Stay-cation

An amazing thing happened at Chris's work. His boss told him he had to take a week long vacation. Apparently there is a company policy that employees must take a week vacation every year, and Chris has been working there the past 11 months, having only taken one personal day. So Chris is taking off next Monday through Friday off, the same week Parker has spring break.

Now we considered spending this week going on a fun vacation. But this nagging little fact kept popping up, and that fact is that vacations cost money. So we decided to stay home and have a stay-cation. We are going on a vacation to Meridian, Idaho.

Today was the first day, and we would have loved to do something super fun. However, the sickness gods were conspiring against us. McKay and Deacon woke up coughing and cranky. So Chris got to work on the list of things I wrote up for him to do. My house and garage are clean. My gate to my backyard is fixed. Every single ball and bicycle tire is inflated. And the tree that's been sitting in a pot in my front yard since last Saturday is planted. Hurray for Chris!

Then it was time for Parker's football game. Neither one of us wanted to stay home with sick kids, so we decided one hour away from the couch wouldn't kill them. We loaded them up, and in the 3 1/2 minute drive to the park, Deacon managed to throw up all over himself. Rather than take him home like a concerned parent should, I pulled off his jacket and said, "It's warm enough without one." So I hauled children, team snacks, and lawn chairs across the park to the game, where it remained sunny for approximately ten minutes. At this point the sky darkened, the wind blew, lightning flashed, rain fell, and the game was not cancelled. And here's the amazing part, we still didn't take our cold and crying kids home! Instead I went back to the van and grabbed an umbrella and Deacon's vomit-covered jacket. I put that stinky coat on my kid, and we stuck it out for the whole game, while our children cried, their noses ran, and we sat by ourselves in an ever-widening leper's circle. And here's the best part--Parker scored a touchdown! He ran down the entire field without getting his flag pulled. I'm so glad we didn't leave so we could see that. He was excited. So was Chris.

Then I decided to try a new culinary experience for dinner. If this was a real vacation, we would be trying new food and places to eat. So on our stay-cation, we went for something new. Taco pizza. Yes, Pizza Hut makes a taco pizza. I'm sure the rest of the world knows about this, but I did not. I was positive that the combination of two of my favorite foods would ruin both of them, but no, it was truly amazing. Now I'm thinking of making pizza tacos for dinner tomorrow. Chris says, "Please, please, don't try." But I can see potential....