Water park weekend

Over the past two weeks, Derek has been out of town most days for a big conference up in Chicago. He came home super late Thursday night and we loved having home and spending the day together on Friday. This weekend was his army weekend so he left the house before the sun came up on Saturday morning. The annual FRG Christmas lunch was scheduled for today and so Derek and I decided that the kids and I should come up a day early to have some special family fun time!

So, the kids and I made a trip up to St. Joseph yesterday! We checked into our hotel and waited for Derek to be released around dinner time and we had all evening together. It felt like a nice little vacation for the kids and me. Poor Derek still had to go into work both days this weekend so it wasn't quite a vacation for him, but he was super glad to have some family time in what is normally a weekend away from us. 

We booked a super fun motel that's really close to the armory. I haven't ever been, but it boasted about a water park and a nice military discount, so we booked it. I joked with my mom earlier this week that I thought it'd be nothing more than a 3 foot pool with a slide. But it turns out, it was actually a pretty cool little water park! 

The big kids had so much fun. It was Caroline's first time in the pool! She was pretty chill about the whole ordeal despite the noise and water splashing in her face from her big siblings. 

We took a break from swimming to grab some dinner and check out a neat light display at Krug Park. Again, the kids loved it. 

After we passed by the lit-up nativity scene, Jackson told us that the Bible says Jesus will come back to earth some day. And then he asked if we knew when he was coming. I told him that the Bible says that no one will know when Jesus is coming back and that it'll be a big surprise. And Isabelle chimes in and asks, "Will he say boo?" Ha. I'm still laughing at that. 

We headed over to the armory for lunch (after swimming squeezing in a quick swim this morning, of course!). Santa even came to visit! The kids absolutely love getting to hang out at "Daddy's Army Work."

Whenever we have family days up at the armory, Home Depot always comes by with boxes of building sets for the kids! It's such a small little gesture on their behalf, but my kids love it. It means a lot that they support our military kids! 

We had such a wonderful weekend! I feel like I say this all of the time, but spending time with my family is my most favorite thing in the world. And my heart is just so full when we get to do fun things and make special memories. 

That being said, I'm also looking forward to getting back to our normal weekly routine. Only it won't quite be a normal routine because we have a lot of cleaning to 1) catch up from being behind while Derek traveled and 2) get ready for our friends who are coming to visit over Christmas! Less than two weeks-- I can't wait!!!