STAYCATION WAS A HIT!!!

when the kids got home from school Thursday this is who greeted them... MR. Magic HAPPY
and Me with a plate of cookies, music was blasting from the door downstairs and the sign below read:
THEY WERE SO EXCITED! Nick had been home all day and it was just KILLING him that I wouldn't tell him what was going on... by the time I cranked the music (knowing the kids would be home soon)... Nick was standing on the front porch tapping his toe waiting for the other kids to come....

when they finally came to the door they read the sign... opened the door and ta - da...

I had set up the tent in our unfinished basement and laid out their beds, a dvd player, a lounge area, games, treats... you name it.

We watched "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs"... it was pretty cute! Perfect flic for the staycation we thought. Andy particularly enjoyed the tent... so much so that he was banned from movie watching... but not before he left the kids a little stinky present....

The second days itinerary included... dining in the Staycation hotel Cafe'. Breakfast was all you can eat blueberry muffins, juice, milk, waffles with strawberry syrup and whipcream, bacon, and fruit. I filled a basket full of things they could do on their other free-time adventures... like Bubble gum (with the instructions to chew, pop, snap, chomp all you want), MP3 player to sing to as loud as you want, balls to juggle, toys to squirt in the bathtub, notebooks to write songs, plays, or journal about the staycation, art supplies to be creative with, magazines to read, and more. We went swimming at the local pool. We were suppose to have done a nature walk to look for animal tracks (but got too tired from all the rest of the fun.) The one thing that I very much enjoyed was spending time alone with each of them. They each got to think of something to do with just me for 1 hour. I loved it! So did they.

*oh and I did get one letter to management saying that he gave the "Staycation Cafe' breakfast" a 5 star rating but the sleeping conditions could use some improvement. :)

getting creative might not seem hard for me... it's the carrying something like that out and being happy about doing it that is sometimes a challenge. Not this time. We all had a blast... the kids were very gracious and kind to me saying about 100 times how much fun they had and can we please do it again..... Sadie keep saying "It just means so much to us Mom."

NOW IT'S MONDAY>>>THEY'RE STILL HERE AND I HAVE A HEADACHE...DIET COKE HERE I COME.