Our Family "Stay-cation"

Fall break was upon us. The kids had 3 days off school and we were ready for a little family vacation. We tossed around several ideas but all of them involved either too much money, too much time in a car, or too much driving. Then we came up with the perfect solution...a "stay-cation". We wouldn't actually leave the house (or the state) but we would play hard, eat lots of ice-cream, and still sleep in our own beds at night. Husband and I consulted the kids...each one of them got to plan a day and amazingly enough, it was pretty unanimous. All they wanted was one night in a hotel with a swimming pool. Who knew you could satisfy 3 kids for the mere price of a 2-star hotel and a little pool?? That's my kind of economy.

So we started our adventure.

Thursday we began our stay-cation with a bang...hubby made pancakes with all manner of assorted mix-ins...bananas, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup...you name it, he can figure out how to incorporate it into a pancake. We then packed some snacks, made a lunch, and headed off for the zoo! The weather was perfect, the new carousel was open for riding, and the animals were relatively active. Especially the tiger...we sat and watched him chew on a raw femur bone for a long time. What could be more fun or animalistic than that?

After the zoo, we headed home for a little relaxation. Hubby took the 3 kids out to choose some ice-cream for dessert...they came home with 3 different containers. Apparently they couldn't agree on just ONE flavor and since we were on "stay-cation", hubby just let them each get their flavor. I thought the choices were very telling...JC chose lime sherbet, MC chose rootbeer float, and HC chose the pinkest bubble gum you've ever seen. We ate ourselves silly and watched a movie. Perfect. MY kind of vacation.

Next day, we headed out a little further from home. We drove "up north"...the furthest our children have been in this state (Just to clarify...our children have done lots of traveling and have even been OUT of the state...we've just never taken them north before). We stopped to tour Grandma and Grandpa Green's new apartment...my favorite moment was when Grandma asked the 3 kids who liked teddy bears. Well the boys were way too cool to admit they liked something as cute and cuddly as a teddy bear so Grandma calmly took HC's hand and led her in to the next room where she explained that HC could chose a little bear from the basket and take it home with her. The boys watched the whole scene very quietly but with very large eyes. Next thing I know, I hear the boys in the next room desperately trying to apologize to Grandma and explain WHY they had originally said what they did but how she had misunderstood what they meant. I loved listening to the boys beg and grovel and suspected Grandma was enjoying the whole thing as well. Eventually she let them off of the hook and they got to choose a bear as well. Funny thing...they have clutched and cuddled those bears since we left their house. Being cool can be such a conflict!

We continued driving until we reached our next destination...the Aerospace Museum. This is a museum with really cool, really big, really neat airplanes and helicopters and missiles and all manner of "flying" stuff. The kids loved looking at things for about 20 minutes and then I suspect it started to all look the same to them. A little bit of whining ensued until we stumbled upon the gold mine...a whole section filled with hands-on, try-on, play-with things to do! We spent a good chunk of time exploring things in this wing of the museum.

I spent a good deal of time launching the space shuttle. I kept waiting for the little computer to ask who the dummy was trying to figure out the launch sequence but it was very polite and gave me plenty of time to figure things out. I can't tell you the thrill I felt when the shuttle finally launched...not enough of a good feeling to make me want to go back to college and take math and science but satisfying enough to make me feel competent. It was a fun museum.

Next stop...La Quinta Inn. Like I said...nothing but the best (and cheapest possible) for this little family. We quickly got on our swimming suits and headed downstairs to swim and frolic and play. The kids loved it! As soon as we were saturated, we headed back upstairs to bathe, change and head out for some dinner. I couldn't believe how hungry we were. We sat down to a Mexican feast and hubby and I had to laugh at how fast the kids were devouring their food. We actually had to go back for some chips and salsa...and popsicles...and cookies on the way home. Stay-cations sure can make you hungry!

Next morning we dined on the continental breakfast (JC was disappointed because they didn't have any sausage...what is a stay-cation without bacon or sausage!), watched a little Cartoon Network and Disney Channel (real stay-cation treats when all you have at home is basic cable), a little more swimming, and we were off. This time we headed to a fabulous children's museum called the Treehouse. It was so very, very, very fun! One of the best children's museums I have ever been to. We ended up spending about 4 hours there and only left because it closed and they kicked us out. We planted gardens, played school, drove a firetruck, climbed a tree, slid down a slide, played life-size chess, did art projects, went to story time, acted in a play, played with dolls and dress-ups, visited the White House, met Abraham Lincoln...it was some serious fun.













After the kicked us out of the museum, we started making our way south again. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a classy Wendy's restaurant that smelled a little like urine and had some serious customer service issues...like the sweet older lady that would take your order and then shuffle away into the dark corners somewhere and not reappear for a very long time. But who is complaining when it is ANOTHER restaurant you get to eat out at (remember we have relatively young and easy to impress children). We stopped in SLC where we went out to get some delicious, organic yogurt with Mo and Papa. (Forget that we had just had Frosties...when Papa called and asked if they could take us out for ice-cream, I started to explain that unfortunately we had just had Frosties until hubby shushed me from the driver's seat and explained that we were on "Stay-cation" which meant we could eat as much ice-cream as we wanted whenever we wanted...at this point I think the kids just thought this was the greatest stay-cation they had ever had and were raking on the extra toppings and eating with wild abandon!) But alas...even fantastic stay-cations must come to an end. We arrived home very tired, very full of sugary treats, and ready for bed.

It was a fabulous mini-vacation. I learned that you do not have to go very far from home (or even really leave your home!) to have a great, relaxing vacation. Just unplug your phones, get yourselves a few containers of ice-cream, find some new places to explore, and go crazy!