Fall Break

The first day of Fall Break was officially little man's bday.
What do you do for a 3-year-old?

Go to the park.














And you leave when the guest of honor is ready.


Next is an ice cream stop on the way home.
What says bday better than a Dino-Sundae?


Then for dinner you have "#3" chicken nuggets.


While Daddy starts getting the campout on the deck ready.


We probably should invest in some real tents...
but why? when a few blankets, rugs, sheets, an ottoman, and a laptop with movie works perfectly?




The campout ended with little man in his bed, K on one couch, B on the other, and Steve and I finishing up the smores.
The reason no one lasted outside is too good not to document for posterity...
Steve built a fire in our firepit with one of those Duralogs. The plan was to use this for marshmallows and smores. We forgot that the log has to burn off the paper first. So everytime the girls tried to roast their marshmallow, it became covered in yucky guck. (Sasha loved them, though.)
I went inside to microwave our smores and Steve got the kids set up in the "tent" to watch a movie while we waited on the rest of the paper to burn off.
Obviously, smores are very filling because after one...the kids were finished.
The best part is coming...
After a while, Steve decided to put the fire out since we weren't going to be using it anymore that night. I was going to put the cover on the firepit, but for some reason Steve didn't want me to do that. He suggested I just pour some water on the fire instead. *Remember...this is HIS idea.
So I did.
And we got smoked out.
No one could breathe.
So everyone came inside to watch the movie and wait on the smoke to clear.
Everyone fell asleep while waiting.
The end.
(Apparently, we are not a camping family.)

The next couple of days we spent hanging out in PJs and playing games.
It was great!

Little man did get his first big boo-boo. It wasn't even that bad, but after all his accidents lately...the fact that something actually left a mark was a big event.


Mid-week, we decided we needed a mini-vacation.
We really didn't want to worry over gas prices or gas availability...or the kids in the car for longer than a couple of hours. Ugh.
So we went to Bridgestreet and stayed at the Westin overnight.
Total fun.

Little man playing "Choo Choo All Aboard!" with the pull for the shades.


K loving a smooshy bed she doesn't have to make up afterward.


B just ready to go to Red Robin.


Little mans favorite part of the room...?
The shower.

In and out. In and out. He called it his house.
He would stand inside and call for us to knock on his "door" for a visit.

During our Bridgestreet stay, we went to Red Robin, Chocolate Crocodile, Maggie Moo's, Barnes & Noble to each pick out a book, the carousel, fed the fish, opted out of the paddle boats because the girls were tired by then, saw a movie at the Monaco (Beverly Hills Chihuahua...not as horrible as I thought), ordered breakfast from room service, walked and laughed and saw not one person we knew.

Little man didn't exactly go to sleep easily. That was a minor issue with our "vacation", but he did eventually sleep for a while so I considered it a success. (I really love bed confinement...did you know?) Another small glitch was with the indoor pool. Which is NOT heated. You can swim from inside through a doggie-door type opening to the outside pool. It looks great, but it doesn't do much for keeping the inside water not freezing...as Steve and the girls found out.
LOL LOL LOL LOL
And apparently the pool water is even colder after you've been in the hot tub.
LOL LOL

We finished up the week relaxing some more at home.
Steve worked on the deck...which I will be sharing news of soon!

Fall Break...ahhh...good times.