A 40 in 4 Update

The 40 in 4 is still slow going and I'm finding that I'm not longer excited about some of the things on my list.  I know it's only been a year and a half (and 4 days!), but I'm just not as excited about some of these anymore so I may end up astericking them or something because it's not something I'm focusing on... however, I did accomplish a couple new things...

27. Get out of the minivan.
Two weeks ago, David brought my car into the shop for some repairs and the bill was much more than we planned on putting into our old van.  We bought the van 4 years ago and it was already 9 years old at the time.  It had low miles and was used by a much older woman so it was in great shape but 4 years of wear and tear from my kids was more than enough for it. I'm happy to say I upgraded to a Nissan Rogue so no more minivan in this house!

28. Take a calligraphy class.
I'm cheating on this one because honestly, it's not worth $100+ for me to go do this sooooo instead, I ordered a couple of hand lettering books online and have been working on it myself! I'm loving how it looks and want to invest in a few new markers to really keep playing!

31. Work on our kitchen: backsplash, new desk, new table...
This one has been so fun. It's not completely dont but I did purchase a new dining set and a big white desk so the kitchen looks more open.  I'd still love to buy a new rug but we're taking a break from any big purchases and home upgrades right now.

Additionally, I'm going to pull out a few:
20. Get professional head shots for the blog.
           - I really hate pictures and since my blog is my family, I don't need headshots when we always use family pictures!21. Sew Emma a matching dress for her and her dolls
           - We've moved out of the doll phase for a bit. She's completely obsessed with LOL dolls so the American Girls haven't left their bunk beds lately.22. Consider selling the custom shirts I've been making for the kids...
           - What a giant no. I'm so invested in my career and the opportunities that are coming.  I am in awe of other moms who do the work from home hustle, but I really don't think I want to do it. 
32. Buy a jacuzzi and redo the back deck.
33. Fence in our yard.
34. Landscape.
          - We still want a jacuzzi but our back yard, including the deck and more landscaping just aren't a priority for us anymore.
35. Finish the basement
           - We've fininshed it as much as we need it to be right now. We're not really interested in putting up walls or developing it since our house is already at the top of the market for our neighborhood.  Adding more won't give us any ROI. 

So it leaves me with this:

1. Run a 5k
2. Have my palm read.
3. Weekend in the Vineyard with my family.
4. Buy a bicycle.
5. Wear a bikini to the beach, no cover up.
6. Put my toes into the Pacific Ocean.
7. Go back to Disney
8. Go to Universal Studio
9. Get a job in Higher Ed
10. See another Broadway play
11. Fit into a size 8.
12. Travel to Europe, ideally London or Rome.
13. Get another tattoo (or two).
14. Be debt free, minus student loans and mortgage.
15. Put away a 4 month emergency amount.
16. Begin working on an administrator's license or a PhD.
17. Take a photography class.
18. Travel somewhere tropical.
19. Go camping.
20. * Get professional head shots for the blog.
21. * Sew Emma a matching dress for her and her dolls
22. * Consider selling the custom shirts I've been making for the kids...
23. Take a cooking or baking class.
24. Take a cake decorating class.
25. Go to Ireland.
26. Find a local church to belong to/Baptize Tyler.
27. Get out of the minivan.
28. Take a calligraphy class.
29. Participate in Restaurant Week in Boston or Providence.
30. Go to Disney Land.
31. Work on our kitchen: backsplash, new desk, new table...
32. * Buy a jacuzzi and redo the back deck.
33. * Fence in our yard.
34. * Landscape.
35. * Finish the basement.
36. Attending the NYC Thanksgiving Day Parade
37. Create a real vegetable garden for an entire season/year.
38. Spend the day at the spa, getting pampered.
39. Splurge on our 10 year anniversary.
40. Save $10 for each accomplished task and spend it on something extravagant.

