Easter train. In the south there is potential for that to have been borderline coo coo but no stations of the cross or anything just animated animals.








This of course leads to many other questions but I won't ramble at this point. The girls and Abuela liked it and that's really all that matters.








Then we took photos with the Easter bunny. Lydia asked him to bring her some eggs and sat patiently while the pictures were being taken. I wonder what will come of that Easter photo, likely will be an album somewhere. Where else do those to?

We had a little lunch and then rode the carrousel. It was Vivi's first ride and she loved it! She squealed in delight. Lydia had a few struggles. She and I rode first but she wanted her face painted. The face painting was ending and thus we attempted to redirect to the ride. She flipped out and we sat on a bench for the duration of the carrousel because they were waiting on us to pick an animal and there were none she wanted to ride.




Since she was so adamant about getting her face painted I told Eliot when we were finishes to go ask the painters to do something small while I took Viv on the ride. Lydia was excited to get her face painted but once she saw Vivi having such a great time she wanted to ride again. She flipped out, and it didn't go over well when we told her she had her chance.




I always consider situations like that in retrospect. Should we have let her just ride it again? Maybe this time together? It just didn't work out that way to begin with, but we didn't want her to assume that she could just throw a fit and get what she wants every time. But now 12 hours later I wonder if every moment is a learning moment or are some instances it's just okay to spring for one more ride.




We distracted her after a nice chat with the play ground. My daughter loves a play ground. It came to our attention that there must be a literacy problem in the area because she played for a while until a handful of parents let their giant children play even though it was an area designated for kids under 42 inches and clearly marked. After Eliot and another father exchanged some words we left because it simply wasn't safe for Lydia.

In this instance, Lydia was upset but I explained to her that big kids arrived and they weren't following the rules so it wasn't safe. This she grasped and actually when I put her to bed, we recapped the day and she repeated it to me verbatim.

At this point, the sun had come out and we were headed to the outdoor museum for kids and the train museum. We stopped and ran into the store for a second and Lydia had fallen asleep in the car. We really didn't have a choice but to embrace the nap.




So we spent the rest of the day napping and watching movies. We even ordered local take out wings to continue on the vegging.

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Day 5 Drive to Savannah

We decided to break up the drive again this time spending a full day in Savannah. Savannah was my first trip out of Florida at 16. It has a fond place in my heart.


We had a late check out, a late breakfast and smooth drive into GA. We checked in and headed to the river to enjoy that true southern meal.


It was a tasty dinner for us all!


But we were beyond ready for some veg time.



Abuelo fed and put Vivi to bed as he has done every night in the trip. We are watching another redbox, What to expect when you are expecting, which is just a way to stay up long enough to watch the US vs Costa Rica qualifying game @ 10.


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Day 4 myrtle beach

Today was a slow start. We laid in bed for a while because , well we could. The girls stared at a each other for a bit while the adults woke up fully.


Then we made a giant breakfast to use up as much of our slightly over zealous grocery shopping as possible.



In the later morning we went to the Children's Museum of South Carolina. We are kid museum connoisseurs and I have to say I was fairly underwhelmed when we went in. It was small and had no bells or whistles but upon reflection we were there for 2 1/2 hours and my girls, the grandparents and us were all fully entertained. So the CMSC (as the locals call it) served its purpose. We played and played. Lydia learned a little about hockey.



Vivian pulled out some new budding musical talent.


Even mom got a couple of super cute photo ops. Which brings me to another reflection, do all 2 years olds make photo taking difficult or is it just mine? I do try to document every moment that I can because it makes me feel good, mostly (i take pictures and blog to stay in the moment and avoid an existential crisis) and I want them to have visual memories of our time together as a family/ their childhood. I digress, she sees the camera and doesn't look at it. She doesn't smile. It takes a zillion tries before we really get a keeper but it wasn't always that way. It she just too busy to be mama-razzied or is it a deeper toddler issue?





We came back to the hotel for lunch and to rest some. I brought some activities for Lydia. One being play-do. It's a new fan fave for sure. They all mocked me today when I declared that the best crayons are always crayola, the best play clay is play-do. I felt like it was a nugget of mommy wisdom to assert but apparently not so much, they just nodded and agreed that I had learned so much with giggles.


