Vacation--without leaving the cities

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation with our good friends, the Sullivans, who were in town from Iowa. Jen is one of my closest friends and prior to becoming moms, we worked together in Des Moines and were in Bible study together. In fact, Matt and I were living in Ryan and Jen's basement when I had Wyatt. Yes, I went in to labor at their house early in the morning before they left for work! Our lives have changed quite a bit since then (thankfully we have our own house now!) but fortunately our friendship hasn't. We had such a wonderful time together this weekend and although everyone was completely exhausted by Sunday night, it was an absolute blast!

On Saturday, Jen and I took our daughters, Elle and Sadie, to lunch at the American Girl Store. Despite living only about 20 minutes from MOA, we have only gone there one other time for lunch and it had been over a year ago, so Sadie was just as excited as Elle.

Sadie had to bring her stroller for their dolls

(thankfully neither of our girls are into the 'name brands' yet and don't realize the difference between an 'American Girl doll' and any other doll. Sadie opted to bring Baby Ashley this time--not her Bitty Baby--which I love, because she clearly has no idea that there is a 'difference' between them.)

These girls had a blast but had a hard time keeping their focus off of all the roller coaster rides just out the window from where we were sitting!

Jen and Elle (someday Ivy, Jen's 4 mo. old, will have to join us!)

Again....loving the roller coasters and so excited about them!

After lunch, we walked through the store for a bit and Jen and I just sat back and watched the girls as they marveled at all the dolls, outfits and accessories.

And surprisingly, they didn't ask for much. They asked a few times if they could get a certain outfit or accessory, but when Jen and I said ,"Oh let's keep looking" they just walked on and didn't say much more. It was actually quite nice!

But what would a lunch/shopping date be without a stop at Starbucks?

After lunch, we checked in at the Waterpark of America Radisson Hotel and the kids very quickly changed into their swimsuits. We had adjoining rooms and the kids loved it!! This is the only picture I took of the kids 'swimming' because once we got in the waterpark, we were going nonstop. From the wave pool, the kiddie pool area, the giant 'family slide' which scared the kids a bit but they did it!, to the lazy river, we had a great time!! We spent several hours in there on Saturday and then again Sunday morning before we checked out.

And the kids loved this mode of transportation...

This was the last picture I took of Elle and Sadie while we were packing up....they loved these bunk beds with a privacy curtain and each bunk had it's own built-in nightlight. They were a huge hit!!

My kids always love staying in hotels and this was really the perfect way to do it. We were still 'in town' and knew all the great restaurants to eat at and where to go, but the kids felt like we were on vacation. In fact, while we were at the waterpark on Sunday, Sadie asked, "Are we going back to our house in Minnesota today?" And we hadn't gone to the Waterpark of America since we had moved here, so this was also a perfect reason to go. Of course the weekend was too short and Sadie even got teary-eyed when we had to say goodbye on Sunday. We'll just have to make sure we do this again soon!!! Thanks for a great weekend Sullivans!