After an unseasonably warm week, Mark and I decided that we could all use a change of scenery, so we booked a last minute deal on hotwire.com for a hotel in Sioux Falls (it ended up being the Sheraton!) for Saturday night and we made our way over there after getting our things packed up that morning and having some lunch.
Kendrick was out right away, but Cashel was pretty hilarious until he conked out about half an hour later.
Sertoma Butterfly House and Marine Preserve
We decided after checking in to head over to the Sertoma Butterfly House and Marine Preserve to check it out. We thought it was an alright time, but we probably wouldn't go back again: It was one of those "done it, good to go" type of things.
It started with the marine preserve, which the boys thought was a lot of fun. They were mesmerized by all the fish as well as the tiny sharks and sting rays.
The butterfly house was a little chaotic, but not because of the butterflies, but rather because both boys were totally obsessed with getting off the path and either diving into the fish pond or digging up all the dirt ::sigh:: The joys of being a boy mom :) The butterflies were so beautiful, though!
I didn't take a ton of pictures because I spend most of my time keeping Kendrick out of the fences lol
This butterfly landed right on Mark's back! Cashel thought it was pretty cool!
Sertoma Park
How I lived in Sioux Falls for a year and a half without knowing about this park (which is, literally, about a tenth of a mile from my old gym) is beyond me. COOL place!
Other Highlights
I never ever ever ever ever (I could keep going, but I won't) get sushi. Ever. Ever. I love it! LOVE! So I was just on cloud 9 when we went to the Hibachi Grill and Grand Buffet for supper (shout out to AiWen for introducing me!). We met Mark's Dad, Pam and Jess there, who had been doing some Christmas shopping earlier in the day. Although I didn't capture any other pictures from the meal, what with my kids being monkeys, Cashel getting lost for about 3 minutes (that felt like about an hour), and trying to get them to eat their food instead of play around with it. Oh well.
After supper, we met back at the hotel and the kiddos went swimming. Or, rather, Cashel, Mark and I went swimming while everyone else watched. And Kendrick sort of went swimming, but most of the time, he looked about like this:
He was NOT a happy camper. We still haven't determined if the water was too cold, the chlorine was too strong for his dry skin, or if he was just scared in general. He didn't want to go near it, and he didn't want us to either. He did seem to somewhat enjoy it a little bit as long as I held him entirely out of the water and didn't even let the tips of his toes touch.
Cashel preferred the bath-water temp "hot" tub, so these two hung out there for the most part.
The night ended up being pretty hairy after the pool. We got the boys baths and pjs, after which Grandpa, Grandma and Jess left, and we thought it'd be fun to drive around town and look at Christmas lights with the boys. Kendrick conked out right away, but Cashel was WIRED, so he ended up staying awake for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only about 9:30pm. Of course, when we got back to the hotel at 9, Cashel was still wide awake and Kendrick woke back up too, so it was a struggle to get everyone to sleep.
The next morning, we all went out for breakfast at our usual spot in Sioux Falls: The Rollin' Pin.
After breakfast, Kendrick and I dropped Mark and Cashel off at the hotel so they could get some swimming in, and Kendrick and I went to the mall to do a little playing at the play place...at 9am. It was good for him to burn off some steam, seeing as how he HATED the pool and all. We were gone about an hour, and made it back just in time to get our things packed up and drive home. We did stop in Worthington for a couple errands and grabbed some pizza to eat over at Dad and Pam's, but made it home by 7pm to wind down.
We had a nice time, we were just tired. Dog tired. It's beginning to make us wonder about how on earth we're going to be able to make it for a whole week on vacation together lol Oh well :)
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