Monday, March 30, 2015

Weekend Away

We got to have a mini-vacation over the weekend! James had to be out of town for work for the second weekend in a row, so this time we tagged along. It was honestly quite exhausting, but good times were had. We stayed in Carbondale and our hotel had a pool, which the boys loved -and I got to wear my new maternity swimsuit for the first time :) Silas also started saying some new words over the weekend! He said truck, book, neck, milk. and fork. Although each time he says fork, it sounds like he's dropping the *f* bomb.
these two love water :)
We got there on a Friday and went to SIUC so James could set up his booth for the home show. When he was finished, we went out for dinner at Pagliai's pizza. We hadn't been there since Jacob was a newborn! The boys did really well, considering it was close to bedtime. And they were each given a ball of pizza dough to play with until our food came. Jacob was playing with it like play dough and Silas didn't waste anytime before tasting it. 

After dinner we went to Walmart for a couple things. All four of us. This may sound lame, but it was really nice going to the store all together! Our life has been so busy for the last nine months that I either run errands during the day with the boys or go at night once they're in bed. But this time is was all of us. It was already just after 7pm (the boys' bedtime), so we kept them entertained by racing through the store finding each item we needed as quickly as possible. James pushed Silas in a cart and I pushed Jacob. This was a first for them and they loved it. Jacob said it felt like he was in a race car :)

Saturday was a long, full day. James was at the home show from 9am-6pm. So did lots of things... We swam in the hotel room. Had a little lunch in our room. Took a nap. Went to the Science Center in the mall. Visited Daddy at the home show. Jacob made a pull-back race car in the Lowe's Kids' construction Zone. And the each got something from the balloon guy: Jacob a monkey and Silas an airplane. We all went to bed at the same time and slept really well. (Which was a blessing, because we all didn't sleep so good the first night.)
putting on a show in the puppet area
the metal part was constantly spinning, he
would put different sized washers on it and
watch as they get flung to the side.
digging for bones

  

this was a big attention keeper for them! until about 15 minutes later when Silas got bored and started eating the little plastic pieces.

"Hi, shishie. Shishie. Shishie, hi."
saying "hi" repeatedly, as if he were waiting for it to respond :)
He LOVED petting the rabbit. I was grateful (and surprised) that he was gentle. 
building the race car

he was so proud to hold up his finished piece. "Let's go show daddy!"



On Sunday, James only had the home show from 11am-5pm. It was nice to have a slower start to the morning. We had breakfast, packed everything up, and just chilled out. It was good down time for the boys, too. I love this picture. My belly is the perfect size for Silas to lean back on as if it were a pillow :)

We took James to the home show about 11am and went back to the Kids' Construction Zone. They had told us there would be a different project, so Jacob was excited to return. We were the first ones there and walked it the room. Jacob said, "I came baaack!" The Lowe's people laughed and welcomed him :) I'm so proud of Jacob. He wore the little safety goggles and held the little hammer. He's also doing really well at learning how to follow step-by-step directions by filling the numbered steps and identifying which piece and size nail is needed.


building a birdhouse
















Next we headed to a park the balloon guy told us about yesterday. Castle Park is just outside of Carbondale. It's a privately funded park that parents of a 19-year-old, who passed away in a car accident, raised money for and built. Their son loved the Dungeons & Dragons video games, so it was built to look like that. I am not familiar with the games, but the park was interesting. There was a wooden castle you could walk and climb through with many different directions you could go in. We didn't stay in there too long because I had a hard time keeping an eye on both boys and I was pretty nervous if I couldn't see Jacob. So we walked around the rest of the park. There was a huge dragon people could climb on and Jacob definitely got his exercise!




We left the park and I hadn't been driving 2 minutes when Silas fell asleep! We were checked out of the hotel, so I drove for a little over an hour before he woke up. That was hard, I would have much rather had taken a nap myself! We tried to go to another park, but it was getting to cold and it was so windy Silas was nearly blown over a couple times. The boys were cold, I was exhausted, and we still had two hours to burn until James was done. I decided to look up what was playing at the movie theater -something James had suggested the day before, but also something I surely thought I wouldn't do! Ha ha. The movie Home was starting as I was looking. We were only 5 minutes from the theater (and remember, I was desperate!), so we went! Silas didn't understand what we were doing, but Jacob was so excited. We bought our tickets, grabbed a bag of popcorn, and sneaked in a few minutes after it started. I was so thankful (and surprised) that they both sat through the movie. -Which was probably only because it was super-fast paced, fast music, lots of colors , and just over-stimulating in general. Oops. It was an okay movie and when it was over it was time to pick up Daddy, grab Subway for the car ride, and head home!

at the park where Silas was being blown over.
Jacob watching Tangled while Silas naps.
Running down the hall of the mall after the movie.

Silas trying to climb up to pet the picture of the cat!
Jacob at home today, proudly wearing his apron with badges earned for building his race car and birdhouse!
We also learned from this trip that Lowe's has a Build and Grow program for kids (5+ yrs recommended) on select Saturday mornings where they can come build a little project. Best part is that it is free! I think we will be making time for these little workshops because he loved it! And he's pretty good at using a hammer :)

1 comment:

  1. Sounded like a busy - fun weekend. I am sure you are tired.....as I was just reading about it. Thanks for putting the photos and writing together....Love Ya! Dad

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