Vacation was a hit.
We started out with a couple of free birthday meals at IHOP which were gobbled up eagerly and then went straight to the Aquarium for some fun!
It was a LOT better than when Tyler and I went 5 years ago and the kids had a blast.
Heidi loved the otters
And Alex loved the fish.
The Aquarium is divided into about 5 different sections, each with different sorts of marine life.
The favorite of course were the penguins!
The penguin habitat was the perfect height for Heidi and she stood there forever watching the Penguins flash by and jump in and out of the water!
There were all sorts of interactive display boards and of course a gift shop. We left with a pink turtle and a pink penguin that are still (thank goodness) the girls favorite things ever.
After the Aquarium it was off to the Gilgal sculpture park for a picnic lunch. It wasn't quite as much of a "park" as I had imagined, and I don't think the girls were suppose to climb over everything, but it was only us and a slightly strange man in pajamas so I looked the other way at their Tom foolery.
Our picnic lunch ended up not happening because Heidi tripped on the sidewalk and got a bloody nose the same moment my sandals broke. After nursing Heidi back to health I realized that in my hurry to get the girls packed, the picnic packed and all the other little things in order, I hadn't packed an extra pair of shoes.
We drove all over town looking for a store that sold my favorite Reef sandals (I bought a pair 6 years ago and wore them religiously all year round until they broke. Then bought another etc, and am currently on my 3rd pair). Well, my lack of footwear ended up being a bigger problem than I had thought.
We rushed from the park to the shoe store because we only had an hour until our candy factory tour at Sweets! We got there just in time for our tour, the only problem being that closed toe shoes were required. Tyler graciously let me wear his tennis shoes (yes I looked ridiculous) so I could take Alex on the tour. And Tyler and Heidi stayed in the car watching airplanes fly overhead. It was a lot of fun and we got to sample all sorts of delicious treats.
After the tour we hung out outside for a few minutes and enjoyed the warm and windy day while the girls ate a treat.
I will forever love looking at pictures of Heidi.
Because she is simply unable to sit still and smile for the camera.
One of the perks of our "Stay-cation" was that with the money we saved on travel, we were able to buy a few "extras" to make things fun.
Alex and Heidi each picked out their favorite fruit snacks and juice boxes, as well as crackers and jelly beans.
After each stop they each got to choose a snack and when we got to the hotel I dumped everything into a drawer and they had free reign.
After the candy tour we went to Walmart to buy swim diapers for Heidi. By this point I felt like my entire day had been spent running in and out of stores by myself while Tyler and the kids waited in the car. I also scored an amazing swimming contraption that allowed Alex to swim in the pool with out our help! Best part of the trip! After Walmart we checked into our hotel and went swimming. Then we took TRAX to the Gateway mall for Tyler's Tucano's birthday dinner and back on TRAX to the hotel. We swam again, and even though everyone was EXHAUSTED, it was still a struggling getting everyone to settle down, stop jumping on the bed and go to sleep.
The next morning was a free breakfast at the hotel restaurant (We stayed at Shilo Inn and loved it! The pool was great and every was very nice. The rooms were clean and wonderful and Alex adored the "play" microwave and fridge) and then a drive to Temple Square.
Heidi was hard to herd where we wanted, but the girls really enjoyed running around and watching the family movie in the Christus building. I cried.
Despite my efforts to get a cute picture of really anyone at all on the vacation, the girls eluded me.
Heidi was drawn to anything hight up she could climb and then fall from, or anything wet she could splash in.
We were going to visit the Book of Mormon kids land at the Church History Museum, but we were running out of time and Alex wanted to go to a friends birthday party early in the afternoon.
So we drove home, dropped Alex off at the party, took Heidi to the mall and spent the rest of our vacation energy on lunch, the play area, pocky, the carousel, escalators and photo booth pictures. We totally looked like the young couple with only one child who bend to it's every whim and desire.
It was a great vacation. Everyone was well behaved and happy and the best part was that it was full of things we could easily do in a day without dumping a small fortune on a hotel in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment