I can do this too. No problem. *cough cough*

I hear this story often from my brother-in-laws. When Daddy Roo got sent to his room as a kid, it wasn’t too bad. See, he was the lucky brother with the LEGOs in his closet. He’d come out of “time out” with a new ship or a skyscraper while his brothers came out from their rooms empty-handed (and a little ticked off I’m sure).

He’s now an architectural designer. Maybe those time-outs weren’t a bad thing after all.

Our kids love playing with LEGOs too. Big Roo is just getting into “big kid” LEGOs while Little Roo is all about the DUPLOS.

We were all pretty stoked to see that the LEGO KidsFest is coming to Raleigh later this week. From October 7-9 at the Raleigh Convention Center, kids can build, play and do just about everything with LEGOs (but eat them).

I must see this in person. Cool, right?

While there’s a TON of activities and things to do at LEGO Kidsfest, I think we each have a part we’ll be most excited about:

• Daddy Roo: the LEGO Model Gallery, which has 40 life-sized models made entirely from LEGO bricks
• Me: the Mystery Mural sounds intriguing, where you help build a piece of a giant mural to help reveal the image
• Big Roo: no question he’ll be stoked to do the Race Ramps, where you build cars and race them down a ramp
• Little Roo: I’m sure he’ll love the DUPLO area, since those bricks are bigger for his itty bitty toddler hands

If you’d like to join me there, tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for children. You can buy the tickets and find more info about the Kidsfest at the official LEGO Kidsfest website.

Disclaimer: I was given free tickets to attend the event. We’re headed there on Sunday and I can’t wait!

We finally did it. After almost three years living in North Carolina, we FINALLY made the trek to Asheboro to visit the North Carolina Zoo. The kids have been to zoos before but not the one closest to us. Not sure why we waited so long. As you’ll see, the kids had a rockin’ good time.

I mean how can they not when you get close to animals like this?

This is my favorite shot of the day. Helllooooo zoom lens.Ah, I just love elephants.

After we started walking through the zoo, it was apparent we’d be doing a LOT of walking. We only brought a stroller for Little Roo so we switched him into a Bjorn (yes, he’s still small enough for it!) so he could see the animals better and then let Big Roo sit in the stroller when he needed. That worked (for a while).

We strolled through the swampy around and glanced down at the gorgeous water lilies.

Then we watched the seals swim circles around their pool. Big Roo got a kick out of watching them. He also got a glimpse at how he stacked up to bears.

We checked out the aviary, too. I didn’t get great bird pictures but I’d see cool shadows cross my path as the birds flew overhead. Luckily, flamingos are lazy and tropical plants don’t move.

The kids enjoyed watching all sorts of animals, including seeing the chimps get their treats: a Kong filled with frozen juice! Doesn’t that one dude behind the log look so chill?

One of the highlights was seeing the zebra and giraffe. There were tons of them and they weren’t hiding from us either. The kids loved pointing at them (especially Little Roo). I’m sure he was pondering if they were black with white stripes or white with black stripes. Hardy har.

Remember what I said about the Bjorn and the one stroller working for a while? Well, we finally broke down and rented another stroller. They were out of singles so we sported this sassy number. I don’t think the kids minded though, do you?

And what’s not to love about playing around in giant eggs?

We paid a little extra for the “extras.” A ride on Dora and Diego’s 4D Adventure (Big Roo’s fave), a pass into Acacia Station to see the giraffes up close and a carousel ride (Little Roo’s fave). Little Roo was mesmerized by how he went up and down, then gave a hearty clap at the end. *cute*

While the kids were kinda indifferent, I was excited to see the Sonora Desert part of the museum. I got all nostalgic about cactus and stuff (I lived in Phoenix for five years). Hello prickly pear, agaves and saguaros! Big Roo was excited to see what the place he was born looked like.

Finally, what happens after you walk around the zoo for six hours with a four year old and a toddler? Well, the four year old STILL has energy to play on their cool playground while the toddler crashes for a much-needed nap.

Don’t you just love watching the kidlets enjoy the zoo? Although them being wild and whiny would have made good blog fodder, it just didn’t happen. They were amazing (and we were lucky). Even through the searing heat, hauling enough crap for a one-week vacation and smelling like sunscreen, we had a blast. Next time though, I’ll be sure to take more pictures. *wink wink*

For four years now, Mother’s Day means, among other obvious things, hiking.

