Family Vacation, Part 1

This past weekend, we took our first "family vacation" - in the sense that it was just our little threesome, staying in a hotel, seeing sights and having fun.  We went to Philadelphia, PA and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - though Will and I came to fully realize how different it is to vacation with a toddler than when its just the two of you.  I now understand all those parents who come back from vacation saying, "I need a vacation from vacation."  But Benjamin was such a trooper - he slept well in the hotel, ate well in crazy restaurants, and generally let his mom and dad drag him all over creation.

The car ride down was pretty uneventful … snacked, read books, played with the new truck that we found at Walmart, and napped …

He clearly has it really tough.

Then, we stopped just outside Philadelphia to catch dinner … at CHICK-FIL-A!  That's right, folks - we got to introduce Benjamin to our favorite fast-food restaurant.  (I must clarify that we don't generally eat fast food, but Chick-fil-A doesn't qualify as such in my book).  Actually, Benjamin was still sleeping when we pulled in the parking lot, so I slipped in first for a visit to the little girl's room … and almost got teary … it was clean, it smelled good, there were families smiling at one another, i could almost hear the angels singing … it was a CHICK-FIL-A!  (When I got back to the car and relayed this to Will, I think he started to doubt my mental stability … but then that's probably a regular occurrence for him :)

Anyway, so Benjamin ate his first Chick-fil-a … because of his food allergies, we couldn't get the classic kid's meal with nuggets, but he ate waffle fries, grilled chicken, and a fruit cup…

He saw … 

He ate … 

HE LOVED IT!  (actually, that look says, "Mom, can you quit acting
like the paparazzi? This is embarrassing … its just chicken!"

And may I just say, whoever at Chick-fil-A headquarters came up with those adhesive kids placements?  Pure genius!!  I was tempted to grab a stack for use throughout our trip...

After dinner, we tried the indoor playground for a little while, but after a long day of driving, Benjamin wasn't sure why we weren't just heading on the hotel…

We even took our picture with a cow … oh yes we did!

Isn't my husband a good sport?  I think the employees thought we were a little odd, but charming :)

And that pretty much sums up Family Vacation Day 1.  More to come!