Well Addy headed off to Pittsburg this afternoon with Granna and Papa for a couple days. This is her first time away from us overnight with the exception of one other night when she was only about a year old. I am already missing her a little bit, BUT Olivia hasn't stopped smiling since her sister left so we'll see how the next couple of days plays out. In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to give a recap of our little Stay-At-Home Vacation from the past few days.
Our "Staycation" turned out to be an excellent idea. I give it 2 thumbs up and I know the other 3 members of my family had a great time too. We skipped all the stressful events that seem to accompany most family vacations and went straight for the good stuff.
Before I give you our Staycation Recap, let me just give a shout out to our vacation sponsors: Gift Cards and Coupons...you'll see why.
Tuesday
After gymnastics on Tuesday night, Garrett suggested that we rearrange the playroom. Now, this doesn't seem like a vacation activity, but let me tell you why I am including it. We completely flip-flopped our toy area and our TV area giving every single thing a new spot. We made the toy area more practical and the TV area more cozy and in turn, the playroom became a completely new room to the girls. All of a sudden things seemed more fun solely because they were in a different spot. Awesome.
Wednesday
We started our vacation off with a trip to Deanna Rose Farm on Wednesday morning (Free Admission on Weekdays). The girls and I have been a couple of times but Garrett had never gone so that was fun. The girls fed animals, went down slides, rode a play tractor, went on a nature trail and everything in between.
We left just as it was getting too warm and headed to the "Train Place" as Addy used to call it, otherwise knows as Fritz's. If you haven't taken your kids here, you need to. It's nothing more than your average hamburger and french fries, BUT you order your food by calling it in from your booth and a train delivers it all to you. What kid wouldn't enjoy that?
After we got much needed naps in and made a quick run to Costco where we snagged a cheap meal (Hotdog/Drink Combo - $1.50) we got home in time for baths and our movie night. We rented "We Bought A Zoo" and snuggled in to our new playroom TV area. The movie was really good and the company was even better!
Thursday
Thursday was Schlitterbahn day. Addy had been looking forward to the water park after asking to see pictures of it every single day this past week so she was excited to say the least. We packed our cooler for a picnic lunch and made it there just after it opened.
We weren't quite sure what to expect but I have to say I was pretty impressed. They had picnic tables and shade umbrellas set up right next to "Kinder Haven" where we planned on spending most of our time. We were able to leave all of our stuff on a table within eyesight of the pool and were just steps away if anyone needed anything.
Kinder Haven was zero entry which was great for the girls. It was no more than a foot deep and had several slides and play areas for the girls to enjoy. The problem, however, was the girls. Addy refused to go down any slides. She would get to the top, think about it, and then come back down. She preferred plopping herself down and watching all of the other kids go down. Olivia ended up loving the slides, but she was too small to do them on her own so she needed our help, which wasn't bad considering our other child needed no help at all just sitting and watching everyone else have all the fun. But, both were having a good time.
We splashed around and played for quite awhile before stopping for our lunch. We then decided to explore the park. We saw several people carrying double tubes built for an adult and child. Garrett and I both thought the lazy river would be a slow, safe ride to take the girls on so we asked a worker where to go and soon discovered we SHOULD NOT have taken her advice.
Instead of sending us to the "Lazy River," we were sent to "Roaring Rapids." I wondered why all the people waiting in line at the ride next to us looked at us like we were crazy. Olivia was quick to jump in my arms (thank God) as we were sent down a river of falls and dips that not only splashed us in the face repeatedly but forced me to hit my butt on the bottom AND spun our tube around backwards so I had no idea what was coming. Garrett and Addy were ahead of us and I caught his glance at one point and gave him the "OMG WE ARE GOING TO DROWN" face so as soon as they got to the bottom of the river he hopped out of his tube to help us. Well, his exit off his tube wasn't quite as casual as he would have hoped so, to Addy, it looked like he had fallen out of their tube which resulted in hysterical screaming and crying. She continued crying the entire walk back to our picnic table and asked Garrett about 100 times if he was okay. The poor kid probably thought her Dad was drowning or something. I have a feeling getting her back into a tube in the future may be near impossible.
Needless to say, this ended our trip to Schlitterbahn. Addy had had enough so we gathered our stuff and headed for the car. If it wasn't for my kids being afraid of everything AND for our slight misfortune on the river, I think I would have given the water park two thumbs up. Instead, I shall give it only one.
Again we went home for naps and for some sprucing up before we hit up The Olive Garden for dinner (Gift Card) and Dairy Queen for dessert (Buy 1 Blizzard Get 1 Free Coupon) so we went to bed with full bellies that night.
Friday
Our plan for Friday was to go breakfast and then hit up Shawnee Mission Park for some fishing and playing, followed by a picnic. Rain had different plans for us however so we had to rethink our day.
We went ahead and went to breakfast (IHOP Gift Card) and decided to try out a new place I had noticed in the mix of our coupons. We ventured to Leaping Lizards, a kid's play place with large inflatables. I guess I was expecting just your typical bounce house type stuff so when we got there I was blown away. These bounce houses were HUGE and there were NINE of them! We only had to pay for Addy ($2 off Coupon making our total $6) which was awesome. We picked a good time to go because it wasn't very busy and we ended up having about 45 minutes of play time with hardly anyone else there. Adults are allowed to "play" too so Garrett and I joined in on the fun and we even snuck Olivia into some of the inflatables when no one was looking (children under 2 aren't technically supposed to play in the large inflatables as they have a toddler section for them). It turned out to be a very fun time and we will definitely be going back!
As usual, we headed back home for naps and then got ready for the eagerly anticipated dinner at T-Rex Cafe.
I don't even think I have to explain how great of a time Addy had. I'll just let you look at this picture...
The huge dinosaur at the front of the restaurant scared her so much she screamed. Then the little "show" that went on every 15 minutes made her cover her ears and plead for it to end. She warmed up slightly as the dinner went on but as we left she made Garrett hold her and she covered her eyes so she couldn't see the big T-Rex again.
My. Kids. Are. Such. Wussies.
We spent the rest of the evening in the playroom and that concluded our Staycation. When your kids are as little as ours, a vacation at home is really the way to go. We hardly spent any money (I told you those Gift Cards and Coupons were great sponsors) and we got to stay on schedule and sleep in our own beds.
I have plenty more pictures to share so I will apologize to my FB friends now =)
Sincerely Yours,
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