Thursday, February 20, 2020

Let's Pretend It's Summer Weekend

Walnut Woods State Park


Super, super fun weekend! I wanted to make it special for the minis since it was our last weekend to spend together for a few weeks thanks to events and trips. We started the weekend with a low key Valentine's night. Hubs ordered take out, we watched America's Sweethearts, and we ate more chocolates than we needed. It was the perfect night.



I was kind of hoping for space on Valentine's night. It had been one of those weeks where everyone had to be touching me, needing me, and making sure I was within sight at all times. Of course, that didn't change Valentine's night, but I also didn't mind the relaxed cuddles and back stratching while we watched a movie I hadn't seen in years.





Saturday we gave grocery shopping another go, this time at Aldi's. I wasn't a fan and the minis agreed Trader Joe's is where it's at. As Elizabeth declared, "they just have all of our favorites stuff...and even if it isn't our favorite, it's still pretty good." Same mini. Same. 
It was a warm and sunny Saturday and I couldn't let it pass us by. We hiked at Walnut Woods, explored, and then followed it up with our favorite Ecuadorian food from Mi Patria. 

Break for lunch in between grocery shopping and hiking.


I fully expected the trail to have snow, but was surprised to find that it was also ice packed. We still enjoyed our river rim hike and there we no falls on the ice. Of course, they did manage to find all the mud along the trail and stomp in it because, why not?




It wasn't until I was going through pictures that I noticed the middle mini's gloves didn't even match! In fact, they're two different sizes because one is his big brother's and the other is his from last year.






They clearly have my grace....


The minis were obsessed with the ice on the river. They kept trying to convince me to let them walk on the not-very-frozen river. Sigh. I obviously kept them from killing themselves.

It wouldn't be a family hike without one pout about how tired her legs were.

"Are you sure we can't go walk on the ice down there?" Pretty positive children. Que more sighing from me.

Nice enough for the windows to be open! I've managed to keep the winter blues away this year, but it really helps that we have had a mild winter compared to last year.


My favorites on my plate: plantains, hominy, llapingachos, fritada con mote, and arroz con pollo. I highly recommend Mi Patria if you haven't tried them yet!



We rose early on Sunday morning, made breakfast, and then went to the pool. Yes, the pool. An indoor pool, but still a pool. Adventureland Inn has cabanas that you can rent in four hour time blocks or all day. We chose a four hour time block since it's Sunday and we had plenty to do, but I had been waiting to do this all winter! I'm so glad we made time for it because the minis had a pool to themselves most of the time we were there! Plus, I got to have a drink and sit in the hot tub. Perfect Sunday in my book.

A summery fruit salad with breakfast for our pool day. The minis are so ready for melon season, playing outdoors all day, and swimming suits. Basically, we're just ready for summer vacation!


Okay, so I'm going to tell on myself here. I totally didn't pay attention to my reservation time when I made it. I meant to make it for 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. but I accidentally made it for 4 - 8 p.m. I was crushed because that time didn't work for us, but the person working the front desk said, "let me make a call." Instead of telling us to come back (which he would have had every right to do), he had housekeeping quickly clean a hotel room for us to use while we were there. So, we actually didn't get to use the cabana rental but an actual room. The room was very nice and overlooked the pools. I am so very grateful they went above and beyond for us! It was greatly appreciated and saved the day.


Of course, we spent all of our time in the pool area and not in the room.







The hot tub was glorious.


One little girl in a big pool all to herself.

The reason for the funky blue lighting: the skylights. 

Lunch from Spectators: nachos and pretzel bites. The boys hogged it all down.



We went back to our room to change and have a quick snack. The minis thought they were starving. So much so that we picked up pizza on the way home too and they ate an entire large pizza. Woah.


Along with pizza, we also picked up last weekend's pottery that was painted at Glazed Expressions. So proud of my seven year who painted a shot glass, "for you and me Mom." I haven't decided yet if this is a parenting win or fail...


I loved having this fun weekend with my minis! My next two weekends will be spent hosting an event and traveling, so it really was our last weekend together until the first full weekend of March. Luckily, we have an excellent support system who will make sure the minis have lots of fun the weekends we're not with them. Being at Adventureland Inn just made us more anxious for summer weekend afternoons spent at Adventure Bay. So, so close!