STAYcation

"Staycation: a period of time in which a family stays at home and relaxes or takes day trips from their home to area attractions." Wikipedia

Yep, that's what we had for the week of 8/24-8/29. We had an excellent time adding Daddy to our normal routine of story time and gymnastics. We were also able to fit in lots of extra relaxing, playtime, trips to the park, a trip to the children's museum, a train ride to Dallas, and far too many new restaurants. Oliver was so happy to spend that extra time with his Daddy after having been gone the week before. Here are some of my favorite pics from the week:

We rode DART downtown and had lunch. We went to Thanksgiving Square Park in the heart of downtown and even into the underground tunnel where they had some cool art and a few restaurants. We chose to eat at a pizza at some Italian restaurant that Clayton had been to before. Yummy!

The bottom left is Oliver talking on the phone while we were finishing our yummy breakfast at Breadwinners. The others are later that day at home.

Clayton and Oliver building at the Children's Museum.

The monitor had a heat sensor. Oliver thought it was so cool to see himself on the screen.

video of Oliver serenading us with this huge xylophone

Oliver liked these crazy mirrors. He ran back and forth between them.

Oliver loves playing with water!

my little ladybug (a boy ladybug) playing in the backyard exhibit

check out the video below to see why Oliver is so happy in this picture



video of a hot air balloon lifting off. COOL!

firetrucks, sand, and big trucks

After we finished at the Children's museum, we walked over to the Nature museum which was pretty much deserted. We had a great time looking at all their stuffed animals which had been found locally and stuffed. Each of them named the location in which they were found...some were frighteningly scary to our home. The upper left is Oliver reading the sign and telling us what that animal likes to eat from the picture. So cute!

We ♥ Staycation and hope to do it again some time!

It's always hard to say goodbye...

I'll admit that it has gotten a little easier to say goodbye to my family over the six years I have been gone...there are certainly less tears; but it still isn't fun! I love spending time with my family and unfortunately, there is never enough time to do everything, or see everyone I would like to see. I'm so grateful that my family is willing to place their busy lives on hold to spend time with us!

My parents spent a little extra time with Oliver this morning as I drug Michele to 24 Hour Fitness with me to a cycling class at 8 AM on a Saturday morning. Michele was a good sport and it was fun to be able to spend that extra time with her, even though I know I drove her crazy trying to talk to her during the workout! :) When I arrived back at my parents house, Oliver was still in his crib with both Grammy & Gramps in the room. Apparently, he wanted to wait until I got back to take him out. They certainly were making the best of it tossing Oliver's bunny back and forth, reading stories, and lots of giggles to boot. It was too cute! Thanks for keeping an eye on him Grammy & Gramps!

Oliver and I found our favorite window seat at the airport

And then he decided to back himself into a little corner and actually asked me to take a picture.

Oliver is covering his ears because he refused to drink to pop his ears and they were starting to hurt. He cried a little on the descent, but as soon as I convinced him to drink and held him he was just fine. Poor guy.

It is always hard to say goodbye...but the reunion at home was totally sweet!

Oliver is yelling "Surprise"!

Do you think he was happy to see his Daddy or what???

Day 4 and Oliver is not feeling well...

Unfortunately, Oliver woke up crying and acting as if he didn't feel well this morning. I fed him breakfast and he seemed to be feeling better, so after I consulted with my best friend (with whom we had scheduled a play date), we decided to go to the park and try to play. Oliver was fine at the beginning and went downhill shortly thereafter. It was fun to see her and her youngest daughter Alexis! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to come play with us for a while! :)

Playing at the park

feeding the ducks

starting to not feel well again

Alexis turned two a couple of days after these pictures were taken, so they are just about 10 months apart. She is adorable!

Oliver waiting patiently on the sidewalk for more pics

Lexi didn't like this position

She didn't even want to sit there with her Mom. She wanted to slide, so took the kids over to the slide and Oliver got really sad.

Oliver had had enough and here Lexi is glaring at him like what's your problem. I thought this one was so sad and funny at the same time!

Here is the best one of them on the slide

And here are the four of us courtesy of a nice lady in the park

Several hours later, Oliver had had a nap and woke up feeling 100% better. So my sister Michele came to my parents and we all went out for dinner to Sweet Tomatoes. It was so yummy! I have never been a fan of Sweet Tomatoes, and I really don't know why. I'm reformed and I love it!

If you know me well, you know I will do anything to get the kids I love to laugh. Here are some pictures I took of myself at dinner to make Emily laugh. Go ahead, you can laugh too. I know you want too! :)

Here are the kids making me laugh! :)

some cute, non-silly pictures

On the way home, we were stopped next to some kids at a light. They had their windows down, their music loud, and they were dancing kind of crazy to the music. We all were amused and my Mom started doing it too. Oliver thought Grammy was funny, so he tried it too. I had to get it on video! :)

watering Grammy's flowers

Oliver & Grammy together

Chinese and ATV's

Day three in SLC was a lot of fun. Oliver and I went to lunch with my brother and his family at The Asian Star. The food was good, but the company was a lot better. Debbie was so cute to play I Spy with Oliver and Savannah and Oliver had fun playing with each other too.

This is my sister Debbie. She is an awesome photographer and she is always behind the camera, so I never get any pictures of her...but this time I made sure I did! :)

After lunch, Oliver and I spent some time playing at the Richard's house. We had so much fun and we were lucky enough to get a private concert of the songs Riley and Olivia were singing at their recital that night. They both did awesome! Here is a video of Oliver trying out the microphone.

Oliver and Preston had fun wrestling a little, Preston was so gentle with him!

Oliver trying out their train that Riley got for his 2nd Christmas. That train has seen a lot of track in its long life and it's still moving!

Playing tractors with Preston

Love this picture!

Aren't we so cool??

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That night Gramps pulled out the ATV and took Oliver and I for a nice slow ride. I love, love, love this picture!

Posing for pictures