Redefining vacation?

According to dictionary.com: vacation - noun 1. a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: Schoolchildren are on vacation now.

Hmmm...

My first "official" day of vacation consisted of wonderful family time - and no, I'm not being sarcastic. I had the distinct honor of watching my mother become Dr. Gerren in her commencement ceremony...and celebrated the day with some of her friends, my brother and father, and my family...We went to lunch, hung out afterwards, and just enjoyed each others company. And if you read my earlier post, we did finally open that bottle of champagne and I think there were a total of 3 glasses drank out of it. Oh well!! But it was a full day. And activity was certainly not suspended.

This weekend was also a wonderful family weekend...slightly more restful since Matt was around and I believe I even got a nap snuck in there somewhere. Ahhh...bliss...

Today...well today was just wonderful, despite the fact that my dear hubby wasn't here. Kellen and I had a BLAST today, which was precisely the point of the day. We all got up, had breakfast, and he and I took Tatum to school and dropped her off...We then headed to Starbucks and got coffee for me, chocolate milk and a donut for him. Well, it was officially for him but after one bite, I got to finish it off...it apparently sounded much better to him than it tasted.

Then we went to drop off rented movies at Blockbuster and to the lab to get blood drawn for me (always some small tasks to be run, aren't there?) for an appointment later on this week. He and I talked extensively about the blood draw...it was freaking him out that they were going to stick me with a needle. Wow...We really had to work through that one, and I'm not sure that we're all the way through it yet, honestly.

Then we went to Wal-Mart to pick up his school supplies - yes, I'm typing it and not crying. And here's the funny part...he's not even registered for school yet! HAHAHA - Matt gets to do that either tomorrow or when he's watching him next week...Anyway, so we picked up the school list and did our shopping, and the grand total didn't come out to nearly as bad as I thought (less than $20!), especially considering I am shy only a couple of things on the list (the bath towel doesn't count, because we'll send him with one from home - I have NO idea why I would consider buying him a brand new towel when we have some here at the house I can send with him??). I can't find the assorted colored construction paper in the correct size (12 X 18") (2 packages, mind you) - I guess that's a "my bad" for starting on this school shopping thing so late; and will buy the dry erase markers and the 2nd box of tissues later.

Anyway...he was getting excited about the school supplies and it was really neat to watch. We looked at the lunch boxes and back packs, but he told me that he didn't like any of them there, so we'll continue to look for the ones that he tells me he "has to have" - we just haven't seen them yet, I guess. Then we found a steal of a deal on some lawn chairs - marked down to a buck...Yes, ladies and gentlemen...lawn chairs like I have been looking for all season long, and like my dear sweet husband and Kellen bought as a surprise for me Sunday night (yup...you read that one correctly...), on BIG TIME SALE today for a buck. So I bought some more to add to the set that they so sweetly had gotten me last night.

We then continue our fun day (and yes, he really was having fun through all of this except the lab part) and go to Once Upon a Child for a quick clothing drop off...then to the mission for a drop off there as well. Sidenote story: I had mentioned while we were getting ready this morning that we were going to take a trip to the mission and that if he had any toys he wanted to get rid of to bring them to the kitchen to pack up...So Kellen goes in his room and starts going through his toys and brings out about a half dozen small toys that he's decided he wants to take to the mission. Isn't that just the sweetest? I just love that he's able to think about others - even if he doesn't do it all of the time, he IS capable of it!

Headed back to the house for lunch, unloaded the car from the Wal-Mart shopping trip (wouldn't want to melt the new school crayons, right?) and then got ready to go to the pool...And it was off to the pool for us (And we walked there! I LOVE being so close!!). We stayed there about 2 or so hours, and Kellen just had SO MUCH FUN! He and I just played and played and played. He would dive to me, swim underwater to me, throw his toys and dive and swim for them, you name it...We had a BLAST! We finally left there at about 3 o'clock....walked home and got cleaned up. Kellen got ready to go to Little Dragons and I started cooking dinner for a couple in Sunday School that had just had a baby.

So we went to Little Dragons and Kellen did exceptional in class! Finished up there, came back to the house, Kellen changed clothes, I grabbed the dinner and we left again...stopped by Once Upon a Child for the 50 cents they paid me for the two onesies they decided to buy (I'm glad I didn't go out of my way for that trip today....I would have been upset because the GAS would have been more than that!), picked up Tatum and got Milkshake Monday at Chick-fil-A, then dropped off dinner to our friends.

Bless Kellen's heart...by this time, as you can imagine, he's utterly exhausted, and I'm trying desperately to keep him awake, but it's no use. He snoozed a little on the drive, then woke up when we get back to house to eat. Luckily, despite being completely exhausted and worn out, he really didn't give me too hard of a time tonight, but ate really well, drank his milkshake, and I allowed him to watch a little TV (which we obviously hadn't done much of all day). He helped me put away the laundry (oh, I didn't mention that between all of these various outings I had been keeping the laundry going, so there is barely a dirty piece of laundry in the entire house, and it's ALL put away in its appropriate place...YAY!!!), AND the dishes have been run twice AND put away - WOO HOO!! So at about 7:30 I had him start getting ready for bed and a little before 8 I was reading his bedtime story to him...He was ready!

So the point of all of this is to say...I had a WONDERFUL day with Kellen, but as far as the second official day of my vacation goes, the "period of suspension of...other activity.." definition isn't really fitting my "vacation" very well...Hmmm...

I think I'm going to throw the textbook definition out the window...'cause yesterday Kellen and I talked about all of the things that he and I wanted to do today, and we did them ALL. The only things that we didn't get done today that we wanted to were things that we added to our list as they came up...we want to play with the new toy I bought him at Wal-Mart; walk to the park close by our house, look at the pond and feed the ducks if we see any; and play in the "park" in our backyard (we have a relatively new swingset which he thinks is as good as going to a park). He also wants to go to The Bounce, which we're planning to do on Wednesday, and wants to go back to the pool.

Sounds like a plan to me!