Vacation 2010 Recap Days 1-2

Our family vacation was a success. We all made it back safe and sound and most importantly we had fun. There were a few stressful and crabby moments, but that is to be expected when traveling with a one and newly, three year-old.

This year we decided to go to Nashville, Indiana. You may ask, how did we choose this "popular" family destination? With the girls still so young, we wanted to keep our trip low key and most importantly, within a reasonable driving distance. As long as we can stay in a condo (with a pool), be close to a town where we can walk around, and be within a day trip to a zoo or children's museum, we are good to go. Indianapolis has been on my "to visit" list for quite a while, so I asked a friend for suggestions on any resort or tourist towns within 1-2 hours. She suggested Nashville and I found a great deal on a two bedroom condo that we could stay at.

Since we took over 500 pictures, I figured it would be best to break down the trip in two-day segments. Don't worry, I won't show you all 500+ pictures though.

We left on Sunday, July 25, the day after Allison's birthday party, which was a bit tiring. The trip went well. The girls were excited with all the stuff I packed for them. Allison didn't want to let go of her new backpack filled with birthday presents. I think it stayed on her lap the entire trip.

We stopped off at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. Brian came up with this suggestion as it was the halfway point between home and Nashville. I honestly had no idea of what to expect. I figured with it being a "children's zoo" that it would be a small zoo, however I was wrong. We were both very impressed with the zoo; the entire grounds were beautiful and they had plenty for the kids to do. Allison fed a giraffe and we all took a train and "river raft" ride that both the girls enjoyed.

After the zoo, we continued on our way to Nashville and checked into our condo. The place was huge and allowed the girls plenty of room to run around.

On Monday we stayed in town. We walked around the shops in Nashville and treated the girls to a stuffed animal they “made” themselves. They both chose a dog. Actually, Allison, being in the “I want what Amelia has” selected the exact same dog that Mia had just picked out. However, we were able to steer Amelia to a basset hound. Amelia, being our stuffed animal fan, loved the whole process and was super excited about stuffing the dog. She cracked up laughing the whole time. We still don’t have names for the dogs, so if anyone has any good suggestions, please pass them along.

After nap, we had to check out the pool. Allison did great swimming around on her own. We then took Allison out to her birthday dinner. We made a quick trip to Walmart for some pool supplies and headed back home for birthday cake to end the day.