The Little Mermaid

The Pleasure Guild of Nationwide Children's Hospital put on their 61st annual production, Disney's The Little Mermaid, over the weekend! The kids and I were lucky to attend with Nana and little Olivia. It was such a wonderful show! 

Ariel, King Triton's youngest daughter, wishes to pursue the human Prince Eric in the world above, bargaining with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to trade her tail for legs. But the bargain is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her colorful friends, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull and Sebastian the crab to restore order under the sea. This fishy fable will capture your heart with its irresistible songs, including "Under the Sea," "Kiss the Girl" and "Part of Your World."

Cecilia's favorite Disney princess just so happens to be Ariel so she was on cloud 9! If I had to guess, this is probably why Nana thought to purchase tickets a few months ago. Really, it isn't surprising that Ceci (pronounced CC...we never intended for her to be anything other than Cecilia so when people started calling her C-C we just shortened the first part. I really wish I gave this some thought a decade ago and went with CeeCee. I will blame first-year parent exhaustion but I really didn't think a nickname would stick.) I digress. It isn't surprising that our drama-filled, lover of music, and the one always pushing the boundaries has a favorite princess who loves to sing and is also pushing the boundaries...oh, and she wears a bikini so that's a win in Ceci's book. A match made in heaven! 

The actress who played Ariel was only 17 years old! She had a beautiful voice and was fun to watch on stage. What was most surprising was that she held her own on stage with the famous Nina West who I was thrilled to finally see perform! Nina West as Ursula the Sea Monster was perfection! 

We grabbed lunch at Conadado before heading to the theater. There are not a lot of options for dining downtown near the theaters that I consider kid-friendly that are open on a Saturday afternoon. This was not our first choice but it ended up being a good one. Our kiddos love a good taco and guacamole! 

The Palace Theater is a smaller theater compared to the Ohio Theater a couple blocks away. While it is beautiful, it just doesn't hold a candle to the elegance that is the Ohio Theater. I did adore the sea blue color of the ceiling. This is one of my favorite colors and I am working to incorporate more of this color palate into our home. 

The Pleasure Guild is a volunteer organization focused on raising money for Nationwide Children's Hospice and Palliatative Centers. I love that we got to see an amazing performance in the historic and beautiful Palace Theater all while giving back to a wonderful cause. 

We are already looking forward to next year's performance of Mama Mia! 

First Day of School!

It is back to school for the Dodd sisters! It was a fun summer but we I am looking forward to a more structured routine. And Auggie is thrilled to have me to himself again! 

I am happy to report that the first day at their new school was a success! The girls had great days, loved meeting new friends and teachers. The parents were so friendly and happy to see new faces. We even learned that one classmate lives in our neighborhood, another classmate is the child of our high school classmate and a few friends are from camp! 

Another plus, school is much, much closer than before! Yippee! No doubt we miss our friends from Wellington and love the school but this is simply a better fit at this time in our life. Simple being the key. 

Cecilia Elizabeth - age 7 - 2nd Grade

 Frances Ruth - age 5 - Kindergarten

 Why is it so difficult to get a nice picture of all three? :) 

It will be your turn soon enough, little buddy! Too soon for this mama!

Hope your everyone had great first days too! 

xo,

Stephanie 

Weekend Recap!

We had a great last weekend of summer vacation! I hope this weather continues far into September and October. Wishful thinking, I know!

We made this weekend an extra long one to cap off a fun and memorable summer! This is the first summer I have not worked full-time or worked on a client project so that I could focus on a summer with the kids. It was wonderful!

On Thursday, we made a visit to the Columbus Zoo. Our kids love the zoo which never disappoints! Ceci's best friend met went with us which was even more fun. They had not seen each other since the beginning of summer and were thrilled to be reunited. If you have not been to the Columbus Zoo, you must! It was simply one of the best. 

 On Friday, Dan and I took Ceci on her birthday date. We gave her the option to have a birthday party with friends or to spend the day with Mommy and Daddy. She jumped on the idea of having us to herself for an entire day doing her favorite activities! I admit that it was way easier and more fun for us too! 

 Her first request was a round of golf! 

  

We love having a course in our neighborhood!

She requested Mexican for lunch! Then she made her first stop at Justice. It was a dream come true for her and torture for me! Yikes! It is just not my style for little girls. We were able to compromise and found a few cute items. 

Of course, she needed a mani/pedi before dinner!

