Bluum July 2013 Box- Social Butterfly

This month, Bluum made both of my boys happy. I loved the edibles in this month's box, and the book was great too!

Little Learners Press & Play Sound Book- This book is great! 45 sounds, and something for everyone. There are firefighters, teachers, ballerinas, builders and many others. The buttons aren't TOO loud, like some other books (Thomas, I'm looking at you)- so it's great for the car!

Paul Frank Monkey - We have a white monkey, now we have a brown one too. Little J is amassing a collection of these guys!

Kelly Toy Bumblebee Travel Pillow - Mayhem loved this, he now sleeps with it. His animal collection is getting a bit out of control...and Little J likes it too!

Nature's Bakery - Fig Bar - Whole Wheat Raspberry - These reminded me of Fig Newtons, which I ate as a child. I wasn't sure if Mayhem would like these, but he did! I tried a bite too, and I must say- they are delicious!

Sneakz Organics - Chocolate Milkshake - A full serving of vegetables, and doesn't have to be refrigerated (but tastes better if it has been!). This is a great idea for kids who love chocolate milk, and won't eat vegetables. What they don't know, won't hurt them!

Once again, another successful month! Thank you, Bluum!

Mayhem's Vacation

While the rest of our family had a completely normal vacation experience, I felt that Mayhem's experience deserved it's own post. He loves his Uncle John. Boys will be boys, and these two... birds of a feather.

Spending some time with Uncle John

Uncle John lives in NYC, and Mayhem lives in California. So the usual 'bonding time' is over FaceTime, as sad as that is. So Mayhem wanted to spend as much time with John as possible... 

Yes, he owns more than one shirt... I swear...

They won boardwalk games together, they swam together, they even slept in the same room. So of course, when the time came for Mayhem to visit the Emergency Room... guess who he wanted to come with us? Yep, Uncle John...

This kid, I swear, how many ER trips is this now?!

Oh, right- why did he have to go to the ER? Well, he developed swimmer's ear on Friday. He's pretty tough, but he wouldn't let us touch his ear and I knew right away... something was really wrong. So we located the closest medical facility that was open... and off to the ER we went. Grandpa drove us, since I'm not familiar with the highways in NJ. Mayhem was a perfect patient, probably because he's been to the ER several times before! 

Our trip to the ER left us with a diagnosis of swimmer's ear, and antibiotic ear drops. Friday night, he barely slept. He woke up several times, with a fever... and in quite a bit of pain. I was able to soothe him back to get a few hours of sleep. But Saturday, we were supposed to fly home. I was NOT thinking that would be a great idea with an ear infection. My poor sister flew with an ear infection once, and her ear drum burst! She said it was the most painful experience of her life, and she's been through a lot! So, back to the ER we went... and this time we got a prescription for antibiotics. This seemed to work, since we got through our Sunday morning flight pretty smoothly! 

Have you ever had to visit the Emergency Room on your vacation?

June 2013 Bluum Box: I Am A Big Kid Now

I received our June Bluum box prior to leaving for vacation, and I was happy it came! I used several of the items for our trip, including the Happy Family munchies and the sippy cups on the plane.

Happy Family - Creamies- Carrot, Mango & Orange ($3.59) Mayhem loved these. I was glad to have them as a healthy snack on the plane. It was lightweight, and I loved that they are made with coconut milk. A great item to have around the house for an active two year old!

Happy Family - Happy Munchies - Rice Cakes Blueberry & Beet ($3.00) We weren't so fond of these, but I'm sure there are other flavors that Mayhem would like.

The First Years - Take And Toss 4 Sippy Cups ($3.28) I love Take and Toss items. Toddlers chew on, lose, and general destroy sippy cups in my experience. With this price tag, you don't have to worry as much and when you're done you can recycle them. It's simple. And I bring one of these on the plane, so you don't have to hold your toddler's apple juice for them. No spills!

Banz - Banz Kidz ($15.00) My kids always wanted to grab my sunglasses off my head when we're outside together. I was hoping these would prevent that. They didn't, but they are cute!

Little Learners - I Can Do Everything! ($10.00) A collection of several board books for the curious little one, who can't sit still for you to read a whole book!

Century Novelty - Beach Ball ($2.00) Fun for the pool, or the backyard!

StriVectin-EV - Get Even Brightening Serum ($22.00) For momma, a little boost for your complexion.

I love the personalized, age-appropriate goodies in our Bluum box this month. A happy customer!

What did you get in your Bluum box this month?

Jersey Shore Vacay 2013

Once a year, we head cross country to visit my family. My parents hosted a 4th of July picnic, and  both my mom's family and my dad's family came together. It was a full week this year, longer than we've stayed in the past. This meant we got to head into New York City, which was really fun!

We arrived into New Jersey late Saturday, my sister and brother picked us up at the airport and we headed to our parents' house. We relaxed Sunday, and spent lots of time in the pool. On Monday, the hubby, my sister, my brother and I headed into NYC. My siblings both live there, and we got to visit both of their apartments and experience a little bit of New York. It was pouring raining, so we didn't exactly get to tour much. But we did get to walk the HighLine. I loved it!

www.highline.org The HighLine was wonderful.
So much history, and an amazing reuse with great views!

Tuesday we went to the American Museum of Natural History. Apparently, so did everyone else in NYC. It was raining, so people were flocking to indoor locations. We enjoyed the short time we were there, checking out the dinosaur exhibits in particular. Then we headed back to the Jersey Shore.

www.amnh.org Little J had so much fun looking at the dinosaurs!

We had our fair share of rain while we were there, and when it wasn't raining- it was humid! Californians aren't used to that... but we managed.

Sea Girt, NJ in the rain... 

We saw fireworks for the 4th, on my parents front lawn. Pretty convenient!

Watching fireworks with Daddy!

We also made it to the Point Pleasant boardwalk, which I was very curious to see after Hurricane Sandy. It looked fantastic! You could see patches of new boardwalk, and old. I was happy that they were able to get it back in business so quickly. Little J wanted a minion from Despicable Me, so we spent lots of money and effort to get him one!

Jacob and his minion

Mayhem also won big! Uncle John helped...

I won!

All in all, we had a great trip. Mayhem tried to sabotage our return to California. I think that story deserves its own post! More on that tomorrow...