On the way up, we stopped in Columbus at a nice hotel. Over breakfast the next morning, I started chatting with 2 nice couples, on a little mini-holiday, with family and friends watching their little ones during their short get-away. We had such a nice time chatting and are even now FB friends who we hope to keep in touch with. See, never would have happened on a flight!

I had painstakingly tried to find some “direct” route up this time on Google maps, mapquest, and Garmin. Problem being, there is a huge body of water called Lake Erie in the way. I even tried to see ferry possibilities, but generally that added time to our trip, not take it off.

As we arrived in Buffalo, I looked at my do-all-the-driving hubby and said, “We are right here…We might as well” and he agreed to a detour to Niagara…again! The kids had not seen it in the summer, only in the November Rain this last year, so it would look different after all. Thane was very excited to see “Loud Water” as we call it.

We crossed the border and as is par for the course, Jay got stopped at the border. He has gotten stopped 4 out of the last 5 times up. The almost hour long wait was worth it though. The woman who scanned his passport and called us up nicely asked us…”Did the guard ask you to come in or did you guys just want to?” I laughed and said, “Oh, yeah, we chose this as part of the tour!” She could not find an issue with his account but after some deep digging, found out his “Junior” and birth date have him matched/mixed up with someone who does have issues. Couple of recommendations were given to us so we can hopefully bypass the nice welcoming committee next time we arrive.

Thane and Mara loved Niagara. We had a gorgeous late afternoon there and walked all around the Canadian side, followed by a window seat to the falls dinner.

The weather was rainy our first day so we decided to take Thane to the huge hockey store, Hockey Life, for some treats. He got some new hockey pants, a new stick, and lots of Sens gear. Mara got a Sens jersey too. The staff thought he was a hoot too and were impressed with his gusto (and hey, they are Canadians) for such a little man. They even let him try out his new stick in the shooting area.

Movie–> Canada8

We spent the fourth at their house. It was a kid summer extravaganza, even down to the food, new kid table and chairs, and the pool, of course. The kids (and dads) were prunes when they came out of the water, eventually.

When dark fell, we headed to the front lawn to watch the dads shoot off fireworks. Jay stayed back, certain that Thane would have a repeat performance of last year and not like the noise. He was right. He seemed to do slightly better, but in the end, Mara was the last brave one sitting in Mommy’s lap and watching the show.

This inspired the first movie theater trip for both (either) kids. Jay was willing, but hesitant. I called Liz for advice. Be prepared to leave early. Thane wore the costume, minus wings, and was a hit. I told him people may just ask for autographs.

We made it from half way through previews to credits. No tears. No tantrums. Only small antsy-ness from Mara at the very very end. We even made it through the scary part of Toy Story 3.

Mom gets a gold star!

After the movie, still smiles

Every July, school makes the kids little 4th tie dyed shirts. This year’s were extra special…Mara got a little tank top and Thane got a wife beater a size too small for him, so it was extra snug.

In an effort for full effect, I dressed Mara in some blue, with red and white striped, daisy dukes, with a split on each side. They were Ralph Lauren though, only the best for her lil’ trailer trash ensemble! Thane wpore some shorts and I realized later I should have gotten a thick gold chain for him. Oh well, he decided he needed sunglasses, so that worked.

This was the first 4th parade at the school we got to see and it was a blast. Mara spent most of the time in our arms, but she got to watch it all. Thane was in full force and went around almost every time. It was funny to watch the parade get smaller and smaller each time it went around the tree as kids meandered off or found their parents.

Mara's gangsta look

It was hot, crazy hot. The kind of hot only New York City gets, where walking just melts you and the soot from the streets rises up and lands on your skin. I remember when I lived there feeling the need to shower twice a day.

We got a pushcart hot dog lunch and made a picnic of it on the lawn. Mara was already starting to get flush but she loved the hot dog. Interesting addition…NYC Pushcarts now have caloric values beside their prices for all the food. Really?

We then headed over to the zoo, after Thane had a large animal balloon made that he promptly had to give up because balloons were not allowed in the zoo. He was a trooper and we were allowed to put it in the “waiting” area while we toured the zoo in hopes (or not) that it would be there when we were done. It was not. $3 for 5 minutes and we did not have to take it through all of Manhattan? I am ok with that.

We saw everything at the zoo this trip….The kids loved it. I was not a fan of the rain forest and promptly went back into the NYC hot day to escape the heat and humidity.

The Central Park polar bear is always a good conversation piece. One of them once underwent therapy for boredom….he swam back and forth, back and forth all day. Today we got to see him have a mighty good back scratch on the rocks.

There were these art structures outside the park. Thane, after coaxing from mom and dad, did some performance art for us.

After the park we met up with Nouna and Daniel. It was Memorial Day, so finding a late lunch spot became a round about all around midtown and included me wlaking into a dumpster, causing a bruise that stayed on my arm for 2 weeks and got quite a few comments. We eventually settled on sitting outside at Rue57. Mara quickly passed out in Nouna’s arms.

Gia and Pappou got to see Mara walking…and more of a toddler than a baby. They were so impressed. We celebrated Thane’s birthday while we were there too, for like the 300th time, on his actual birthday. I think even he was over-birthdayed by the time his birthday actually rolled around!

We got to celebrate my birthday too. Gia and Pappou babysat the kiddos while Jay and I got a date night to Sex and the City 2. I also got blue toes…GiaGia was not a fan.

Mara got spoiled as usual. So did Thane, but you know how it is for Gia and Pappou’s koukla. We met up with Nouna and Daniel after some shopping in the city and a visit to the Central Park Zoo.

