Vacationing
Well, sort of. While we didn't leave home it will probably be the "family vacation" of the summer. I took some time off of work and Carie took some time off from the kids she cares for. At the end of our 5 days I know I felt the vacation exhaustion. While I love to be home with the family and I love to do fun stuff, I'm rather enjoying the down time at work today. By Saturday we'll be going full steam ahead again, I'm sure, and I can't wait.
Saturday afternoon our friends (T & D) and their two children (E & A, not to be confused with our A & E) arrived at our house. The "big" kids (ages 3 & 4) were beyond excited to be reunited. The little kids (14m & 8m) were too young to care much though they did exchange toys with each other. The adults, while excited, were able to control their excitement a little more than the big kids. Saturday afternoon and evening was spent hanging out in the record high temps and humidity while watching the kids thoroughly enjoy the pool. I'm positive that T & D brought the heat with them. They deny it! :)
Sunday morning we were on the move and on a mission to check out the SAC Museum. As we approached the museum, T & D thought their E was going to blow a gasket as there was much excitement over the rockets that lined the front of the museum. It was way cool to see him so excited. Our girls were excited and very much enjoyed the museum, but not quite like E did. After enjoying the museum and grabbing some lunch, we parted briefly for naps and then regrouped late afternoon for the kids to ride bikes and play outside. After all of that the girls still had energy for swimming lessons. They love going to swim lessons! We then stopped for our usual Chinese take out after lessons. This seems to be the routine we have fallen into each week.
Monday, oh Monday. Well, Plan A was to spend the day at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The girls and I are in our car while T, D & kids are in their car. Carie is getting Spencer a morning nap and plans to meet up with us afterwards. Perfect plan! Well, we near the exit to the zoo and suddenly we are in a major traffic jam. We are stopped a solid mile before the exit to the zoo and it appears that all the traffic is heading towards the zoo. I've never seen traffic like this before, at least not headed to the zoo, and it is not looking good. We fired up the cell phones and decided to abandon that plan and came up with a Plan B. Kudos to all of the adults for all of the flexibility and the kids for hanging with us. The Plan B was to pick up Carie and Spencer and head towards the Children's Zoo instead. We were going to do that the next day anyways, so we just switched things around. So we head down the road but the weather isn't looking so good. We pull into town (about a 45min drive) and it starts raining. Of course! We pull off and we present Plan C & D options. Carie calls around to make sure Plan C is truly an option, and it is. So we find some lunch then head to Morrill Hall... an indoor activity, score! We haven't been to Morrill Hall in a very long time and the girls have never been. We were a little concerned that the big kids would be a bit young, but in the end it turned out perfect. The kids loved looking at everything and there were tons of hands on opportunities and an awesome kid’s area. I think we all had a great time. If that wasn't enough, we still managed a trip to the Children's Zoo. The rain had stopped, mostly, and all of the kids were doing awesome so we decided to go for it. The zoo wasn't very busy and the kids had a great time exploring. They were also quite excited about the opportunity to go on the pony and train rides. Spencer had his first pony ride and wasn't sure what to make of it. Thankfully most of the kids (all but Abby) crashed on the ride home. We picked up some dinner and hung out at our place. The kids were able to relax, hang out, and play together.
On Tuesday we attempted the Henry Doorly Zoo again with much success. Traffic was back to normal or less than normal and the weather was absolutely beautiful. All around it was a far better day to spend at the big zoo. Carie stayed back with Spencer again and we were both glad for that opportunity. They joined us in perfect time for a picnic lunch followed by carrousel rides (Spencer's first), train ride, goat petting, gorilla and aquarium viewing. They missed the other fun outdoor attractions but the big kids had a great time and we've got plenty of opportunities to go back. After 5-6 hours at the zoo, it was time to go and attempt some power napping. After rejuvenating we rejoined for some BBQing, hanging out, and firework watching. While Spencer and baby A slept through most of it, the big kids had quite the late night. Ellie still didn't care for the fireworks this year and chose to cuddle up on our bed to watch Dora. Abby and E stuck with it and enjoyed the various neighborhood/driveway shows that were going on. If we were at a big display and farther away from the noise I'm certain that Ellie would have done better but the close up explosions just aren't her thing.
Wednesday we got a bit of a late start. Between all of the activities and the late night the night before, it was a good thing. Our main destination was the Children's Museum. We chose to go to the one that is 45 min from us rather than the one that is 25 min from us because it is just that much cooler of a museum. Their E rode with us, again. The big kids thought it was cool to ride together! We got into town and decided to first check out a little train park in the Haymarket. It was a great place for the kids to get down and walk around a bit before getting some lunch. After lunch we headed straight to the Children's Museum where all of the kids had a blast. Spencer and baby A had a great time playing in the baby area. Abby, Ellie and E had a great time playing with all of the big kid activities. It was really cool to watch the excitement on all of their faces. After a couple of hours it was time to head home and hope for naps en route. We then rejoined each other for dinner where D prepared a delicious meal. Spencer and baby A slept, the big kids played quite nicely together (except the whole "don't touch my body" part), and the adults enjoyed each other's company. After another late night we said our goodbyes. For today our lives return to "normal" as T, D & family begin their journey home.
Pictures soon... as soon as we sift through the several hundred.
