A Great "Stay-cation"

DH and I had the week off last week and decided to stay home. At first I was a little disappointed with that plan. So much of my work revolves around our home now that it was hard to imagine how being here all week could be any sort of vacation. Well, I am pleased to say that I was wrong. With a little effort on our part and some generosity on the part of family and Nanny K, we all had a great week.

The first half of the week was fairly typical for me. DH made it his goal to give me as much of a break from the routine as possible. I enjoyed going to the gym in the middle of the day, grocery shopping on my own, and dinner out with a good girl friend. Also, due to our plans for the second half of the week, I got a break for cooking almost every night. Lastly, I suggested we take a break from the cloth diapers for the week. We usually use disposables on vacation anyway. We had a box LO was going to outgrow before they would get used, so we (DH especially) enjoyed a break from diaper laundry.

Wednesday afternoon, Grams and Gramps came to hang out for a few days. After DH and I got LO down for the night, we headed out to spend nearly 24 hours just the two of us! It was our first night away, and, while we struggled with the decision to go, we were so glad we did. We spent most of our time away thinking about LO and talking about what he'd think of certain things. He was never far from our thoughts, and always on our heart. BUT, we enjoyed a completely relaxed, unscheduled, beautiful evening and day together. I was really struck by how much my life has become defined by 15 minute increments of LO's schedule and how freeing it was to have a little break from that. We were blessed with AMAZING weather all week, and that made our time away even nicer. We enjoyed a warm, breezy 75 degree day at the Zoo. As soon as we entered, DH and I noticed that most of the other patrons were there with their toddlers. It seemed like Mother's Morning Out day at the zoo (with a sprinkling of a few dads). DH thought it a little unfair that we had gone without LO, and seeing so many kids there really made us feel that. I decided to think of it as an opportunity to check out the place with LO in mind. It really helped us see if LO was old enough to enjoy it. The animals really enjoyed the warmer weather too and were more active than I think I've ever seen. We also got to see several zoo babies (koala, baboon, and giraffes), as well as some frisky tortoises (who knew they had it in them?). The baby baboon was the best. It kept trying to get up on a ledge or run where its mama didn't want it to go. The baboon mama seemed to pay almost no attention to this, but kept reaching out and grabbing the baby by its tail. For a while it just held the baby by the tail and the baby just ran around as far as it's little tail would let it. Too cute!

Look closely at the hands of the baboon on the ground; you will see her holding the baby's tail.

After nearly four hours at the zoo, we headed out to grab lunch at a Korean place we have enjoyed before. On our way out, I mentioned a membership to DH and we decided we could see ourselves going at least once more with LO. Going twice would make the membership a better deal. I knew that I'd be more flexible about only staying shorter times if that's all LO could handle if we had a pass so we could go often. We decided to take the plunge (as you already know from the video). So we became zoo members, and made it to our lunch spot just before closing. I had Bi Bim Bop and DH had Chicken Curry; both were as yummy as we remember. We then hopped in the car for what we thought would be a quick trip to get some italian ice. Fifty minutes later we arrived, got out ice to go, and proceeded to inhale it before it melted as we hurried home to LO. Nanny K had arrived at our house at 7 am to greet LO and feed him breakfast (usually my job), and we had hoped to relieve her by 4:30. We ended up getting home at 5:40. Grams spent all day slicing and steaming carrots for LO, then took over for Nanny K around 4:45. All was well on the home front. It seemed like we'd spent the day missing LO and he'd barely noticed we were gone. I think that's just as it should have been.

Friday we let Nanny K come a little late, and Grams and Gramps headed home. DH and I had a breakfast date at a local place we'd been meaning to try. It was good home cooking. The size of the clientele and the Piggy art on the wall showed us we'd better not eat there often. We then ran a few errands and headed to a nearby town where we walked among the public gardens, saw a few horse farms, and had lunch at this restaurant. After walking around a bit more, we headed back to relieve Nanny K. Unfortunately we hit horrible traffic and had to back track enough to make us later than we'd expected for Nanny K again. We're so grateful to her for her flexibility this week. She has a great attitude and didn't even seem frustrated when we were late getting home.

With all the extra travel time, I began to think about our week coming to a close. I asked DH if we could try to enjoy our weekend and not spend it gearing back up for work this week. Then I wondered out loud if we should take LO to the zoo. To my surprise, DH actually considered it, then decided we should. We spent the evening preparing to go and thinking through the timing. We knew we'd be scrapping LO's schedule and that we probably wouldn't recover from that. Given our lesson in having low expectations in traveling, here's what we had in mind: LO might cry in the car all the way there and back. I would sit in the back seat and entertain him on the way there. We would try to leave the house by 8. We'd hope to stay at least 30 min, but up to 2 hours if things were going well. We'd feed LO at the zoo, then I'd sit up front so maybe he'd sleep on the way home. If he was sleeping, we'd drive until he woke up...even if that meant passing our exit for home. We thought he might not sleep all day and be a cranky mess all afternoon. We thought it might be worth it anyway.

So, if you've seen the video, you know that we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the video doesn't really do it justice. It was great! LO did well in the car on the way there. He and I read books and looked at passing trucks. He had a big smile as we entered the animal exhibits. The flamingos were first and were making a ruckus. LO seemed a little overwhelmed by the noise, then distracted by the new camcorder. He took a little bit to get warmed up. When he saw the Koi, he did the sign for "more." Later we headed to the "kangaroo walkabout" (where we could walk through the kangaroo exhibit), but took a detour through a cave that held small primates and cats. He really perked up in there. He blew kisses, waved, and signed "more/want" at the black footed cat and tamarinds. Later we fed the giraffes together, then came the very popular trip to the farm. We ate a picnic lunch near the chimps, then got LO to the car. There was a meltdown transitioning between the zoo and the car, but he settled fairly well. He eventually fell asleep on the way home. DH drove past our exit to give LO more sleep, and he woke up about two exits later (30 minute nap). Amazingly, he went down for a second nap later in the afternoon and we managed to all enjoy the rest of the day.

We have some neat pics from our first trip to the zoo which I will post soon. As I am finishing this post several days later, I have something else to share, so I need to post this now. Check this post again for pics if you're interested.