The NEW Acushnet Public Library!

We love covering travel and adventures on the blog and tonight we took a very local adventure.  Our town library used to be very inconvenient to go to.  There were only 4 off street parking spots, you had to walk up a flight of steps to get in and the children's area was no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet. It just wasn't enjoyable to visit.  Even dropping off books was difficult because of where parking was.  If I wanted to just run and drop them off on my own, I wasn't able to see the kids in the car because of where the drop box was.

Over the past couple years, the Acushnet Library was in the process of moving to a new location. What's really cool to me is that many of my students helped with the construction of it through our school's vocational program. We stopped by last night to check it out!

Provincetown Recap: Eastwood at Provincetown

April vacation is one of our two annual trips to Provincetown, Ma. We stay at the Eastwood at Provincetown and we love going!

The whole place is only 30ish units and it's so family friendly.  In addition to the gorgeous pool, with a hot tub, the building with the sail boat on it is a game room, complete with a fooseball table, ping pong table, and pool table.  There is also a bocce set, a fire place, a tv, and an ice machine. We spend a good amount of time in there every time we visit! There's also a second hot tub on property, which is awesome, as well as a fenced in tennis court, a shuffleboard, a fitness area, laundry set up,a playground, and multiple grills set up if you feel like making dinner one night!

Across the street (and down like 500 feet) is the beach so it's a perfect spot to wake up and see the sunrise.  If you head down the street the otherway, you are only a short distance away from Commercial St, which is the main shopping area of Provincetown.

The Purple Feather

We love to head to Herring Cove and Race Point Beach as well, since they are just stunning beaches.

Can we talk about how those pictures are filter-free from my cell phone?! Literally Heaven. The most gorgeous place ever.

I put together a quick video for you so you can see what the rooms look like as well as a quick overview of some of the facilities.  Go easy on me as I'm still new with this video thing buuuuut here goes....

It's the most relaxing vacation we take and this vacation was no different.  They are currently renting through Booking.com so check them out and see if there's a night you can escape to the Cape!

Taking Toys on Vacation: The Lion Guard and Shopkin Kinstructions

I'm grumpy today.  Mostly because I'm back at work after my amazing week long vacation. Once again, we spent April vacation down the Cape in Provincetown. We've been going for years and it is seriously, one of the most relaxing weeks of my whole year. Beaches. Gelato. Time with my family. It's perfection.

I will admit, I was a bit nervous about this year's vacation.  Tyler is super mobile and a rambunctious almost two year old, and Emmalee is a moody, almost five year old going on seventeen.  They love each other but bug each other so much. Tyler will bop Emma with a toy, she'll start crying. She'll yell at him, he'll start crying. It's a vicious cycle broken up by laughs, kisses, and snuggles.

I knew I would want to be able to relax at some point with my husband so we packed up a couple surprise toys for the kids.  Pro tip: this wards off all sorts of toy requests because there is already something waiting for them back at the hotel room! :)

For Tyler we packed up a couple Lion Guard toys.  Have you seen The Lion Guard? It's about Simba and Nala's son, Kion and his friends learning to use their unique talents to solve problems.  What mom doesn't love that message?

The kids are obsessed with blind bag toys (see here, here, and here) so we grabbed a couple for them to open, as well as a talking Kion stuffed animal.

They kids were super excited to open their blind bags and find Kion, Ty's favorite, and Fuli, Emma's favorite! They immediately began running around the room, making their animals roar and "go on a hunt". I love imaginative play toys!

The Kion plush is especially cool because he talks! When you press the "Mark of the Guard" print on his arm, he lights up and makes sounds, including 4 signature catch phrases from the show! Since Tyler doesn't speak much, he would press the button and just start laughing while chasing his sister around.

At almost 5 years old, Emmalee is much better at some quiet time toys, really spending lots of time drawing, coloring, using playdoh, making bead jewelry, all sit down quiet type activities, so when we saw these Shopkins Kinstructions, we knew they would be perfect for her to sit quietly and use while Tyler was taking a nap.

The directions were a bit tricky, but the company has released all new directions on their website that are free to download! Emma's favorite part is that each Shopkin is actually two pieces so she can mix and match the little pieces! She must have sat at the table for a full hour, making the Shopkins go shopping for each other!

I really loved the idea of having a couple new surprise toys in the room for the kids.  It gave them something new and exciting which gave me time to actually sit and relax! Bonus was that since they just got the new toys, they weren't asking for anything while we were out! I love them both and think I need more blind bags, the other talking characters, and more Shopkins toys! Which do you plan on grabbing?

