Staycation - sort of

We started the weekend in a hotel at Polaris getting away from the day-today hectic pace we've been keeping with work, school, Scouts, gymnastics, La-La class and more. Since this was a rewards stay (FREE!) and my status with the hotel chain, we had access to the executive floor for breakfast. We went upstairs and ate from their semi-hot breakfast and watched the commuters going to work on a rainy Friday morning. Since nothing opens until 10AM (why so late?!) we went back down to the room and hung out for a while. I had picked up the new Dan Brown novel at Barnes and Nobel so was quickly engrossed in it while everyone else played and Julie started crocheting(sp?) a baby blanket for Lil Bubba.

The plan for the day is to hit the new Lego store in Easton and see what else we can do. We packed up the crew and headed over. We were a little surprised by the size of the store as it was smaller than what we'd pictured. Having been to the store in Orlando this was WAY smaller than we expected. The kids had a good time looking at the various displays and Veronica loved playing with a Duplo train set and misc. blocks. Max picked out a Lego racer kit and Sydney had trouble choosing what the get within a reasonable price range and finally settled on a bucket of Legos that she got to fill from their bins. Veronica found a Bob the Builder set that she liked. Having conquered the Lego store Veronica wanted to ride the escalators so we did. Max doesn't like escalators and one of his least favorite places on Earth is the Waterloo tube station in London where we had to take what seemed like 10 BIG escalators to get where we needed to go. He doesn't like the small ones at Easton, either. :)

It was getting close to lunch and we decided we would do a silly lunch and went to Cold Stone Creamery. The kids loved it - and who wouldn't - ice cream for lunch! We enjoyed sitting there and had the whole place to ourselves. Apparently this isn't a normal lunch for anyone else. After enjoying our yummy lunch both Ron and Julie were still hungry so we stopped by Skyline and took it back to the hotel. We ate our more substantial lunch and then the begging for the pool began. Hard to say no to your kids so we all changed and headed for the hotel's pool. Like Cold Stone, we had the place to ourselves and swam until the kids lips were turning blue. Veronica has gotten over her fear of the pool and literally jumped in from the steps leading in. That was an exciting start to the swimming. We had a great time playing shark, splashing and jumping in while I caught them. We called it a day in the pool before hypothermia set in and went up to the room to get cleaned up.

After the fun of the pool, we considered going to a movie but the only kids movie out didn't look that good and I don't like the book - not to mention it didn't start for a while. We checked out the pay per view movies and decided we'd watch "Up." We went downstairs and popped a bag of popcorn and grabbed some Sprite before we settled in to watch the movie. It was very good and had a nice heart warming theme throughout. After the movie we went out to grab dinner which was Noodles and Company for the kids and Indian for Julie and I. Mmmm, mmmm, good. With our curry and vindaloo quotient filled, the kids played Legos while Julie crocheted and I read.

Saturday was a nice slow start with everyone getting up around 7AM, so it was nice to sleep in. We got ready and went downstairs to the buffet for breakfast. After we ate, we came back to the room and started packing up to go home. The staycation is over. :(

We got home and I replaced the garbage disposal in the kitchen with the one I bought Thursday morning. It was easier than I figured it would be and was a great way to save some money. I was concerned that it would leak, but so far so good! After that I climbed back onto the roof to install the ground wire for the lightening arrestor on the cell antenna. I've been concerned about having it on the roof with no ground so have left it disconnected for 2 weeks. I hate getting on the roof as my fear of heights kicks in and the thought of falling 20 feet to the patio doesn't seem like much fun. Max stood in the yard ready to call if I fell, so we were covered from that respect. The hornets, wasps and yellow jackets were all out - they must love the heat from the shingles and it seemed like they were everywhere. We got that project completed just in time to get ready for church.

We went to mass at St. Mary's because Max wanted to go to the TAG (Tweens and God) youth group meeting from 5:30 to 7:00. We dropped him off for that and went to dinner at Subway and then shopping at Kroger. Sounds like fun, huh? We picked up Max and he seemed to have a great time and then it was time for bed. Julie and I struggled to stay up until 10 and were glad to sleep in our bed. The hotel was nice, but nothing feels as comfortable as home.

Sunday was busy between Julie teaching PSR, Ron working on the book - my chapter was due Weds - yes, the previous Weds not the upcoming Weds. LOL! See mom, I still procrastinate! Max's Cub Scout pack had the BB gun and archery range at Camp Lazarus booked for an afternoon session and we've been looking forward to it for a long time. We started with archery and Max took no time at all to hit the targets and scored quite a few bull's eyes! We rotated to the BB gun range where it seems like he may be left eye dominant rather than right eye like. He was having a good time and did a great job and qualified for a BB gun patch by scoring a 41 (needed 35) with 5 shots! It was cool to see Camp Lazarus in the fall and I'm sure I bored Max with my stories of "We slept in that cabin during the winter and had to feed the fireplace to keep warm" and "We used to shoot BBs in the Exchange Lodge" and "I remember one time when it was so cold that we were all playing on the frozen pond." LOL! A lot of good memories there and hopefully he'll have plenty too!

We came home and grilled out for dinner since there won't be too many more chances to do that. After dinner Julie got the kids and their stuff ready for the next day while I continued to work on the book. Julie put the girls to bed and Max read to me before heading upstairs. I wrapped up the chapter around 10:50PM and mailed it off to my editor which quickly kicked back an Out of Office message for Monday! Oh well, it was due 4 days ago and now the ball is in his court while I start the next chapter. Why do I do this stuff to myself? It is one of those things that sucks while you are doing it, but will be cool to go to a book store with the kids and show them a book I helped write. :)

Time for another busy week to start. Have a good one everybody!