Y’all probably think that I’m super gung-ho and we shuffle out the door at 6 am. Oh noooooo. Not me. I start off every Mother’s Day by sleeping in while Daddy Roo simultaneously makes breakfast while making sure the kids don’t destroy something (welcome to MY world, buddy).

BUT we do get around to a hike every Mother’s Day. We started the tradition in Arizona when Big Roo was just a toddler. NOW look who’s a toddler: Little Roo.

This year we hit Umstead Park, only 15 minutes from our house but green, pretty and with water for the kids (and dog) to marvel. Here are my little hikers:

Note: Someone *cough- Daddy Roo- cough* should have told me that my headband makes my forehead look bulging. I’m really NOT happy about that picture.

We thought rain was imminent but lucky for us, the mild weather kept us cool. And the light perfect for cool nature-y pictures.

Big Roo even got to carry our old Camelbak for quick access to water… until he decided it was a pain to do anything other than have fun (see who’s carrying it on the way back? PIC: far right)

And Big Roo can’t resist giving his flashy sorta-smile when I break out the camera. Doesn’t he just look like trouble?

I’m adamant about getting a picture with the kids each Mother’s Day but my forehead pic above (and sans shower) just wasn’t cutting it. Instead, we popped out to the deck for a couple of shots before bed. Yep, Big Roo was in his PJs already. Better late than never though, right?

How was your Mama’s Day?

Saturday I headed to downtown Raleigh with the kidlets in hopes of enjoying the Planet Earth Celebration before the rain came. Little did I know “the rain” would become a tornado later that afternoon but I told that story yesterday if you’re interested.

Ready for the downpour. Not ready for the tornado.

Ahem. Back to my story. Daddy Roo was at work that afternoon (gotta hate those deadlines) so I braved a public event with two kids ON MY OWN. [insert patting my own back here]

That’s why I thought it was fitting that the tagline for the event said “RESPECT YOUR MOTHER.” They meant Earth but really, it was also a subliminal message to my kids.

Raleigh’s Planet Earth Celebration was put on by Burt’s Bees (I know you’re jealous because they’re local) and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (which if you’ll remember, Big Roo had his critterific birthday party there two days he got a baby brother for his birthday).

Before I get to the “urban tumbleweed” bowling, Cardboard Kingdom and the Trash March, I really have to tell you that there was an entire tent full of Burt’s Bees stuff that was up to 80 percent off. Isn’t that crazy? Judging by the line we saw (can’t see it in the picture), I’m guess most people thought it was crazy good too.

The Planet Earth Celebration was all about teaching both adults and kids about sustainability. What better way than to blend up smoothies just from pedaling a bike? Or to make art out of trash?

The festival included lots of vendors, from sustainable construction companies to GROW (Greater Raleigh Outdoors and Wildlife). Big Roo was, of course, interested in “doing stuff.” First off? Tumbleweed bowling.

Urban tumbleweed to be exact. What are urban tumbleweeds? Plastic bags. More than 11,000 plastic bags are used in the U.S. every second. Isn’t that nuts?

So, a lady from the museum has been working on this ball for over three years! Big Roo was so psyched to bowl. This kid knows strikes, split strikes and spares from his adventures on Wii bowling and our plastic bowling set. And guess what? He got a STRIIIIKE!

After tearing him away from watching others try to get a strike, we headed down to something he found equally as cool.

Cardboard Kingdom.

This three-building kingdom (with tunnels to get from one to another) was built by the ever-awesome Paperhand Puppet Intervention. I first saw their work on our trip to Saxapahaw last year. Made of cardboard boxes, this was every kid’s dream. I mean, how could a plain ole refrigerator box complete with this?! Even Little Roo got in on the action.

Again, I had to tear Big Roo away, which meant chasing him through the tunnels with Little Roo tucked under my arm. Luckily I managed to wrestle him outta there just in time to walk down the street and see this:

I mean, look at the Roo faces. Mesmerized! And with good reason. The Trash March was full of costumes, noise and lots of puppets! People wore trash-turned-art and my favorite was the Chinese-dragon-style “puppet” made of things like styrofoam containers.

All in all, the boys and I had a rockin’ good time at the Planet Earth Celebration. Not only was it fun, but Big Roo could digest the its meaning in little chunks. We had a chat about littering, about plastic bags and things like that. The celebration made it easy to teach him these things. I was totally impressed. My only regret was that I didn’t get to explore even more. That’s what next year’s for, right?