And I am so excited about all that is still on it. We have a few of these things planned already so I'll be excited to share when they happen!

xo, Heather

New Charlie's Nature Play Area at Buttonwood Park

It's no secret that we love Buttonwood Park.  We've had a family membership for the past 2 years and used library passes for admission for years before that.  It's a great small zoo that my kids love.  Tyler loves the harbor seals (which he calls sea lions- he'll learn one day), and Emma loves that one of the elephants shares her name, however she is especially excited that Buttonwood Park Zoo is getting a red panda, which is just one of the new things happening at the zoo.

Buttonwood Park Zoo has it's master plan on display in the educational complex and it's very cool to see all the plans they have in place.

While they are still in the middle of building the habitat for the red panda, they have moved around a few of the animals and just finished up construction on the Charlie's Nature Play area, which is "where the goat used to live", according to Emma.

The area is completely new and inspires so much creativity! The kids spent almost a half hour just playing with the tubes, constructing "the longest one in the whole world ever!" I especially loved how collaborative all the kids were. I know we just had a good group of people and that won't always be the case but they were sharing and problem solving together.

In addition to the cool "marble" area, they had a paint with water area, a water area, a huge block building area, tables for smaller block building, a sandbox with an umbrella, a xylophone, balance beams made from logs, a growing area, and a misting area!

I especially loved the log benches set up for parents and the butterflies that were hanging out on the flowers the whole time!

We usually spend about an hour at Buttonwood Park Zoo since my kids love running from one area to the next but we spent an hour just in Charlie's Nature Play area!

I'm so excited about this new area and can't wait to see the next changes!

xo, Heather

Seekonk Grand Prix

Thanks to a Seize the Deal... deal... I was able to grab a discounted gift card to Seekonk Grand Prix in Seekonk, MA.  My kids are obsessed with mini golf and anything that resembles racing like Vanellope from Wreck IT Ralph so a half priced gift card seemed like a good thing to have tucked in my back pocket.

We had some great weather and a full morning and afternoon with no commitments so we took the drive to Seekonk, intent on going mini golf and taking a lap around in the go-karts.

Seekonk Grand Prix is easily accessible and there's a ton of free parking around the building.
Upon entering, there is an area to purchase your play cards.  You can preplan what you're going to do and just purchase that amount on the card or you can throw on an arbitrary amount and reload as needed.  Since we already had $50, we were free to head out to whatever activities we wanted.

In addition to mini golf and go karts (so many different tracks!), they also have a suspended ropes course, bumper cars, bumper boats and an arcade. Since Emmalee is only 46" and Tyler even shorter, we didn't have to pay for either to race in the family go-karts-score!

We started with mini-golf.  My kids are obsessed with it, but oh, so terrible at it. The 18 hole course was great for them.  MOst holes were a Par 3 or 4 so not too difficult, but interesting enough with barriers, log "short cuts" and lots of water features that made you constantly fear that you'd lose your ball.  Emmalee especially loved the waterfall feature on the course!

After mini-golf we went to the family track and again, the kids got to ride free since they were too short to ride alone. The kids had so much fun and it was really enjoyable! It's a great track that loops around, going under a bridge and through a fake mountain! We were allowed to do a few laps around so it was a great value!

We decided to check out the kid track since Tyler really wanted to drive a go-kart and was surprised to find that he could drive (they just have to be 4 years old and under 48"!) so both kids went for a spin.  It's a smaller track but they had to have taken 15-20 laps on it so again, a great value and they loved it!

Since we still had money left on our card (seriously, $50 took us so far!), we went inside to play arcade games.  The kids found their favorites.  I was frustrated with the swipe card.  It didn't always register and we'd have to swipe it 10 times to get it to work.  The great thing was that they fixed it so quick when Dave brought it up to the counter and they replaced it. They even reset the air hockey for us when the game started but no puck came out.

Super exciting is that the ropes course is suspended above the arcade so the kids were enthralled watching people climb around. It's a very small course in comparison to the outdoor course I've done but still looked like it would be fun for an older kid. 

Additionally, there's a small snack bar that served ice cream and vending machines had sodas so we really had everything we'd need while there! If we had stayed longer we may have needed a more substantial lunch but with so many local restaurants, it really wasn't an issue. 

We loved our visit to Seekonk Grand Prix and will be going back again soon! What would you be most interested to do while there?

xo, Heather