Our Vacation to Waterloo, IA

This year, vacation looked a bit different for us. When we started looking at going places, we realized that having a seven month old made things a bit more challenging to have a vacation "away." We made a decision- this year we would go away for a weekend- just Mark and I- and then spend the rest of the week at home, relaxing all together as a family.

So first, our weekend away. This was the first time we have left Addelyn for a weekend- it was a BIT hard for me. She spent the weekend with Grandma Stewart so she was well taken care of though! Mark and I headed up to Minneapolis for the weekend. We had a great time together. We know that taking that time away, just the two of us, is probably one of the best things we can do for our marriage and for our family. Our goal is to make weekends like this happen every six months or so. It was good for us to connect, laugh together, talk, and just do "date" things like we used to do (before baby)!

Kind of a funny story....we showed up at our hotel on Friday to check in and when we arrived we saw a HUGE line of people, all dressed in very interesting costumes. Many were carrying swords and they ALL had on unique costumes. I cannot even explain our first reaction as we walked into the lobby and saw at least 100 adults in costumes. It definitely made us smile. The front desk explained that it was an Animae Conference. Maybe you are clueless like I was- but to explain, it is Japenese Animation- cartoons and video games. As the weekend went along, we found out that many people (including adults of all ages) are VERY into animae. If you are interested in learning more, you can check out the website below. It was fun, it definitely kept our elevator rides during the weekend interesting as we met a variety of people with a variety of costumes. Definitely a hobby I wasn't aware of. Always good to learn new things!

http://www.japan-zone.com/modern/tv_anime.shtml

We spent the rest of the weekend going to a movie, shopping, going to IKEA, eating out, and just relaxing at the hotel in the hot tub. We had so much fun. Our highlight of the weekend was definitely going to the Shout House, which is a dueling piano bar in downtown Minneapolis. We arrived early and got a table up front and spent the whole evening there on Friday. The piano players were amazing and talented and also very entertaining! They took requests, knew pretty much every song, and made the night a lot of fun. Mark and I loved it. We can't wait to go back and take friends with us.

www.theshouthouse.com

At the Shout House...they had a mirror behind them so you can see their hands flying across the piano.
What a fun date night....

After our fun weekend away, we headed home, both knowing we had the week off. It was a great week. We relaxed a ton, I read some books, Mark watched the Cubs (oh and I did too of course!), and we spent lots of quality time with Addelyn. I absolutely loved being home with her each day- getting to be a part of her schedule from morning until night. I only get to do that on weekends now and I hadn't realized how much of her day-to-day life I am missing.

It was a good week that we were thankful to have.

One of our afternoons was spent at the pool with our friends the Hansens. Austin and Addelyn had fun in the water but here they are below...taking a break on the towels.

The babes, only eight days apart

Mark spent most of his time on the slides with Jaxon (who is four). They would go down the slide, go straight up the stairs, and go down the slide again! I don't know who had more fun, Jaxon or Mark! (Mark always needs good excuses to play like a kid again!)

Overall, vacation was great. We have decided in the future that it may be easier to "disconnect" from work and really get away if we leave town.

But for this year, being home was just what we needed.