Stay-cation

Last week was spring break for Brian. We had planned on taking a short family vacation out to the western part of the state, but the weather was cold and icky out west. So we decided we would just "Stay-cate." It was so much fun and so good for all of us.

We started off at the Observation Deck at the international airport.  Thomas was amazed at all of the planes and I was amazed at all of the wealthy people boarding their private jets for a trip to what I am sure was some exotic vacation. Kate was fascinated for a little while, but her excitement wavered pretty quick. Thomas was thrilled at all of it the whole time. They have a great outside area with a playground and picnic tables. So we will have to go back once it warms up a little more.  

After the observation deck we grabbed some Bojangles (YUM!) and headed to a great park for a picnic and some hiking which was a blast.  Kate learned all about trail markers and had fun mapping out the way for us all around the park.  We were going to take the kids roller skating, but the place was closed to the general public, so we went bowling instead. We rounded out the day with DD donuts, and a movie at home in our pjs.  So fun!

The second day, we grabbed some breakfast in the car and headed downtown to the kids' museum, Marbles. It was fantastic! The kids had a ball, and Brian and I had a lot of fun too. There are tons of pictures of the festivities:

 Thomas was an ambulance driver.

 They were boat captains.

 Kate was the cutest fire-girl ever!

 They were big bad pirates.

They were architects and construction workers (Brian's favorite part).

This is her Rapunzel tower that she and Brian built.

 They were hockey players.

 They were carpenters.

 And gymnasts.

And so many other things! 

It was a blast and we will definitely be making a trip back before we head back overseas. After the museum, we headed to a different park to do some more hiking, although, there were no trails.  The kids had fun walking around the lake with Brian, finding hiking sticks and trying start a fire with two sticks.  They got some good smoke going, but it was a no-go on an actual fire.  

We took the kids to a pizza buffet for dinner, which thrilled them. As excited as Kate was about free refills on drinks, she was amazed that you could get free refills on pizza. She also found her new favorite pizza--Mac and Cheese pizza (Americans eat weird stuff).

We had so much fun enjoying each other, God's beautiful creation, and a little bit of America.