More Surprise Toys! MashEms, FashEms, and Surprizamals.

Disclosure: Some of these toys were provided at no cost to my family to help facilitate this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

My kids are seriously bit by the "surprise egg" bug.  Every time we head to Target, Emma asks for a "blinded bag". She loves the Num Noms, Tsum Tsums, and Funko Blind Boxes; she even made her own unboxing video once! Between Youtube videos and blind bags everywhere we go, they were super excited to get their hands on more surprise toys!

1. Tech4Kids Mash Ems and Fash Ems
I feel in love with these things almost 2 years ago at Blogger Bash.  They are licensed across so many lines including Disney Princesses and DC Characters,  Each capsule holds one different squishy figure.  Emmalee immediately claimed the My Little Ponies, and Tyler ran away with the Paw Patrol ones! I love the surprise with each! They seem to be under $5 on most sites, including Amazon {aff}.

2. Surprizamals!
Just like the Mash Ems and Fash Ems, Surprizamals are surprise toys! There are 12 different stuffed animals hidden, ranging from common to ultra rare.  Emma picked out three: a cat, bunny, and dog, but she is crossing her fingers to find Gemma the Unicorn! Each surprise includes a character chart, stickers, and the plush! This fall they'll be releasing 60 new animals in series 2!

I love how affordable these little toys are! Emma is becoming quite the collector.  What other surprise toys should we be on the look out for?

Dressing Up for Fenway Opening Day! #RedSox

Happy Fenway Opening Day!

Even though the Red Sox are already rocking a 3-2 record, which makes them second in the AL East, let's be honest, it isn't really baseball season until Fenway Park opens. This is also the first year, in a long time, that I don't already have multiple games worth of tickets. 

Instead, I'll be at work today, counting down the minutes until 2:05 when the first pitch is thrown at the most beloved park. I may even secretly be wearing a sox shirt... 

I own way too many hats, shirts, and pants emblazoned with the logo, mostly from Victoria's Secret, but am kind of in love with these new items from Levi and Vineyard Vines. 

Victoria Secret Yoga Pants  / Victoria Secret Raglan Tee / Victoria Secret Hoodie

Vineyard Vines Tie Blue / Vineyard Vines Belt / Vineyard Vines Tie Red

Levi Sweatshirt / Levi Denim Jacket / Levi Club Coat

I need everything from Victoria Secret but I'm loving the Levi pullover too! If I look this good, I have to have a winning season, right?

An Easy and Perfect Baby Shower Gift

Disclosure: My family was provided free product in exchange for this post; however all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here.

Baby fever everywhere! Just kidding. No baby fever here for me but I am knee deep in baby shower invitations.  I could not be more excited for my friends bringing babies into their families and being me, want to buy them every amazing gift they could possibly need.  Sadly, that's not financially possible. Ha!

My go to gift is a Lillebaby carrier.  I am so obsessed with all of mine, yep, I have four! The last baby shower I was invited to, my coworker told me that her mother had already purchased her a buckle carrier but was really interested in trying out a wrap. Sadly, Lillebaby does not offer a wrap but I found an amazingly well reviewed wrap on Amazon to try out! The Baby Sling Carrier Wrapy is the perfect wrap for a new mom. It's rated a 4.9 out of 5 with over 150 reviews!

Plus it's extra comfy, made of 95% cotton and 5% Spandex, one size fits all, and it's machine washable and a dryer safe. 

To be honest, I usually budget around $75 for baby shower gifts because if I'm sitting through a shower, I must really like you. Even though this wrap is valued at close to $140, it's on super sale (as of the posting date) and was less than $30 so I had more money to build up a basket of my favorite things for the new baby!

I always include:
1. a breastfeeding scarf, like this one from Itzy Ritzy.
2. Bottles, we especially love Joovy, Avent and Dr. Brown.
3. Gripe water or gas drops.
4. Avent pacifiers - I literally owned 30 of these with each kid.
5. A Tug Tune toy from Bright Starts.
6. A good book. A stand by like Good Night Moon or Pajama Time are always good.
7. Pajamas.  The best are made by Carters.  Feeties or sleep gowns are my favorites.

I grabbed a small bucket at Target, some tissue paper, and also used Picmonkey to make a couple labels for my favorites and was ready to go!

I love giving moms gifts I know that I loved and can't wait to welcome even more babies this spring and summer!