Good Excuse for a Weekend!

A weekend getaway that is!

This weekend Eric worked a gun show only a few hours from home and invited Elaina and me along for the ride. It sounded like a great idea to me! Since the shows are generally from 8-5 on both Saturday and Sunday, I had visions of lounging around at the hotel room in jammies until noon, taking in some playtime at the hotel pool, long afternoon naps with my favorite girl and some shopping to fill the gaps. Beautiful thought wasn't it?

Unbelievably, my weekend agenda didn't follow the blueprints exactly, but was even better!

Eric drove out early Friday morning and I worked only until noon the same day to arrive with Elaina at our destination before dark. The hotel was newly built approximately 2 months ago and was simply gorgeous. I had been looking forward to taking Elaina swimming at the pool and had been psyching her up for days prior to our trip. All she would talk about is "swemming poo." Oh yeah... we were going to the swimming pool! Last summer, she wasn't a big fan of the water or even getting wet. I had my fingers crossed that she would get much more enjoyment from the pool this time around without any fear or hesitation. After dinner, we came back to suit up the girl and her dad.
She loved her new bathing suit and matching cover up. Notice the bucket she's toting along? That would only have to be the single best bath accessory ever invented. It is a hair rinsing bucket. There's a flexible rubber piece on one side which wraps around your child's forehead and two separate sections for water to pour out, rinsing the shampoo from your kid's hair without getting soap in their eyes.. For under $4 - I fell in love! Now back to the story...



This is the face that Elaina made every last time she or Eric kicked and splashed water in the pool. Surprised indeed that it had the same effect every last time! Splashing! Rippling! Water-in-the-eyes! And she didn't even mind!


She only dared to creep her hiney a mere one step further, but enjoyed having the pool almost entirely to herself and her daddy.



Just prior to us packing our things to head up to our room, Elaina made friends with a 7 year-old and 10 year-old girl from Chicago. They were jumping off the edge of the pool into the water. Of course, our big one-year-old-do-it-yourselfer decided that she wanted to do the same. She got up from her seat to take her place by the pool's edge. I don't think she had any intentions on jumping in alone, but was more than ready for mommy to hoist her into daddy's outstretched arms in the water. Good thing mommy decided against getting wet tonight; I don't know if I would have been able to keep up.

Here's a good excuse for the weekend: snuggling in bed with my favorite girl. We didn't bring the pack 'n play on purpose, rather knowing there were two queen beds in our room, Elaina could sleep alone or with a snuggly parent. I opted to join Elaina as we cuddled down for the night. We don't make a habit of co-sleeping and Elaina doesn't expect it, but we'll often lay down together for afternoon naps on the weekends or rare occasions such as this being away from home. Tonight, little girl was so wiped out from a long day, she was asleep before I could even unpack my own pajamas!

Saturday morning Eric headed out to work early in the morning and Elaina and I were ready to start our day. We had a lovely continental breakfast together and then hit the pool for some playtime before a late morning nap. I tried to be very meticulous about planning our activities of the day in attempt to keep both of us happy. There's rarely a chance that Elaina will be happy for long stretches of time if she goes without a nap. Her nap time gave me ample time to clean up the room, take a shower and get ready for our day on the town. Perfect timing!

The mall--- make that, the most incredible mall ever, was just about 2 minutes from our hotel. In fact the parking lots looped together. It was awesome. I've since learned that the mall itself is relatively new, having it's doors open for only about 2 years now.

Ummm... how shall I put this? We were at the mall all day long! I'm not just talking about wandering around, dumping cash into each store in return for unnecessary items, I'm talking about walking miles around the mall and landing in the greatest kids play area ever. Elaina would have been content to divide her time equally between the hotel pool and the mall playland easily. It was a PBS Kids Land that offered 3 separate play areas for different age groups. Again, being all of 1 year old, creeping close to the magical age of 2, she was able to enjoy all that each had to offer.

She worried me to death when she decided to tackle the flexible bendy ladder that took her to the highest plateau until about her fourth go around, when she was able to climb it effortlessly.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the layout of this magnificent play yard, but it seems as though I only have eyes for my girl. Elaina made a few friends on the three separate occasions that we were there. We spent about 2 hours there on Saturday afternoon, went to a nice restaurant for dinner with daddy and dragged him back to the mall to see his little girl in all of her glory. Oh yeah... mom was able to run wild throughout the mall and drop her cash for unnecessary items then.

And for the grand finale..... I give you Big Bird.

That's all Elaina talked about Saturday night and until we arrived to see him again on Sunday.

Sunday morning, Eric of course, headed off to work and I took Elaina back to the play land/mall to run off some energy. Also, I had to pick up the last final items I had talked myself into buying. (Did I need to mention that?) Thinking that the mall would open at 10:00, Elaina and I arrived at 9:57 sharp. To our surprise, the stores didn't open until 11:00. A lucky accident turned out great as Elaina had Big Bird (and the entire kids area) all to herself for about 15 minutes before the other munchkins began to pour in. Soon after, we scooped up mommy's deals and some lunch for dad and headed to the gun show. Eric was glad to see us and share part of his work with his 2 favorite girls.

Soon after, Elaina and I hit the road heading for home. We had an incredible weekend together and enjoyed seeing Elaina play in an entirely new environment. While it stinks that Eric had to work, he was still home in time to read books with his baby girl and tuck her into bed as she was still mumbling about "swemming poo" and "BigBerd."