I have always wanted to stop. We did once but did not go in, they were closed, we were in a rush, or whatever.

A few weeks ago Justin and Rachel suggested a tour of both Dinosaur World and the Lost River Cave. We were game. 4 kids, 4 adults, 2 sights…NO PROBLEM…we even debated doing 3! We will hit the road at 7 am and be good to go.

When I woke up at 5 am…Jay was still in the living room…working. He had yet to go to sleep. His work finally finished around 8, just enough time for him to shower and change (not shave) before heading on the road at 9:30. OK…not so bad…we roll with the punches. Just outside of Bowling Green…work emergency halts us for close to an hour.

OK..back on the road. Stef only mildly irritated. On ly mildly because I also got a work call during our stop…thank goodness for the iPad and 3G.

We finally hit the dinosaur museum just before a Fossil Dig! The kiddos got to sift through sand and find dinosaur bones…shells, teeth, amber…and keep 3 pieces. Thane thought this was a great opportunity to shovel sand into his keepsake box. Mara thought it was a great opportunity to shovel sand into mommy’s purse. We did manage to get our 6 fossils though.

I truly felt like we were on the Jurassic Park island. We were all dripping with sweat within minutes of foraging through the forest. Life size dinosaurs surrounded us. Everyone did really well, despite the heat and lack of sleeping, oh and Mara staying behind to look at the Wooly Mammoths. I was actually thinking there might be some tears over the dinosaurs but there were none…Except for walking very fast away from the Spinosaurus…neither Madeleine nor Thane likes that episode of Dinosaur Train.

After that, we headed back to Bowling Green. I texted Gail to find out a good local spot to eat. She recommended Cracker Barrel..I should have known…thanks G!

The kids slept on the too short drive (less than 30 minutes) and then we went to O’Charley’s to cool off and recharge. Problem was…we missed (or thought we did) the last boat tour for the cave…the whole purpose of the trip! Obviously our first foray into day tripping with the kiddos was a success…just not on the schedule we set up… You would think with 4 kids between us, we would have learned THAT lesson by now!

Thane had a real doctor’s appointment, complete with an eye test of shapes instead of letters. He did really well listening to the instructions, speaking loudly and identifying the right things. He did call the birthday cake a boat once and tried to inch away from the eye cover when we got to the very last line. He also had to give a urine sample. Sounds like not so much fun but Thane thought it was a hoot to pee in a cup.

As for measurements, our giants are apparently evening out a little…(or the nurse that took the measurements is not super accurate, so they could be way off and Thane was not super understanding of what to do when standing at the ruler).

Thane
Weight: 35 pounds 80th percentile
Height: 39 inches 74th percentile

Mara
Head: 36 cm 35th percentile
Weight: 26 lbs 6.8 oz 80th percentile
Height: 32 1/2″ 75th percentile

Thane also had his last Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae Type b) shot. We told him he was going to get a shot like Corduroy to make him stay healthy and he had to go first to show his sister. He did not utter a peep before, during, or after the shot. He was quite the trooper and later told his sister, it is ok. Later that night he did wake up saying his leg hurt. My brave boy.

Mara had two shots and was not so mild mannered about them. She pretty much wailed through both. She had her last Hepatitis A shot and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

We still opted not to give Thane (and now Mara) the MMR. We decided to wait until 4. Our doctor was ok with that, he is very willing to listen to our input. We assured him we are getting it, we are just pushing it out.

The birthday week long activities continued Thursday with a celebration at school. When I told him that morning that we would be coming to his school he said. “You’re going to come to school for my birthday and we can have snack and then I can go home early.”. Nice. Apparently he is getting too old for us to just sneak off for a few more hours of work.

We brought Italian cookies and blueberries. They were all outside when we arrived. Thane exclaimed, “that’s my mommy and daddy!” when he saw us. Sheri instructed everyone to sit down while thane passed out his snacks for everyone. They were a big hit with everyone except sheri, who wondered why people kept bringing cookies into her classroom (his was party four of the week).

Snack went well and we got to see Thane with all of his friends. After snacks were out in the trash and the tables cleaned, we headed out. Thane got the special treat of going to his daddy’s office. He got to wear a badge. He got to shoot nerf guns and look like Rambo (so not mommy approved). He was very well behaved and told the guard as he left, “thank you for letting me come and see my daddy’s office.”.

Oh, and what if you were to add an ear infection to that as well?

That’s right…you get The Hansen Birthday Extravaganza!

Friday night started with a call from Mara’s school…she had a 103.5 degree fever. One rushed trip to the doctor and it was just an ear infection and we got a pass to go out for dinner and to birthday parties as planned.

Then we headed to celebrate my birthday…BOWLING! Yes, I, the world’s worst bowler, bowled. And drove bumper cars. And pretended to be a kid all night long. It was glorious!

Saturday morning we got dressed and headed to party #2…a pirate party at the Culver’s. They had rented a pirate ship playhouse for the day for the kids to play on. Way fun.

Mad dash to Thane’s third birthday party came next. 24 kids + parents showed up. Thane did great demonstrating all of the gymnastics for everyone and even liked the parachute (which he was not a fan of in previous years). I think everyone enjoyed it…especially when each kid was awarded a medal at the end!

We passed out exhausted Saturday night and only opened presents just before bed time (whose brilliant idea was that?).

Sunday morning we tried to go to the Renaissance Festival but after paying $20 x2 for admission, Mara broke out in an all over body rash and we packed up and went home.

Looking back, I am exhausted even writing this!

Shab, thanks for the pics!!!