Well - our little trip started off with just my luck- I backed out of the garage and busted the passenger side mirror on the car! Needless to say Josh wasn't too happy but what can you do? I packed our stuff, the snacks for the hotel and little Valentine's for the kids. We headed for Des Moines about 9am Thursday morning and arrived a little after noon. We only made 2 potty breaks for Hayley - she is almost all the way potty trained! She did great in the car and thought the candy necklace we got at Casey's was the best thing in the world! We had lunch at Subway and then did a little shopping at Jordan Creek. The kids loved the mirrors and were finding them everywhere! Josh was shopping for new running shoes and eventually found some cool Puma's! Kim & Taylor met us out at the mall, came back to the hotel to swim with us, and out for dinner at Famous Daves that night!
Amidst all the fun we got a call from Jill that Jarod proposed and they were engaged!!! CONGRATS!
Kim and I enjoyed a pina colada by the pool that night - We headed to bed but ended up having a long night- along with a few other things that didn't go as planned we picked up milk for Hudson and then I left it out on the counter and couldn't give him a bottle during the night to get him back to sleep - so I walked around, swayed, and read all of the comments on Jill's FB page :) Hudson and I were up for about 1.5 hours trying to get re-settled - ugh!
Friday morning we swam again - the pool was so much fun with the slides for the kids and adults - Katie came on Friday to swim and spend some time with us - we checked out the DSM Art Center- which I had mistaken for the Science Center - so we went to the Science Center next to find out it was $12 to get in - knowing the kids really didn't care or not we opted not to pay to go through - instead we found ourselves at Merle Hay Lanes - where it was obviously the day for Senior Leagues based on the people there and the hilarious music - to top it off they didn't take debit cards at the bar.. what next!
Kim, Katie, and I got some great bargains at Shoe Carnival in Merle Hay Mall and then headed over to Jeremy & Renee's where we were staying Friday night. We ordered pizza and did some catching up with them - the kids even got to open a couple of Christmas presents! Jeremy & Renee babysat while Josh and I and Kim and Taylor went to the Funny Bone Comedy Club in West DSM - we had a great time and enjoyed a bit of time without the kids.
We headed home Saturday morning and had a good trip home overall - It was fun to have some family time but I use the term 'vacation' loosely - I was exhausted when we got home - I think I forget how easy it is to just be home with young children. Either way - some fun and not so fun memories that come with life's little experiences.
