a family night away

The first 6 months of this past year has been a stretching one for our family. Between a long busy season at work, adoption paperwork & ups and downs, family situations and an overly busy schedule, we were starting to feel it. I was exhausted and we were ready to embrace a summer of just enjoying each other and a slower pace. The last weekend in may we headed to chicago for a family fun night in a hotel. Ava was giggly with excitement over it - it was just what we needed. Time to throw everything out the window (including bedtimes and rules) and just have fun together.

Daddy and his girls (poor kate's pants got soaked on the ride up)

quick family shot

the infamous silly face

Our bell "girl"

While I unpacked, Ryan took the girls down to "scope out the pool."

Good thing it was really there - we would have had some disappointed little girls

Fun just having fun

After a quick dinner, we headed down to the pool

Love how much our girls love the water

Daddy and his mermaids

just hanging out

the pool water was pretty cold - so the girls didn't last as long as we had planned on swimming. But the great part? The hotel had giant tv's with lawn chairs. The girls bundled up and watched nick jr while Ryan and I got to relax up in the hot tub.

And then it was back to the room for baths and nutritional snacks : )

My Cheetos girl

We started out trying the 3 girls together. After about 5 minutes, Olivia decided it was overrated and made her own bed on the floor. It was so nice having a suite - let's just say our girls are party animals when given the occasion. They giggled and laughed together while watching nick jr until 11:00 that night. : ) Ryan and I were glad for the chance to watch something other than "Olivia the pig" for 3 hours.

We can't wait for the excuse (and more reward points!) to do it again!