TIny Impromptu Family Vacation

Before you freak out, yes, Disney and four weeks of Texas are coming soon. First, however...

Our friends, Nick and Katie got married last May and had a party with a "hint of ceremony" at Nick's parents house last Saturday to celebrate. It was in Connecticut and at the last minute we decided instead of driving down more than two hours for a party that started at 4 to just turn around tired from a long day and drive more than two hours home, that we would just get the cheapest hotel room we could find and make a little vacation out of it. So, saturday morning we hopped in the car first thing in the morning and headed out to get coffee and pao de qejo (Brazilian cheese bread.) Then we were off the the zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. It's not really on the way to Connecticut, but we had fun and it wasn't too far out of the way. We got to the zoo, which is about an hour away right at park opening and stayed until just before lunch when we left and split a couple of cheap sandwiches from Subway for lunch on our way to check in to our hotel in Vernon, CT. We stayed at a Howard Johnson. We were only there for about half an hour. Just enough time to get cleaned up and ready for the party/wedding. Then we only had about a 20 minute drive to the party where we ended up stayed until way too late. The kids ended up having so much fun! The next morning, the kids were up bright and early and we wasted no time before scarfing down some breakfast and heading to the pool. After which, we went to Dinosaur State Park just another 20 minutes or so away from our hotel. It was really cool, but we were all pretty exhausted and headed out for home at about 4. Just in time for some rain. The kids were so excited that we were staying in a hotel.

In front of a swamp at Dinosaur State Park

Lennon as a Triceratops

having some morning cuddles in our hotel room

Lennon had us set up his pack n play right in between the two hotel beds.

Shelby and Mia being silly

Waiting for the ceremony to start. Lennon shushed me a few times during the ceremony and later said it was his favorite part of the party.

Mia, of course, made fast friends with all the kids there. Most of which were family.

Mia with Madison, her new bff, Nick's neice

Looking at fish in a pond at the zoo

We were trying to get a picture with this waterfall, but apparently I missed it.

Feeding the fish. At one point something huge poked up out of the water and Mia and I both thought for just a half second that it was a crocodile. We are such nerds. It turned out to be a really big turtle.

This baby giraffe was just two weeks old.