Staycation Week!

Last year when I was very pregnant with Clara and we knew we would not be traveling anywhere for a summer vacation, the girls and I decided that we would have a STAYcation instead.  It was such a success that they wanted to do it again this year.  So I planned out a week of activities but on a little smaller scale since this time around we would also have the company of an 11 month old.  Our first day was "Tour Your Town Day."  This was a repeat of last year but we had lots of fun with it still.  One of the girls' favorite places to go to is Sunflower Books.  They had a great time looking at all the wonderful books available for all the kiddos.

They also like to go to the cafe "Joe & Sugars" to get a little treat.  Emma got a cinnamon roll, Sam picked out a cookie, and I chose a blueberry scone.  Clara enjoyed having some.....Gerber Sweet Potato puffs while we had our snack. :)

After going to several shops in town we chose Primos Pizza for lunch.  Who doesn't love a pizza buffet for kids?  I knew they would fill their tummies and enjoy playing at the arcade. 

Clara even had a good time, too!

On Day 2 I surprised the girls with a scavenger hunt around town.  I took pictures of places that they might recognize and turned them into puzzles so they had to figure out where the next clue would be.  One of their first clues was a tree in front of their school.  I only took a picture of the tree thinking that it would throw them off but they recognized it immediately.  Such smart kids I have!

Thanks to a few friends for allowing me to include their front doors as clues.  Here the girls are at Jessica's house receiving their next clue. 

Their next clue took them to our church - they recognized the clue very quickly but it was a little more tricky to actually find where they were headed to afterwards.

In between stops they had to work together to make the puzzle pieces fit - it was very intense!

We hit the library every week so the fountains in back of the building were a good choice to hide a clue.  Our scavenger hunt ended with a picnic at the park and it was really fun.

Day 3 was an afternoon of board games and homemade milkshakes!  I play volleyball on Wednesdsay mornings for a couple of hours so we needed something at home to do while Clara took a nice, long nap.  Here the girls are playing Disney Scene It with their milkshakes.

We got through several games (Monopoly, Life on the Farm, Book of Mormon Go-Fish, Scene It, and Uno) and hopefully the girls enjoyed themselves, even though it was a quiet afternoon.

Day 4 was "Local Parks Day."  I brought a whistle and at each park they had 20 minutes to play as hard as they could.  When the whistle blew, we loaded back in the van and went to our next stop.  I think we hit five parks in the morning and then met friends at McDonalds for lunch.

Clara enjoying her swing....

Day 5 was a repeat of last year as well.  We hit up the Pendleton Water Park with Dad on his day off from work.  We found a great spot in the shade and Emma and Sam went down the slides dozens of times and swam to their hearts' content!

Several hours and lots of snacks and sunscreen later, we were pooped and ready for our week to end.  I cross my fingers that the girls were able to make a lot of fun memories and that they enjoyed hanging out with the family as much as I did.  'Til next summer!