Saturday afternoon our friends (T & D) and their two children (E & A, not to be confused with our A & E) arrived at our house. The "big" kids (ages 3 & 4) were beyond excited to be reunited. The little kids (14m & 8m) were too young to care much though they did exchange toys with each other. The adults, while excited, were able to control their excitement a little more than the big kids. Saturday afternoon and evening was spent hanging out in the record high temps and humidity while watching the kids thoroughly enjoy the pool. I'm positive that T & D brought the heat with them. They deny it! :)
Sunday morning we were on the move and on a mission to check out the SAC Museum. As we approached the museum, T & D thought their E was going to blow a gasket as there was much excitement over the rockets that lined the front of the museum. It was way cool to see him so excited. Our girls were excited and very much enjoyed the museum, but not quite like E did. After enjoying the museum and grabbing some lunch, we parted briefly for naps and then regrouped late afternoon for the kids to ride bikes and play outside. After all of that the girls still had energy for swimming lessons. They love going to swim lessons! We then stopped for our usual Chinese take out after lessons. This seems to be the routine we have fallen into each week.
Monday, oh Monday. Well, Plan A was to spend the day at the Henry Doorly Zoo. The girls and I are in our car while T, D & kids are in their car. Carie is getting Spencer a morning nap and plans to meet up with us afterwards. Perfect plan! Well, we near the exit to the zoo and suddenly we are in a major traffic jam. We are stopped a solid mile before the exit to the zoo and it appears that all the traffic is heading towards the zoo. I've never seen traffic like this before, at least not headed to the zoo, and it is not looking good. We fired up the cell phones and decided to abandon that plan and came up with a Plan B. Kudos to all of the adults for all of the flexibility and the kids for hanging with us. The Plan B was to pick up Carie and Spencer and head towards the Children's Zoo instead. We were going to do that the next day anyways, so we just switched things around. So we head down the road but the weather isn't looking so good. We pull into town (about a 45min drive) and it starts raining. Of course! We pull off and we present Plan C & D options. Carie calls around to make sure Plan C is truly an option, and it is. So we find some lunch then head to Morrill Hall... an indoor activity, score! We haven't been to Morrill Hall in a very long time and the girls have never been. We were a little concerned that the big kids would be a bit young, but in the end it turned out perfect. The kids loved looking at everything and there were tons of hands on opportunities and an awesome kid’s area. I think we all had a great time. If that wasn't enough, we still managed a trip to the Children's Zoo. The rain had stopped, mostly, and all of the kids were doing awesome so we decided to go for it. The zoo wasn't very busy and the kids had a great time exploring. They were also quite excited about the opportunity to go on the pony and train rides. Spencer had his first pony ride and wasn't sure what to make of it. Thankfully most of the kids (all but Abby) crashed on the ride home. We picked up some dinner and hung out at our place. The kids were able to relax, hang out, and play together.
On Tuesday we attempted the Henry Doorly Zoo again with much success. Traffic was back to normal or less than normal and the weather was absolutely beautiful. All around it was a far better day to spend at the big zoo. Carie stayed back with Spencer again and we were both glad for that opportunity. They joined us in perfect time for a picnic lunch followed by carrousel rides (Spencer's first), train ride, goat petting, gorilla and aquarium viewing. They missed the other fun outdoor attractions but the big kids had a great time and we've got plenty of opportunities to go back. After 5-6 hours at the zoo, it was time to go and attempt some power napping. After rejuvenating we rejoined for some BBQing, hanging out, and firework watching. While Spencer and baby A slept through most of it, the big kids had quite the late night. Ellie still didn't care for the fireworks this year and chose to cuddle up on our bed to watch Dora. Abby and E stuck with it and enjoyed the various neighborhood/driveway shows that were going on. If we were at a big display and farther away from the noise I'm certain that Ellie would have done better but the close up explosions just aren't her thing.
Wednesday we got a bit of a late start. Between all of the activities and the late night the night before, it was a good thing. Our main destination was the Children's Museum. We chose to go to the one that is 45 min from us rather than the one that is 25 min from us because it is just that much cooler of a museum. Their E rode with us, again. The big kids thought it was cool to ride together! We got into town and decided to first check out a little train park in the Haymarket. It was a great place for the kids to get down and walk around a bit before getting some lunch. After lunch we headed straight to the Children's Museum where all of the kids had a blast. Spencer and baby A had a great time playing in the baby area. Abby, Ellie and E had a great time playing with all of the big kid activities. It was really cool to watch the excitement on all of their faces. After a couple of hours it was time to head home and hope for naps en route. We then rejoined each other for dinner where D prepared a delicious meal. Spencer and baby A slept, the big kids played quite nicely together (except the whole "don't touch my body" part), and the adults enjoyed each other's company. After another late night we said our goodbyes. For today our lives return to "normal" as T, D & family begin their journey home.
Pictures soon... as soon as we sift through the several hundred.
posted by Sonya at 6:03 PM
4 Comments:
Vacation is not a vacation if you don't feel like you need a vacation to recooperate after your vacation.
ROFL!! Sounds like so much fun!
Mere
Sometimes staying at home is a great vacation. Seems to be much less stressful than packing, traveling, unpacking, packing, traveling home and unpacking.
Have fun!
WOW! I'm exhausted just reading about your vacation! I'm glad you enjoyed your time with T&D. :)
It sounds like you has a great time with T&D and the kids had a blast, you had time off from work, what more could you ask for? :)
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