The Staycation

This summer I'll admit, I got jealous of my sisters. They are teachers. They are good teachers. They are dedicated teachers. They are teachers who work very long hours during the 9 months of the year, take classes in the summer, make preparations for class, and spend a good chunk of their time off, preparing for the next school year. I value that there are teachers who are so dedicated to the art of enlightening young minds. I am very much aware that they cram at least 12 months worth of 40-hour work weeks, into 9 months of the year. They spend countless hours grading, prepping, researching, etc. I get it. I, by no means, am trying to devalue the work they do as teachers. They work hard -- I would venture to say harder than many of us with 40 hour a week jobs. I get it. I really do. They're amazing. They rock.
But.......
I get jealous of their summer breaks; time when schedules are more relaxed, when there is time for vacation, travel, reading books, catching up on sleep -- time to unwind and prepare for another grueling 9 months. I know they pay for it, during the school year, but it doesn't help me from feeling jealous, for two and a half months out of the year.
After 7 years at one job, I have worked my way up to 3 weeks of vacation. I work nearly every holiday. This year, I have bargained to get New Year's day off. I am working literally every other holiday of the year. Every one. I value my time away from work very much. But it is limited. And when at least a week out of every year is spent on home improvement projects (this was spring break - during - and - after), and various days off are needed for taking care of life's responsibilities, I have found that I have few days off for real vacation.
So, because this year I was saving time off for when my sisters and nephew come into town, and for when I get to see AnnaMarie, Roy and Sophie, and for a week in December, when my favorite sister-in-law and second cousin/brother-in-law come to town... there was little time for a big summer vacation.
So we stayed home. We did the "Staycation." And we had a blast!
We went to a town less than an hour away, and stayed in a hotel with an indoor water park, complete with a space theme. We were in heaven. We swam for three days straight. It was awesome.




The favorite activity was the tube slide, that I was sure Lauryn would be terrified of. She wasn't. I think we went down it about 100 times. A day. An hour.

We went to the museum that houses more American space artifacts than anywhere else in the country -- outside of D.C. We've been there before, but as always, we loved it.

Oh the history lessons -- telling my 9 year old about when the Berlin Wall came down. I was a couple years older than him, when I remember watching it on TV.





New parks were exciting... just because they were new, and had never been tried before.



And then there was this place:

The BEST (and I can speak with some authority here) french fries on earth. And the best shakes. And the best burgers. Seriously. Yummy.

We had a blast.
But perhaps the best news? A week or so after the staycation, we got an email -- our name had been picked out of the little box at the front counter that said "win a free night's stay."
Whoo-HOO!
Look for another weekend staycation to come!