Disclosure: I was given a boat load of cool Burt’s Bees goodies but was asking for nothing in return. However, this event was so freakin’ awesome that they must’ve known I couldn’t resist writing about it.

If your wee ones are anything like mine, I imagine that shopping is usually met with fierce resistance.

I doubt that will happen if you go shopping at American Eagle’s newest brick-and-mortar store, 77kids. In fact, you’ll probably have a hard time getting the kids OUT of the store.

77kids and The Motherhood invited a group of mommy bloggers to the new Raleigh store at Crabtree Valley Mall, not only to check the store out but to also help promote a new charity drive to raise money for WakeMed Children’s Hospital (just by playing on the computer and making snowflakes I might add).

Before I get to snowflake making, you really have to see little about the store AND the clothes because both are seriously cool.

Most kids stores I’ve been to are no different than grown-up stores. Sometimes you’ll get a TV to keep the kids occupied if you’re lucky. That’s not how 77kids rolls.

The store itself is a cool kid’s paradise. They can walk up to the large flat panel screens to scratch records and get their picture taken. Not only that, they can draw on their picture just by using their fingers. There are bean bags to lounge on, images on the floor that move when you jump on them and a mirror thing that Little Roo couldn’t get enough of.

77kids thought of everything when it comes to making your shopping experience easier. For example, the dressing rooms have wooden windows the kids can open to talk to you or pass a different size through. Genius! They also have restrooms, which any mother of a preschooler can appreciate.

There’s a chalkboard in the check-out line and a prize stand too!

As for their clothes, they are hip, SUPER soft and FUN! They also guarantee their clothes through 77 times in the wash or get your money back.

The Magic Window Your Kids Will Never Want to Leave

Like I said, 77kids knows details. On the outside of the store, the kids can race two birdies in a downhill ski race. Just push a button and watch them go! Prying kids away from it is another story.

If you live in Raleigh (or anywhere near Raleigh), you have to make it to Crabtree Valley Mall to visit 77kids. (If you aren’t near one of their seven locations, you can still enjoy their stylin’ clothes by shopping online.)

Show Your Kids What Holiday Giving Is All About

77kids launched their Wish4Snow campaign to raise money for nine children’s hospitals, including Raleigh’s WakeMed Children’s Hospital.

In stores you can donate 77 cents (or more!) and receive a “you done good” bumper sticker.

Online head on over to the Wish-4-Snow site at 77kids and design your own snowflake. You can even play a fun “catch the snowflake” game.

The goal?  To make a total of 100,000 snowflakes! If that happens, 77kids will make an additional $25,000 donation to the children’s hospitals on top of the customer donations each store collects during the month!

You can make as many snowflakes as you want – not just one! It’s the perfect opportunity to teach kids about the spirit of giving this holiday season.

Plus, creating a snowflake makes you eligible to win a $77 gift card from 77kids (one gift card given away daily) and
enters you to win the ultimate grand prize: an awesome block party for you and 77 pals!

The Awesomeness Continues

Stop back by tomorrow for a 77 Kids $50 gift card giveaway! In the meantime, go make yo-self a snowflake and be sure to share it with friends for a good cause.

Disclaimer: This post is part of a campaign I’m working on with The Motherhood and 77kids. I received a stipend and gift card for participating.

A couple of weekends ago, Daddy Roo and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Asheville. The highlight? Visiting the Biltmore Estate, the largest house in North America.

Are you guys enjoying my guests so far? Two more to introduce you to!

Today’s guest blogger is Suzanne from Pretty*Swell.

Suzanne and I love to talk about blogging, kids and cool design over big amounts of Pad Thai. I met Suzanne through my friend Heather (who you’ll meet tomorrow) and we clicked right away. She’s an amazing writer and has an unnatural (but hilarious) love for bacon.

***

I am SO excited to hang out here at adventuroo today! Mel is just an awesome girl, and I have loved this blog since the moment I laid eyes on that wacky little raccoon (squirrel? bear?) in the banner. She is one creative, smart, funny mama (shall I go on?), and I am so glad we’ve become friends in real life.

When Mel suggested that we write about the outdoors, the very first thing that popped into my head was BEACH.

I absolutely love the beach.

Always have. Always will.

And I really hope that one day I’ll be able to live on the coast.

So it goes without saying that I could not wait to take my daughter to the beach for the very first time. To dip her toes in the ocean and see her reaction to ALL THAT SAND.

