After a handful of LONG drives, we decided it was time for a change.
We came up with the idea of Staycation Summer. We would take time to explore our home state of CT. There are so many fun places to take the kids, but when we are always traveling, it’s tough to find time to enjoy the sights of home.
Day trips are a nice break from the crazy whirlwind of overnight travel. It’s a lot easier to prepare for a day trip- in fact, day trips are often our only real chance to be mostly spontaneous. Our life is generally planned out well enough that we’re prepared for almost anything. This means we can really decide where to go in the spur of the moment.
Overnight travel with twins can be exhausting. Overnight travel in hotels can be exhausting. Overnight travel staying with friends and family can be exhausting.
But staying home all day is pretty boring, and although these kids are starting to play very nicely together, and alone… it’s nice to give them a change of scenery. It’s nice to give ALL of us a change of scenery.
Staycation Summer. An entire summer dedicated to all the fun two kids can have within a reasonable distance.
Almost.
We didn’t make it. We put in a really good effort, but we got distracted by a few amazing opportunities. We’ll get into that later on, but we can’t wait to share more about our trips to Maine, Colorado, and more.
In the meantime, we’ll just jump right into reviewing the fun places we discovered in our own backyard!
Sometimes, our own literal backyard. Or side yard.
You may remember the inflatable fishy pool that Auntie A got for us to use when we first visited her at the beach. Maybe this will help jog your memory:
Well, this thing is still a BIG favorite. Almost exactly a year later, we’re still big fans of our fishy pool!
What a difference a year makes.
We are so happy to have kids that seem to love the water. The jury is still out on their opinion of sand… actually, who am I kidding. They were not fans of sand in the summer of 2016. Heaven forbid if their toes touch the sand, nevermind their entire FOOT!??! What kind of awful parents are WE??!?
At home, however, they get to enjoy the fishy pool, set safely in the grass, with only the threat of our irrigation system.
They also enjoy a walk around the yard to check on TTDad’s fruit trees, especially when we find an apple or two!
Speaking of water, we found a fun splash pad nearby (just down the road from our cousins house!) As you can see, they had no problems jumping right in. We made a few trips, just a few. The splash pad at Wolcott Park in West Hartford, CT, is completely fenced in, so I was comfortable taking them by myself. I was never totally alone, as we always went with the cousins, or Nonie and Pops, but even if I got there before any of the bonus adults, I could get them ready to go without fear of littles running into the road.
Check out what Out and About Mom has to say about the Wolcott Park Splash Pad!
In addition to the Splash Pad, TT Dad got me a Season Pass to Lake Compounce, which is close enough for us to make it a morning or afternoon trip. Lake Compounce is in Bristol, CT, and has it’s own Water Park, complete with splash features. The duo were still too little to ride two many of the rides, but that was okay, since children 3 and under are admitted free!
I thought for sure they would love the little caterpillar train ride, but it was a little more than they were ready for. We tried a few times over the summer, and they got close a couple of times, but always changed their mind at the last minute.
They did, however, love the carousel. There are actually two carousels- the large one that actually moves pretty quickly, and the one in Kiddie Land, which is smaller, and a little more relaxed. They liked a couple of the other kid rides, but I think they enjoyed driving the cars the most.
By the way, why did no one warn me it would become increasingly more difficult to take good non-blurry pictures of these crazy kids?
And there you have it, our two most visited staples during Staycation Summer. More fun to come… Stay Tuned!