Spring Shenanigans

Holy Schlitterbahn it’s been ages! In my little world, we are experiencing the whole broad spectrum of life – weddings, births and deaths, all in a matter of a few weeks. With the latter, it just hasn’t felt right to sit and make light banter here on the blog when all around me things have been terribly emotional and, well, roller coaster-y. Man, adulting is hard.

But here goes. I meant to tell you all about our family trip, though right now it feels like ancient history. I’ll try to hit the highlights of the trip. I’m feeling a bit rusty so bear with me. First of all, I’m delighted to say we are raising nerds – these kids enjoy school and love learning with their friends. Seriously, both girls cried about missing three days of school plus an entire weekend without their friends. In that moment it didn’t even matter that they were about to spend the entire weekend fawned over by friends and family, eating anything they pleased!

I’m also proud to say we left home without electronic entertainment! Not even games on our phones. Instead, I found an airport scavenger hunt on Pinterest (which I plan to use repeatedly till they beg me to stop!) and these weird stretchy caterpillar things from the dollar store. Once we boarded it was snacks and juice from Southwest and a couple small prizes of our own. Next thing you know we’re picking up the rental car. Even that came with goodies – locally made soft pretzels!

First stop – Philly. Birthplace to this country… and my kids. Not my favorite city, but I certainly  carry some personal sentiment for this place. I mean, the girls were born here! Shocker, they did not care one bit. What they did like? Sitting in traffic on Ben Franklin Parkway and checking out the flags of the world. We managed to make everyone happy with lunch at the first restaurant they ever visited as newborns. Highlight of our little Philly Baby Tour? Twenty frigid minutes frolicking in Rittenhouse Square, a park where we spent a lot of our time back in the day.

Next up – Dinner with their very first friends, and really, one of my first true female friendships after Squish. In those early days of motherhood, I found Lindsay’s calm energy reassuring and spending time with her made me more confident in my abilities as a mom and as a human. Bonus – our kids are the same age, within mere days of one another. And luckily they got along as well as little tots can; making our play-dates frequent.

We spent countless hours in various parks around Center City with our littles in those early years. As such, it’s an understatement to say I loved seeing the kids reunited (watching them chat away over dinner made me melt!). What’s more, the Big later called it one of the highlights of the whole trip and she now lists Mr. T as one of her best friends. And it was sublime to reconnect with my original mama friend and feel that instant connection and Lindsay’s calm energy once again.

Ok, onto the family wedding – there’s lots that goes on, of course.

As you can imagine, the closer you are to the epicenter (bride or groom) of such occasions, the more chaos you get to experience. Me, I’ve been married over a decade now. With this last sibling wedding, I got promoted to what I’m calling First In-Law.

On the day, this meant managing valuables for the family – purses, coats, even the bag that held the tips for all the wedding vendors! As the guests arrived, I also became official ‘shuffler’ – asking relatives to shift forward to fill those primo family rows. Then there was, ‘Oh yeah, can you take this number and text pics to Grandma’s aide?’ My favorite role by far was streaming the whole ceremony on FaceTime to the sister – missing her twin brother’s wedding because she was pregnant with twins of her own.

I’m lucky I can say getting together with the Husband’s family is always fun – lots of laughs, hugs and cocktails. And over the years I’ve developed great friendships with the cousins and family friends alike. Don’t forget, I’m also the girl who just loves an occasion to pop on heels, a great dress and this time, sensational 70 year-old earrings inherited from my grandmother.

Plus there’s this cousin I’ve known since he was in grade school – now he’s old enough to drink with me, but he somehow thinks I’m still in my early 20s. That sort of reaction is always welcome in my book. ALWAYS.

Uncle Andrew’s nuptials was the Little’s second wedding ever. And it turns out, she is a PARTY ANIMAL! She dazzled all the groomsmen while hanging out before the rehearsal. She bobbed all over the place at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. She even made it to the bar where the family gathered afterward!

But! All this crazy comes at a price – it turns out I have my very own puke and rally girl. She partied hard every single day, and got sick as soon as the night was ending. We’d put her to bed not knowing how she’d feel the next day, but she woke up raring to go and ready for more festivities!

The final portion of our visit – cruising up to central jersey to see friends. Not even 24 hours together, so we were determined to make the most of the time! We picked up cupcakes to test for Savalina Sweets (a difficult job, but someone has to do it!) and then Lee and I ditched the kids & husbands to go bourbon shopping.  Stay tuned – some of these purchases will feature in the next installment of United States of Bourbon!

What I love about the Spears is that they take my testing seriously! We cut open a dozen cupcakes and with each one, we discussed flavor, texture, moisture, etc. We topped it off with pizza and a movie for the kids until bedtime.

All in all, it was a great travel experience, despite the Little’s puking habits. We didn’t lose any luggage, none of the whiskey bottles broke in transit. The wedding went beautifully and everyone had a good time. And now, a few weeks and a few more adventures later, I think I’ve finally caught up on laundry and chores! Good news is school is almost out for summer and I have more whiskey adventures to tell you about – like the PPC reunion with Uncle Chris!