Our Mini Vacation

This week from Sunday - Tuesday we had the opportunity to go away for as a family. It was wonderful to spend time together and for me not to be distracted with cooking and cleaning. I managed to mostly stick to clean eating, which was my goal. On the way there, we stopped for lunch at a burgers + fries restaurant. I had baked coconut/almond flour bread ahead of time and took it along, so they brought out my burger and fixings in a bowl and then I put it on my bread. That day for supper, we went to a steakhouse. I didn’t actually feel like having steak, so I ordered Napa Chicken which was “tender chicken breasts topped with artichoke hearts, portabella mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and a white wine herb sauce.” SO good. I really liked the decor, too. I thought the kids’ milk bottles were cute. Each table had a little lamp attached. Haley eats very little, so we did order her a meal for the first lunch, but she hardly ate any of it. The rest of the time we just let her share from our food and that worked very well, so it cut down on cost and wasted food. The first night we put Blake on the hide-a-bed that pulled out from the couch in the other room but it was SO uncomfortable that he ended up in bed with Jared + I at 5 a.m. The 2nd night we let Blake sleep with us all night. We didn’t get a good sleep but for one night it was ok. On Sunday afternoon, we stopped by the mall before checking in to our hotel. I had a gift card for Aeropostale, plus I had a 30% off my order coupon, so I ended up paying $6 out of pocket for my first ever pair of skinny jeans and some super comfy sweat pants. Ya, I know I’m probably about 3 years behind on the skinny jeans, but I don’t really care. On Monday afternoon, while Blake + Haley were napping, I did a tiny bit more shopping. I drove around looking for a specific health food store and found it thanks to my Mom’s GPS that she lent me, so I got some super deals on some all-natural products. I also scored this new purse for $16 with a 20% off coupon. I LOVE that it has a separate pocket for a cell phone, so I don’t have to go digging around in my purse to find my phone. We brought along cereal, bowls and spoons to eat breakfast in the hotel to cut down on cost. I baked lemon poppy seed muffins with coconut flour ahead of time for myself to eat for breakfast. On Monday evening, we went to the mall and we decided to look at a kid’s clothing store that I had a 30% off the total order coupon for.  We got these pajamas for Kiera (they were 50% off, plus 30% off, so about $6)

These t-shirts and bathing suit for Kiera (2 of the shirts were 50% off, plus 30% off, so $3.50 each)

The t-shirt and jeans for Blake (and Kiera is wearing her new swimsuit)

The girls’ sunglasses

This shirt for Blake

Flip flops for Kiera and Blake

all for $55. We saved over $50 off of the original prices! I prayed we would find some good deals and God once again provided! We went to the pool area every day, which was the highlight of the trip for the kids! There was a kiddie pool, a regular pool, the small pool where the waterslide ended and a hot tub. Kiera about to go down the slide… …and there she is. She had no fears whatsoever about going down the waterslide by herself over and over. Haley sometimes climbed to the top and waited for one of us to come up there. She did end up going down the waterslide by herself 3 times (once sitting up, once feet first on her tummy and once head first on her back…oops) and Jared was always at the bottom to catch her every time. Me with Blake + Haley on my lap…I love our expressions! Jared going down with Blake + Haley. The kids watched a bit of t.v. while we were packing up to leave. Our last stop before we left was Wal-Mart, where I ran in to buy cheap cereals that we don’t have here. The only meal I majorly cheated on was our last lunch. We went to a pizza buffet. I had been planning to order my own gluten-free pizza, but it was 12:30 when we went for lunch. We had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of us, plus a few stops first and we wanted to get to the hardware store back home to pick out tile for our basement bathroom before they closed at 6:00, so I didn’t have time to order a pizza for myself. I thoroughly enjoyed A LOT of pizza, including dessert pizza. The last time I cheated, I majorly paid for it and by God’s grace, I did not feel any ill effects from this most recent cheat. It was great to go away and relax and then it was straight back into work-mode when we got home as our main floor was covered in drywall dust. They got all of the drywall up in 2 days while we were away, so that was wonderful!  The mudding and taping starts tonight. WOOHOO!!