I also had dominoes, a necklace she threaded and some scratch color crafts. Abuelo got in on the fun. They played Dora dominoes for a while and then built castles.


The resort has a heated indoor pool which we took advantage of because our Florida blood isn't tough enough to try the ocean or the waterpark outside our balcony.



It was Vivian's first swim. She loved it! It made me very hopeful for swim lessons next month.



After our swim, in honor of March Madness we played a little ball and enjoyed the playground. It was cold, about 50 degrees today however it was a beautiful day out. Lydia is definitely a soccer girl because this was one of the only times she held the ball in hand.


What was Vivi doing? Catching up on some Zzzzzzzz.


We ended the day at Mellow Mushroom and watched Mystic River. Tomorrow we head to Savannah for the weekend. River walk, grits and shrimp and some local artists will round out this week of vacation nicely.

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Day 3 Myrtle Beach

We started out the day enjoying some well known comforts. My mom loves TJMaxx and so we had to go today. Eliot insisted on a picture.


We then wanted to do a little more bit more shopping because it was that kind of day. Nothing better than an outlet mall. Lydia is into doing shows for us lately. She performed the one below for my dad and Eliot while my mom and I ducked into a couple of places.




Lydia took a little ride out side of the food court.



Later on in the afternoon we took the girls to Ripley's Aquarium. It was perfect for them. We caught all the special shows and they had a great moving aquarium walk through which allowed us to take pictures and stop to see the giant sharks above. It was awesome!


Lydia gave scuba Steve a high five!


Vivian tried to catch the stingrays.



We ended our day at a very nice meal at Landrys. It was a wonderful way to end the day.


We ended the day with another movie, this time Argo. So good. I'm blogging as we finish it because the suspense is so much I have to be partly distracted.

Another day with traveling with kids meant a shrieking happy baby in a nice restaurant a little too late in the evening that gained us a couple of odd looks. Lydia forgetting to pee pee in the toilet and just peeing right in the bathroom floor. Now they sleep.

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Day 2: Myrtle Beach

It was a beautiful day in Myrtle Beach.




Sadly the Skywheel was closed for a repaint so we didn't get to ride it. But it was super cool looking.




The beach was calm since it was a Tuesday and they aren't on break season yet here. We had lunch in between Piers 14 and 2 at a boardwalk shop called Moe's Moon.




We then ate ice cream and continued to explore.




Lydia and Vivian made their first Build-a-bears, however neither actually got bears, Lydia picked a dog and Vivi a bunny.




Lydia named her pup Nema and she was a princess with crown and wand of course; Vivi's bunny is named Floppy.




We then ran into an inflatable park where Lydia bounced, climbed and slide for several hours, best 8 bucks we spent all day.

Vivian also got in on the fun. We had a great day, albeit tiring, silly, jumpy, laid back day.




Myrtle Beach is likely the most family friendly location we have travel. Many of the restaurants have playgrounds, everyone seems to have a kid option, and family friendly restrooms. When traveling with kids means you've got to roll with the punches. A little person needs to poop, pee and eat almost at every turn. Vivian will nap anywhere still luckily since she's only 7 1/2 months but Lydia doesn't nap anymore so we were sure to be back at hotel with time to unwind and go put her to bed by 8:30. Tonight we ate in. We have a full kitchen and living room so it worked out perfectly. We are watching SkyFall, another redbox special and eating warm chocolate chip cookies.a lovely end to the day.
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Day 1: Myrtle Beach

We stayed right outside Savannah last night and Lydia was ready to hit the road this morning.


We arrived in Myrtle Beach and immediately had a late lunch/early dinner at a place on Broadway on the Beach. There was a playground right behind it and so it was perfect for the girls to play.










We walked around a bit and enjoyed the area.


We stopped and played carnival games.


Lydia won. She picked a smurf as her prize and she named him Muffin.






We hung around a bit, did a little grocery shopping and then headed back for some much needed rest, particularly for the girls. We stopped at a redbox and rented the Hunger Games and SkyFall. We stayed up too late watching movies but it was a great first day.

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