Summer "Staycation" Recap

Tomorrow is back to school for Beanie after a two week break.

I took this past week off, as well as the latter part of the earlier week, to be able to stay with her. Even though I work from home its not feasible to work with a 2 year old around.

We had a really good time, but I have to admit I am happy we are back to work/school tomorrow. It was fun hanging out with Beanie and we did a lot of fun activities, but its exhausting keeping a toddler entertained 24/7! I have no clue how SAHM's do it - hats off to them :-)

In addition, this past couple of weeks have been probably the worst time to take off work since our company got merged with another one in the beginning of July, so there has been so much to do for the transition - changing health care, direct deposits, setting up work related email, trainings, etc. I feel I am so behind on everything though I did work a little all though my PTO. I don't even have my new email working yet!

So needless to say I am excited about being back and thankfully there are no long school breaks until Thanksgiving - yay!

In terms of fun after I got back from the West Coast on Wed, I wanted to make the most of giving Beanie a good time during our "staycation", so here is what we did:

Thurs 9/9: Went to the library in the morning for BabyTime (storytelling, coloring, songs and bubbles). Then we had a snack picnic by the fountain. That evening we celebrated my Mom's birthday.
Friday 9/10: Went blueberry picking with Beanie and my niece. It was a lot of fun, ended up at my parents place and had lunch.
Saturday 9/11: Cannot remember what we did but I know we went out during the day.
Sunday 9/12: Went to the mall and Beanie got her first ride in a carousel which she LOVED. Major meltdown when leaving the mall so that was not fun :-(
Mon 9/13: Stayed home and relaxed. Loads of laundry and unpacking from my trip.
Tue 9/14: Went to the G.AP and bought 5-6 items for Beanie, paid $0 for it!  Then had lunch at a bistro. Beanie loved it. I had an old gift card that I used to buy some clothes for myself.
Wed 9/15: Went to the grocery store which was fun for Beanie and me too. I don't usually take her grocery shopping so its a novelty for her. I had fun chatting with her as we bought produce and eggs etc. It was so cute when she asked the guy at the seafood counter for "fish" and said she wanted "two!". She then said thank you when he handed me the packet. She got a balloon and was thrilled. Later I dropped Beanie at my parents and then went out to lunch with my niece. Beanie had a good time at my parents place.
Thurs 9/16: Had a fun play date with her friend from school. We met at the library for the Babytime, then went to an indoor playground and later for lunch. The kids had a blast and it was so cute to see Beanie playing with her friend and her older sister. I like this Mom so was glad to get to know her a bit more.
Fri 9/17: Went shopping and had lunch out. Beanie loves the "stores"! She behaved so well that on the way back we stopped for a ice cream treat!
Sat 9/18: Went to the park, fed the ducks, played on the slides. Then since it was too hot we cut the park visit short and went to "puppy kitty store" and later picked up lunch to have an indoor picnic. That afternoon, I went to see a musical in a nearby town which was gave me some nice "me time"
Sun 9/19: Went to Tar.get to get provisions and then for pizza lunch. It was just Beanie and I and we had such a lovely time. We talked and ate and laughed. I realize that as she gets older it will be even more fun doing stuff together.

Overall its been a good time and I feel she had a lot of fun. We got long naps in every afternoon which was awesome!  So I am definitely well rested.

The bad side was that the night time sleep got pushed later to almost 9-9:30pm. And the house was a complete mess the entire time - no amount of picking and putting away helped so I just gave up. We do end up cleaning up before we go to bed but just seeing things strewn around all day was driving me nuts - lol!


Looking forward to getting back to routine. I hope she handles going to school well. She gives me a hard time most mornings, so we shall see.