The Calendar Kids Recipes Part 2

Posted on December 31, 2025 by mlenoach

Here are the recipes I made from July to December from ‘The Calendar Kids’ series.

The recipe is actually for watermelon popsicles, but we like our watermelon the old-fashioned way, especially in the summer.

The recipe was for a pencil waffle to celebrate the start of school. I incorporated the idea for winter, so this is our winter version. Complete with snowflake, Christmas tree, snowman, and candy canes.

The recipe was for applesauce. My daughter loved mashing this lol.

The recipe this month was pumpkin muffins. These were delicious.

The recipe this month was a Thanksgiving handprint on your favorite pie.

Last but not least, December’s recipe was for reindeer cookies, using your favorite cookie recipe. They turned out so cute! We loved this.

Overall, the book series was very cute and the recipes were a lot of fun.

Fun at Great Wolf Lodge

Posted on December 30, 2025 by mlenoach

Speaking of looking back, in November, we visited the Great Wolf Lodge in PA. It was a fun, quick getaway.

Loving Disney World

Posted on December 30, 2025 by mlenoach

It’s absolutely frigid in New York today, the perfect time for me to look back on my trip (and warmth) to Disney World in October for my birthday.

I wanted to attend and enjoy the Food and Wine Festival.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Part 1

Posted on December 24, 2025 by mlenoach

I can’t believe it’s already Christmas Eve. Although I’m slightly in denial, I have had a great few weeks celebrating.

Seeing the balloons up close

Posted on November 26, 2025 by mlenoach

I was able to score access to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons while they were getting inflated. It was amazing!! Extra bonus, I got to share the experience with some of my family members.

Masquerade

Posted on October 30, 2025 by mlenoach

I can’t believe Halloween is tomorrow. I feel like I breezed through October! I did start the month right with a fun date night. We ate at Paris Bar inside the Le Meridian Hotel on 57th street and attended the immersive Phantom of the Opera experience, Masquerade.

We had a blast! The food before the show was amazing and I loved the immersive experience.

New Orleans this past February

Posted on August 23, 2025 by mlenoach

We got to spend some quality time in New Orleans before and after our cruise in February. Most of the time was spent walking around and/or eating (which is not a bad thing 😜). This was also not my first time in New Orleans; it will not be the last. Next time, I want to take a Ghost or Voodoo tour and enjoy more nighttime stuff.

Back on the NCL Getaway – February 2025

Posted on August 23, 2025 by mlenoach

One more day until our Disney Cruise! I’m revisiting some of our past cruise vacations to get us pumped and ready to go.

This past February, we enjoyed a 7-day Caribbean cruise on the NCL Getaway. This cruise was memorable for many reasons. We celebrated my husband’s birthday, cruised with friends, and flew to our port this time (instead of leaving from New York). We also stayed at our port location, New Orleans, for a few days (one day before the cruise and a few days after).

This cruise was more relaxed for us. I booked a few things in advance, but kept it flexible to accommodate all our friends. We got the drink package, the wifi package, and the digital photo package. I also paid to decorate the room for my husband’s birthday. My daughter didn’t do the kids’ club this time, but we got some pool time.

It’s definitely a different experience when you go with a group. We made time to explore on our own, but also made time to do things together. I also didn’t pressure myself to do everything. I made a list of what I wanted to do, and we checked it off (in the best way). We are going on our Disney cruise with our family, so I want to set the same expectation.

Some photos of our experiences.

Cruising the MSC Meraviglia – Fall 2024

Posted on August 22, 2025 by mlenoach

Two more days until our Disney Cruise! I’m revisiting some of our past cruise vacations to get us pumped and ready to go.

In October 2024, we enjoyed a 7-day Caribbean cruise on the MSC Meraviglia to celebrate my birthday this time. We learned a lot from our first cruise in February! For our NCL cruise, we waited to book everything on the ship. Frequent cruisers know that booking packages in advance is the way to go; it’s cheaper, and you have more options. So we bought everything in advance! We got the drink and wifi package (worth it to us), we got the specialty dining package, and enjoyed four amazing restaurants. I prebooked excursions, spa treatments, and little goodies throughout our cruise. I even booked a little photo shoot for us. It was all worth it!

We had the best time! Learning from our February cruise, we took advantage of every amenity we could. Our daughter participated in the kids club this time, while my husband and I enjoyed the spa and the nighttime entertainment. We also got to enjoy some shows with our daughter. She slept through one show (lol), but she enjoyed the acrobatic one, in the carousel lounge. My daughter was better potty-trained this time, so we got to take advantage of the pools more. The one negative we experienced was the weather. It definitely wasn’t on our side, and we only made one of our ports, but we made the best of it on the ship. The ship had tons of activities to participate in. We plan on going on another MSC cruise in February 2026!

Celebrating on the Hornblower Atlantica

Posted on July 22, 2025 by mlenoach

I celebrated my cousin’s 40th birthday on the Hornblower Atlantica this past Saturday. It was so much fun! We had the whole boat to ourselves. She had a package with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a buffet. She also had a fun DJ. The best part was catching Manhattan’s Hudson and East River views.