She was only five months old on her first trip to the North Carolina coast, not yet able to sit on her own, so we took turns holding her up in this little makeshift tub. Filling that basin with seawater became as much a part of our routine each day as folding open beach chairs or twisting the umbrella stand down into the sand.

She loved it.

I will always treasure the memories of that trip for a reason that I think any new mom can relate to: we slept.

For the first time in the five months since my daughter was born, she slept through the night. Every night! She took epic naps and fell asleep often on the beach. I was giddy.

Fueled by the desperation of sleep-deprivation, I vowed that we were never leaving. Something about the beach was magic. The baby was sleeping! Holy crap!

Was it the salt air? The rhythmic cadence of the waves? Perhaps it was the rental company’s crib, which I contemplated stealing. See: desperate.

Whatever the magic was, I wanted to bottle it up and take it home by the caseload.

But that’s just the thing about the beach.

You can’t put your finger on just one thing.

The air, the water, the soft sand, even the squawking gulls. And, oh yes, the fried shrimp and fresh-from-the-boat flounder. Let’s not forget those.

Everything about the beach is what makes it wonderful.

I can’t wait to get back.

If you’ve ever started talking bloggy stuff to your non-bloggy friends, it’s usually met with blank stares, nods of indifference and maybe even a “you do that, why?” (Okay so I have a few friends who “get it” but that doesn’t help my point, so shush.)

Having a bloggy bond with someone is a fast ticket to friendship. I discovered this a few months ago when I started writing for Triangle Mamas and got introduced to some fabulous local bloggers! A few months in and we’ve now got a local group of about 15 of us who get together every so often to laugh, eat, drink and just be girls. Ahem, women.

This past Wednesday, we left the kiddos and hubbies and headed to a hip new consignment boutique in Raleigh called Dress. Pam the owner is fabulous and I squealed a little at the clothes being sorted by color (dork alert). Dress. has a mix of new and used designer clothes and accessories. You should have seen us ladies swooping in on this stuff.

After a little shopping, we headed over to Busy Bee Cafe, ranked in the top 150 beer bars by Draft Magazine. Not to mention their food is EXCELLENT.

The sad (yet GREAT) thing is we were so busy chatting it up that I neglected to get any good pictures of us actual bloggers. Plus my flash was being wonky so the ones I did get were blurry. But you can meet them anyway:

• @allthingsfadra from All Things Fadra
• @motherhoodnme from Motherhood and Me
• @sueandfadra from Lives Less Ordinary (new blog from the two gals above)
• @IlinaP from Dirt & Noise
• @AndreaUpdyke from LilKidThings
• @followlinus from follow linus
• @pretty_swell from pretty*swell
• @keljernigan from Monkey Man
• @sweetbabboo from my sweet babboo
• @bkeepsushonest from The B Keeps Us Honest
• @CarolinaMama from Carolina Mama
• @heirtoblair from the heir to BLAIR
• @convertiblelife from my convertible life
• @rjhuwe from The Huwe Boys

What about your town or city? Do you know any bloggers in your area? Do you get together?

What is happiness? Well, I try to explain it through pictures over at Pretty*Swell’s blog today.

Suzanne from Pretty*Swell is an awesome blogger with a love for etsy, motherhood and all things bacon! She was even a top 10 finalist in the Mabel’s Labels BlogHer contest a couple months ago. I’ve hung out with her a few times already (we met through Heather at Follow Linus) and I totally heart her!

Suzanne is on a week-long vacay (LUCKY!) so I’m guest blogging along with the ladies behind Silence & Noise,  Slow & Steady Wins the Race, The Heir to Blair, Harper’s Happenings and Follow Linus.

Dang, I’m in good company.

Click on over to Pretty*Swell and read all about it!

Want to teach your kids about the environment? Well, if you’re in North Carolina like me, there’s a great resource you’ve gotta bookmark.

The website of the North Carolina Office of Environmental Education is chock-full of useful information. The site is a little overwhelming but here are a few gems that I’ll be referencing often:

Find an environmental center
The directory includes parks, nature centers, kids museums, science museums and more. You can search by location and even narrow it down to places with swimming, bike trails, hiking trails and other amenities.

Find an event
Search by location to find cool events like After School Nature Clubs, Birding for Preschoolers, Hike with a Ranger and Archery Basics for Kids.

Seriously, I’d never find all of this stuff on my own.

Just for Parents
This page has Go Play Outside How-To guides for some easy outside exploration, an Eco-Friendly Parent brochure and even a database to find summer camps, track out programs and family camps.

Get exploring!