Ceci requested sushi for dinner which is her favorite! She loved having an adult dinner with us.

Jeni's for dessert! She was exhausted and requested we head home soon after. 

We had a great day and loved celebrating Ceci!

Saturday and Sunday were a little more low key. We went to an open house for school on Saturday and met the teachers and some other families. On Sunday, we hit up the pool one last time. We decided that we need to go back to having a membership at a pool that opens Memorial Day and closes Labor Day not with the school year. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

xo,

Stephanie 

Our week at HHI

Summer vacation 2015 has come and gone! 

We enjoyed a sunny, hot week on the beaches of Hilton Head Island, SC after a couple days in Charleston. We spent the week catching waves, making sand castles, riding our bicycles and relaxing. Well, relaxing as much as you can with three kiddos! For the first time in many, many years, I did take a book to the beach AND I read it! 

Can this be my view every day?  

 Wondering how I was able to read a book with a toddler? This helped along with naps on the beach.

This little girl couldn't get enough of the ocean and "surfing" on her boogie board.

 If I were an interior designer, this would be my inspiration! I need to live someplace that has palm trees and spanish moss. And warm weather year round.

 Ready for a morning bike ride. He did not leave my side most of the trip which was the complete opposite of his oldest sister who was too busy with her cousins to need mommy!  

 This was the vacation of the "sparkly eye toy" aka Beanie Boos. They were everywhere and the girls wanted them all! 

 Evening crabbing. 

 We had some amazing food in HHI! We visited our usual favorites and found a couple new spots that we loved. Skull Creek Boathouse is hands-down our favorite place to visit in HHI. The food is amazing and so is the ambiance. We stopped here when we got into town for lunch and sat outside. After our drive from Charleston, it was good to enjoy a cold drink and kick off our beach week! 

Who wouldn't love this view? 

Entertainment included. 

 Tuna three ways - I dream about this meal! Amazing. 

We almost always go to Skull Creek twice during our visit. Trip #2 was less than perfect (understatement!) - as we were walking in a thunderstorm hit making the outside unavailable, creating a 3+ hour wait, and making us very wet. Thank goodness the drinks were flowing and the company was fun! The kids were troopers and still had a great time! 

Another favorite is Santa Fe Cafe. How beautiful is the painted dessert soup presentation? It tastes just as good. 

 We, also, tried a new restaurant that we LOVED called Poseidon. The food was so, so good and it is across the street from our plantation. It is owned by the same company that owns Skull Creek so we weren't surprised it was delish. The restaurant has a decent size indoor area and a large outside seating area along with a big bar. It is covered with fans and TVs. Upstairs is a 21+ bar and there is a raw bar. It is located across the street from the new Shelter Cove community park. I enjoyed the pickled beet salad and seafood bisque - both were wonderful and big portions. Other things around the table that got rave reviews were the fish and chips, smoked fish dip and mussels. 

And I couldn't end this post without giving a big THANK YOU shout out to my in-laws for making it happen! This year's beach vacation was extra special because we celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a delicious dinner at our beach house prepared by Downtown Catering. If you are in the area and want to host a dinner party, I highly recommend them. The staff was easy to work with, they had the best menus (in my opinion), and were the most affordable.

Auggie was not happy when we told him he could not have a cupcake before dinner! We all got a good laugh out of his reaction. 

I am going to do a separate post about our trip to Charleston. So many good things to mention and share!  

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and making lots of memories! Have a great week! 

xo,
Stephanie 

Weekend Recap!

We had another busy weekend! It was a weekend full of great memories and big celebrations. 

On Friday, Ceci's 1st Grade class hosted a Mother's Day Tea. They served us tea, lemonade and homemade cookies. Each child then read a poem they wrote for their Mom. So sweet and such a wonderful idea by their teachers! 

My favorite first grader!

Friday evening, our niece was confirmed. I still cannot believe she was just a year old the first time I met her! I cannot say much about the Mass because I spent most of it chasing a very active (and grumpy!) toddler outside. 

We were able to capture a picture of all the Dodd girls! Even my SIL from NJ flew in for the weekend!

On Saturday evening, we celebrated my FIL's 75th birthday! We had a delicious meal and sat around for almost three hours eating, drinking and laughing. Thank goodness for private rooms so the kiddos could run around! We missed having the rest of the NJ family with us but look forward to seeing them this summer.

Hope everyone has a productive and enjoyable week! 

xo,

Stephanie