Summer Staycation Journal

To capitalize on the day off work for the 4th I took some extra days off last week. Below are our adventures.

Thursday:
In the morning Cole and Henry had their first swim lessons. I have been mocking swim lessons for awhile now because I know that they will end in failure (they are too young to swim). Anyway, it pretty much stunk. The instructor seems to be an odd duck, with big old man-boobs. This is only relevant because it makes my man-boobs look like little-boy boobs which is always nice. The classes were just very boring and he did the same exact things with the baby group as he did with the toddler group. Cole, of course, did not like it at first and didn't want to go in the pool, which is funny since he whined about going into the pool for about 20 minutes while we waited for Henry's class to finish. He warmed up though and enjoyed being thrown around. I went rogue with my own advanced class and had Cole dunking about half his face. Not quite to his eyes though. At the pace this guy runs these classes, he will have kids swimming when their about 14 years old. Funniest thing: Cole heard some announcement through the school's loud speaker system and pointed at the speaker and said, "Oh no. A guy is stuck in there."

After swim lessons I had to go do some work at the apartment building. Usually I fail at pretty much every repair, but I'm happy to say I took apart and fixed the washing machine coin slot thingy and fixed a clogged sink. Not complicated stuff, but I'll take it.

Friday:
Our big event for Friday was taking a trip to the Hoyt Park pool. We met the Kroners and Emily there. It was fun, but I was quite disappointed with the concession stand nacho cheese sauce. Barely any flavor and I really psyched myself up for a cheese dog. Luckily I also got a brat. I guess, more importantly, at least the kids had fun.

After nap time we hit up Bayshore mall to make some returns and to do some walking. I have been in need of a few extra pairs of sunglasses for about 3 summers now so I found a nice cheap kiosk with a good 2 for 1 deal. The sunglasses are cheap and poorly made but at least I look stylish. If you ever see me in them, that is not a big fake nose...just the real thing. Hopefully the boys got their mother's nose. Good luck guys.

Saturday:
We ditched the kids and had some friends over for a BBQ. I will spare you the details, but embarrassingly their was some dancing involved towards the end of the night.

Sunday:
I don't feel good.

Monday:
Monday was a busy day. We first went to the Betty Brinn Museum. Cole had a blast. I felt bad for poor Henry. He was just stuck sitting in his stroller. He actually doesn't seem to mind his plight of being stroller bound for everything. If he wasn't so squirmy we would let him out more often.

This was Cole's favorite. The baskets would just fly up through the tube and he loved it. It was a struggle pulling him away.

Looks like he is enjoying himself.

I can row a boat. Canoe (Can You)? There's a lame Jason Hansen joke for you.

After nap time, we ventured to the Jelly Belly factory for a tour. Cole enjoyed the train ride. Although he broke the only two rules we were given; no eating on the tour and you have to wear the Jelly Belly hat. Kristin and I tried our best to be stealth with his raisins, but Cole would grab one out of the box and announce to the whole train, "this is a big grape!" (He calls raisins grapes). Luckily no one seemed to care too much. The tour ends in the candy shop so of course we ended up buying way too much candy.

Choo Choo

Way too much candy. Just couldn't resist.

Cole's favorite take away...the Jelly Belly catalog. Someday I'm going to have to let him know he doesn't know how to read.

On the way home we hit up the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Seemed like a good choice since they serve breakfast 24/7 and Cole loves pancakes. You can see him trying to stuff his pancake in the tiny syrup bottle - hard work.

The Tank took down a whole order of scrambled eggs

Tuesday:
On Tuesday we went to Kids in Motion, which is basically an indoor playground. We met Kristin's Aunts Sue and Barb and her Cousin Megan and her kids Tildie and Etta. As usual the longer we were there the more comfortable Cole got and the more fun he had. Henry was crawling all over the place.

After nap we played at home outdoors. I also finally got the bike out for the first time this summer. Cole and Henry both were good about wearing their helmets, so we had some good bike rides.

Sometimes we like to just let everything breathe. Luckily, neither Kristin and I made into the photo.

Wednesday:
Wednesday was filled with more bike riding and playing in the yard. In the afternoon we went out on the pontoon on Pewaukee Lake and did lots of swimming. We had dinner with all the grandparents and Jess and BoyFriend Dan (who Cole now calls "Gran" or "Friend Dan"). We heard lots of fireworks but didn't stay up to watch any. All in all another activity packed day to end my time off of work.

The staycation was fun and we kept very busy. It might actually be nice to go back to work (not really). Now the challenge will begin to get back to a normal schedule and less eating. Between the BBQ and the leftovers, candy, Cracker Barrel and eating out a lot, I think I have put on a good 10 pounds taking this little vacation. Soon enough my man-boobs are going to be as big as Cole and Henry's swim instructor's. Yikes!