Our Fabulous Staycation!

Bill took a week off at the end of July to spend time with his girls before my maternity leave ended and we had such a good time!  Originally we had planned on taking a short trip somewhere but decided that we didn't want to subject Vivian to a long car ride and opted to do a local staycation instead.  Bill was supposed to round on his patients the Saturday and Sunday mornings prior to starting vacation.  Instead, vacation actually started on Friday.  I had just picked up Audrey from daycare, was sitting in the car watching our garage door go up and was beyond shocked to see Bill's car already there.  You have to understand, this NEVER happens.  In fact, I'm always a little hopeful that he'll be home early but had told myself a few weeks prior to let the dream go.  I was SO excited!  Not only was he home early, he told me that he wasn't going to have to go in over the weekend afterall!  YAY!  Seriously, I was so happy it was ridiculous.

On that Saturday, friends of ours from Bill's Northwestern days were in town with their two young children and came over for a visit.  Audrey was having fun playing with her new playmates and I was excited to hang out with other adults!  :)  We went to one of our favorite ice cream stores which became a theme throughout the vacation.

On Monday, in the sweltering heat, we hit the zoo.  It was "free day" so it was very crowded.  The last time we went to the zoo we ran out of time and didn't get to see the primates so we started there first.  We also saw elephants, giraffes, an ostrich, zebras and these two HUGE turtles. 

 They kissed!

On Tuesday we went to the Science Center and Audrey had a blast.  It was "free day" here too and insanely crowded.  Audrey didn't care though, she ran around from exhibit to exhibit and was very hands on....so was Bill.  :)

 And this was Vivian....

And here was our attempt at a family photo....

Thankfully someone finally came over and asked if they could take it for us! 

On Wednesday, Bill was the lucky recipient of a ticket to the Bridgestone Golf Invitational practice round down in Akron.  He said it was crazy to walk around and literally be within feet of the pros - Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, etc.  Here's a pic of Tiger teeing off.  (He's really hard to see.)

On Thursday, we headed to Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania.  Audrey loves the beach so we knew this would be a really fun day for her.  Here was our setup:

 And this was Vivian.....do you see a theme?

When Audrey and I were getting out of the water she said, "Thank you". I said, "For what?" and she said, "For taking care of me." How sweet is that??

I had to feed Vivian so I gathered her up and headed back to the car while Audrey and Bill stayed behind to play a little longer.  I didn't know it at the time but Audrey was calling after me.  By the end of the video, I'm out of sight and she asks, "Where are you?"

 

We wrapped up the week doing random chores around the house.  We finished Audrey's Big Girl room - a post on that to follow soon - ate a lot more ice cream and just enjoyed being together.  I was very sad when the week came to an end but am looking forward to our next staycation.