I had some time off from work this summer and asked Kaira what she wanted to do with our vacation time. We (mostly she) came up with a list of 17 things she wanted to accomplish in the week and a half I had off. This is the story of our adventure. (And of course we took photo proof of everything...)
To start with, here is the list...
1. Go to the beach
2. Go camping
3. Go to the playground
4. Ride bikes
5. Have a picnic
6. Fly a kite
7. Visit the zoo
8. Go to a swimming pool
9. Go horseback riding
10. Watch a sunset
11. Play in the rain
12. Go to Chuck E Cheese
13. Eat watermelon
14. Go fishing
15. Go to the movies
16. Paint
17. Play board games
We started off our vacation, as everyone should, by packing up and heading to the beach for a few days. Here we were obviously able to check off #1 (go to the beach), as well as #8 - the swimming pool (the hotel had one), and #10 - watch a sunset (kicking back in the hotel pool talking with some new friends we made, watching the sun go down. Kaira was thrilled one of the little girls was her age.)
Playing in the sand... we also made a monster sand castle
More sandy fun
Swimming in the ocean
Trying to catch a wave, and a hermit crab we found on the beach
The view of the beach (two different spots, two different days)
Break time! Sleepy girl passed out in the bed at the hotel after a long day at the beach...
Back in action! On to the hotel pool. Kaira LOVED the pool (she thought the beach was cool, but all the sand getting everywhere was a little overrated - I agree). One day we spent a solid 5 hrs in the pool without leaving.
Just how many floaties can one girl have??
And one of her favorite things about staying in the hotel? Pushing the elevator buttons of course!
We got back home and hardly got a chance to sit still before starting on our next phase of vacation adventures. We got home in the afternoon and spent the rest of the evening unpacking, then repacking for our camping trip. A friend had a cabin up in north Louisiana that a few buddies were going on a camping trip to. Kaira and I joined along for a few days, but decided to do it rugged style... no sleeping in plush cabins for us - we were all about tents and sleeping bags. (check off #2 on the list)
Of course we had to start by pitching the tents (or I did while Kaira stood and asked "what's that?" "why are you doing that?" and "you're doing a good job, mommy"). We even brought a small tent along for the dogs.
Once the tents were up, we could get down to the real business of camping... fishing! (#14)
Kaira really enjoyed fishing - even though we didn't catch anything :(
(With all the people around at our camp and others, the few fish that were caught were pretty tiny).
She made me take her out to the dock multiple times a day to sit out with the fishing rod.
She was a natural...
Waiting patiently
We also went on a little nature walk one day. This is the little road we followed, and some flowers we saw that Kaira thought were so beautiful (she even picked one for me and made me wear it in my hair).
There was so much good food... but of course, the one thing that mattered to her was that there was watermelon (#13)
We got to do some fun things not on the list too... Kaira found a use for her binoculars watching all kinds of things, and we got to go on a couple of boat rides, which she loved (even though she somehow doesn't look so thrilled in the picture)
And finally, back in the tent after dark, playing around with the sleeping bags.
And, of course, one of the highlights of camping - getting to play with glowsticks!!
The rest of the fun we had at home before, after, and between the camping and beaching madness.
Playing in the sprinkler in the backyard...
A camp classic we somehow missed doing while camping... so we did it at home when we got back - S'MORES!
We went to the movies (#15) not once, but twice. I had planned to take her to Ratatouille, which she informed me that she'd already seen with Daddy... then followed with "but it's okay, I want to watch it again with you." So we went. And we went again the next day to see the third Shrek movie.
We even managed a 3-in-1... we went to the park, which had a playground (#3), where we had a picnic (#5), then flew a kite (#6)! Of course there was plenty of playing on the playground too - and playing in the sand under. You would think she had enough of that at the beach, but we had to tote the beach toys along with us and she played in the sand some more.
The first is obviously the picnic. The second picture was just a funny picture of her I caught while we were eating and I liked it, so thought I would share it.
Then we got on to the kite flying...
We played a bunch of board games (#17)... Cootie (she beat me), Sorry! (we each won one), Memory (one & one again), Lets Go Fish, Chutes and Ladders... we even threw in a puzzle for good measure! Whew, that's a lot of board gaming!
We also picked up a set of Jacks that we saw at the store - Kaira begged me to teach her how to play. It was funny enough watching her try to catch the little bouncy ball, much less trying to scoop up jacks in between. She tried a two hand approach - one for the ball, one for the jacks... but even that didn't work very well, she usually needed both just to catch that little ball. She finally resorted to bouncing and catching the ball first, then grabbing the jacks. Was pretty funny to watch.
Here's another fun one that wasn't on the list, but thought I would include it because it was such a hoot. A friend of mine gave me this idea and we tried if a few weeks ago for the first time. Throw a glowstick in the tub and turn off the lights! Bathtime was a blast! This wasn't the first time we've tried this, but we had extra glowsticks and bracelets from camping and what a better way to use them. I lightened up the pictures best I could, but they are still a little hard to see (what do you expect, the lights were out!), but you get the idea. Check it out...
Of course we had to break out the paints (#16) a couple of times, and she made a royal mess, I mean, masterpiece...
Went bike riding (#4) around the block. She almost looks like she's starting to get to big for her little bike - might have to start looking for a bigger one soon.
The only thing on the list I just couldn't manage to do was to find a place to go horseback riding. I didn't think it would be such a problem, there are a million places in AZ to go to. Apparently Cajuns aren't as big on getting on the big beasts as they are where I grew up. But lucky for me, Chuck E Cheese saved the day (go figure). They had a horse ride with a fairly large and realistic horse, and Kaira was happy to call that horseback riding and check it off the list. Of course I will have to take her to do the real deal (probably next time I take her back to AZ to visit), but for now, this will have to do.
And counting our little cheat with the horses, that completes all 17 on the list. So that's the story of our summertime adventure. It was a blast... and I am worn out!! Now I need a 'lay at home and do nothing' vacation to recoup from our adventures. Hope you enjoyed sharing the adventure with us!
