A Stay-cation...Part One

Kiawah, Hilton Head, Mexico, Jamaica, The Outer Banks...warm sunny places that the only accessories you need are sunglasses, sun lotion, a bathing suit, a chair, and a good book in hand. These are all the places that some of my facebook friends went to this spring break, but this year we did a "stay-cation." 


I really wanted to go away this year. This spring seems to be even busier than usual with the spring sports. I'm no different than any of my neighborhood moms with kids the same age. Their sports no longer are just at the neighborhood park or school field. Now we need to allow enough time for the car ride to get to the fields, and coaches seem to want them earlier and earlier before the start of a game. So even though I really could have used a week "not" in my own house, looking at all my unfinished projects, and have some more family time that seems to get even more precious with each passing year, I've been trying to be extra good about our family household budget and actually stay within the budget. Not an easy task for any family these days but I still wanted to have a little fun with the kids. 


Our "stay-cation" started with Grandma in the Red House and her friend Jim coming for a visit over the weekend. My mom always comes to visit the kids for their birthdays, and since Shannon's and Timmy's birthdays are only 10 days apart, she came the weekend in between. Grandma and Jim took them both to the mall. Shannon picked out some things in Bath and Body Works and Timmy picked out some new clothes from Dick's. 

Timmy trying on new shirts...showing me his game face.

After shopping and lunch, Shannon wanted to stop at Fins and Feathers to get a couple of fish for our fish tank. Over the last couple of months we have had a few fish funerals and Shannon wanted to add some more to the tank. We went in to buy fish, and yes we did add three fish to our tank, Simba and Mr. and Mrs. Speckles (every fish we've ever had has been given a name), but that is not all we came home with. I came home with a 14 year old daughter who had a "bunny" room up until last year wanting one of the bunnies in the window. I do have to say it was really cute. It's called a Dwarf Hotot Rabbit, but really...another animal in the Nealon House?!?! We already have two dogs, a cat we rescued back in September and a fish tank. We went home with the three fish and after negotiations between Shannon and myself and then between Shannon and Molly to get her to chip-in with their Christmas money from Grandma in the Yellow House, they decided that they would buy the bunny and the cage and the food and the bedding and anything else that this bunny was going to need.


So on the Monday of our "stay-cation" we went back to the pet shop and got the bunny that Shannon always wanted. When it was all said and done the girls had a whole dollar left of their money. I handed Shannon the dollar and told her she owed her sister 50 cents.

Molly meeting her new bunny for the first time.

This bunny has changed names a few times already. At first, the girls were going to call him Yankee, then they changed it to Jack. Then, when Timmy met him for the first time he said, "Hello, Mr. Bunny" and now that seems to be what everyone is calling him.

So for the first part of our stay-cation we had a great visit with Grandma and Jim and a new addition to the Nealon Zoo...


...more stay-cation adventures to come.