"Stay-cation" day 1

Marc and I got to thinking how the last time we had gone on an actual vacation was shortly after Andrew was born.  We also have been feeling the NEED to have a vacation - like desperately.  We have been in project, life, work, and survival mode for way too long.  And though we knew couldn't afford to go far or be gone long for a few reasons we decided to do a sort of 2 day 'stay-cation'.  The best days that worked were a Monday and Tuesday because Marc would not lose out on too many appointments and because it was not many places 'busy' days things were a little cheaper (and turned out to be less crowded) as well.

So we made a plan, booked a hotel and kept the entire thing secret from the kids for 2 weeks.  It was a lot of fun.  I packed their clothes and everything we would need without them even being aware.  Monday morning I finished packing, filled a cooler with food for picnic lunches and snacks and Marc got it in the van without them even being aware.  We then told them to grab jackets, shoes and one stuffed animal and get buckled in the van.  We sill didn't tell them where we were going - even though they kept guessing and begging to know. We just drove and drove and drove until we reached our first destination which Rachel excitedly read on the sign.

The Museum of Natural Curiosity.

This is a place we had heard about for while and wanted to take the kids.  To say that everyone was excited would be a big understatement. There were so many amazing things to explore, touch, see and experience while there.  We ended up spending 4.5 hours there - if we didn't have more things planned for the day I'm sure we would have stayed until closing time. 

Some of our favorite areas were:

The sand art room.

   

The magic room.

   

The movie making room, Lego room and learning about all things motion.

  

And all over there were these cute little doors the kids would lift open and find a different surprise inside.



We absolutely LOVED the water works room.  It was like one huge water table inside.

   

The Rainforest room was our second favorite.  It was all things climbing jumping and exploring. I even attempted the rope bridges. I can say I will never do that again 24 weeks pregnant.

 
 

After playing we headed out to see a 3D Deep Sea Adventure movie. It was all about a man who built his own submarine and went 7 miles under the ocean - the furthest any known human being has gone.  He discovered over 400 new species from his voyage.  Because we went on a Monday we had the entire theater to ourself!  It was totally awesome, and strange.

 

Then we went out to dinner at a new-to-us restaurant, JCW's.  Totally delicious and SO MUCH FOOD!  We ended up taking a ton of left overs back to the hotel with us.  At the hotel we got settled then went swimming in the pool - and we had the pool all to ourselves.



After swimming we gave the kids a bath, watched a little Full House, read scriptures, said prayers and tucked everyone into bed. Andrew was super worn out and was NOT happy that I wanted a picture of them all in one bed. No they didn't all sleep in one bed - could you imagine the disaster that would have created?