How We Spent Our Labor Day Stay-cation

(From September 2012)

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Do you remember writing those papers about how you spent your summer vacation on the first day back at school?  Because every grade-schooler wants to jump back into the school year by writing a paper, right? :-)

Well, we didn't have much of a summer vacation -- Chris' employer has been offering unlimited overtime since June and the moment Chris finished training and was eligible to start cashing in on that (literally!), he did.  

Due to some lingering pain from his last carpal tunnel release surgery, he was having minor hand surgery again over Labor Day, and since trying to type in the first few days of recovery would not be fun for him (and that's pretty much a requirement for someone in IT), we decided to make a week of it.

We took a day to sleep in, laze around the house and do nothing at all.  It was great!  Then we were all geared up to start potty-training Averie and the first day, Saturday, was ..... an experience.  Mostly, it involved a LOT of clean-up, although she did have two successes before the day was out!  But the next day was Sunday and by the time she woke up, it was too late, then it was church, then nap, and with everything else ahead, we just realized it wasn't the right time to take this on. 

Monday was our ultra-productive day.  We had a baby in the spring so we did "fall cleaning" instead :-).  Chris and I are both what I would call "purgers."  Don't need it?  Get rid of it!  Trash or DI, whatever, but it's not staying with us.  All our years of marriage, we have culled our things regularly throughout the year to keep our living areas uncluttered.  It doesn't mean we don't have a lot of stuff -- *sheepishly closes the door on the bedroom closet full of clothes and shoes* -- but at least it's all used regularly :-).

Tuesday was surgery and Wednesday was recovery.  

Thursday and Friday actually felt like vacation.  Well, stay-cation.  We went to the state fair and the aquarium with the kids and had the BEST time.  Separate blog posts on those (loaded with pictures) coming right up.

Stay-cation -- At The Fair

I've been to plenty of amusement parks, but never a fair before so this was my and Averie's first time. 

First stop was a little simulated farm for Averie.  We put on our apron and grabbed a pail.

 

Got some grain for the cow...

Averie wanted to pick an apple, but they were hot from being out in the sun, so Daddy had to put it in her basket.

Chose a potato "seed" -- because Averie loves french fries ;-) -- and planted it...

Then picked up our finished potato on the other side.

Rode the tractor...

Brushed the sheep...

Collected some eggs...

Then it was time to trade in all her crops...

 

For a little snack.

OK, enough of the boring educational stuff (Kidding!).  Time for some rides!

The mini Tower of Terror

The princess greets her loyal subjects

Averie met her match for most stubborn creature on the planet.

And tried to help it escape.

Rode the giant slide!

 

<<<<  But should have stopped the first time -- Chris caught some serious air and broke his tailbone on the second trip down (it's an 8-week recovery in case you were wondering!).

 Averie loved the bounce house (is there a toddler that doesn't?)

And she was a good sport even though she fell down.

A lot!

This was a huge maze of ladders to reach the slide at the top.

She needed a little help with the first ladder.

Not a fan of the "hamster wheel

But she was a pro by the second time!

All that work for 5 seconds of sliding!

This one was really jerky and whipped around the corners.  She cried so hard, they stopped the ride to let her off.

Got swindled Played some fair games.  At least there were consolation prizes, which were plenty for Averie. 

She actually almost got it!

Declan chilled in the shade of the stroller the whole time.  Must be nice!

And kicked Averie's seat at every opportunity, in true little brother fashion.

 We finished with one more spin -- ha! I crack myself up -- on the carousel.

We snagged a fair worker to take a family picture, in which only the adults are smiling and looking at the camera. 

Then we all trudged parents trudged and kids rolled in comfort back to the car, dusty and exhausted.  It was a fantastic day.  Can't wait to go again next year!

Stay-cation -- Living Planet Aquarium

We visited the fair on Thursday and frankly, Chris and I were still worn out on Friday morning but Averie had been asking to go (by making her "fishy face") since we had mentioned it and at this point, it had been so long since some solid family time with all of us that we didn't want to let her down.

We made it all in one piece after significant consumption of caffeine (by the adults; our kids did not need any help in the energy department).  

Averie, at the time, was doing this adorable (can you feel the sarcasm?) scrunched face, half-winking, gritted teeth smile in all her pictures. 

Some sort of baby shark.  I think.  *makes note to not wait 3 months to put up pictures again*

I thought this one looked like a wrinkled old man!

She just stared at all these fish for the longest time!

I found Nemo and Gil!

More sharks.  Averie runs up to the window to see and I say "Oh, those are called sharks!"  Not in an ominous voice or anything, but she runs away screaming.  She's a character.

She was fascinated by the penguins.

Not so interested in Mommy wanting to compare her to a penguin.  Spoilsport!

 

Blue frogs.  I'm pretty sure they're poisonous and don't they just kind of LOOK like bad news?  I mean, that color is NOT natural.  And let me tell you -- I know all about natural color.  *covers roots*

More big fish.

 

Alligators.  This prompted more running-screaming. 

Now this.  This.  Shrieks and covers pictures of snakes in books with her hands.  Separated only by glass from this real-life anaconda, no problem.  

After this, we took a lunch break.  Salt City Burger, yum!  We hurried back so we could make it to the Animal Encounter.  This is another poisonous little fellow -- Averie tried to pet it.   

Averie was probably thinking this salmon has got it easy.  I bet that salmon's parents didn't say it couldn't have more french fries. *pout*

 

Otters!

This mom was small enough to crawl up into the viewing area with her own little girl to see the otters and was nice enough to help Averie see them up close, too. 

The camera was dying quickly so this was the last fish picture I snapped.  Trout, I think.

Souvenir!