Vacation 2011 (Part One)

We did it...we survived another family vacation. This year we went to Silverleaf's Fox River Resort, about an hour southwest of Chicago. 

On the way there we stopped at the zoo in South Bend. The girls had a good time. Allison was excited because I had printed the map of the zoo about two months earlier, so we had been studying it since then. She was ready to lead the way.  At the end of our zoo trip, we were waiting for Brian to come out of one of the buildings and Allison was playing with the turnstile gate that led people out of the park. I told her not to do that, but sure enough she went past the point of no return and couldn't get back into the zoo. She was halfway in between the gate and the exit. I couldn't go with her since I was watching Amelia in the stroller and could only exit out the main gate. The look on Allison's face was priceless; I in the meantime had a hard time keeping a straight face. I told her simply not to move. However, another family came along and needed to leave, so I told Allison to go all the way through the gate and wait for me. Another mother had offered to sit by Amelia's stroller until Brian came out. We were both cracking up. Luckily Allison waited patiently by the gate where I could see her.

Once we got to the condo, we unloaded our stuff and tried to make dinner. We learned our lesson and next year we will eat dinner before we check in. Having both parents busy unpacking and/or cooking did not work well. The girls were excited about being in a new place and were running around like crazy kids. The stress level only went up when I discovered I didn't pack any shorts or shirts for Amelia. Luckily, between the outfit she was wearing and a few back up outfits I had in various bags, I didn't have to buy an entire new wardrobe for her, just a few pieces.

On Sunday, our day started off bright and early at 5:30 am. Amelia, our morning riser, was the first one to be up. Luckily I got her to lay in bed with me until 6:30.  By the time most vacationers were just waking up, half our morning was already over.  We were at Walmart in Ottawa, which was the closest town to the resort, by 8:30 am to buy some new clothes for Mia and to cruise their toy aisle. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the resort and going back to Ottawa, where we found a great playground for the kids to play at, and an ice-cream shop to indulge in some dessert.

On Monday we went to the Brookfield Zoo which is an amazing place. We spent six hours and could have easily spent another two hours there. Amelia was so tired that she feel asleep on the tram ride.  We spent the rest of the day just hanging out at the condo playing games and coloring.  The girls thought it was pretty cool hanging out at the "new house."