For Christmas this past year, my parents decided to give the entire family a mini vacation.  It has been a dream of my mother's since the day I was born ( I am the oldest of three) to get the entire family together, grand-kids and all, and go on a vacation.  She has always hoped for Florida, but with funds being a bit tight, she settled for Indianapolis this year.

So, my hubby, two girls and I, my brother, his girlfriend and his two girls, my sister, her hubby and two kids and my mom and dad, all packed up and headed to Indy for the weekend. 

We decided to grill out at the hotel on Friday night.  We all drove there separately, with the plan of starting to grill at 7:00.  We were each assigned groceries to bring.   When we got there, the kids swam, the hubby's grilled and the mom's (and almost step-mom) watched the kids and had a beverage. 

We went to the Zoo on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining but it wasn't too hot.  My mom had assigned us all jobs at Christmas, and several of the kids were in charge of locating certain animals at the zoo.  My big one was searching for bears, and she found them.  She was proud of herself, successful!  We watched the dolphin show, rode the roller coaster and carousel, pet an elephant and had a picnic lunch. 

We then went back to the hotel and all the kids swam again.  Somehow, I got the job of watching and swimming with them all while the rest of the adults went to the winery.  I think I got screwed there. 

We went to dinner at a family style Italian restaurant called Bucca di Peppa's (or something like that), and had a blast.  We had so much food, yummy food.  And my sister and mom secretly told the server it was my birthday (which was actually Friday, and mom brought cake for the cook out on Friday).  When we were done eating, the entire staff came out with a cake and a candelabra and the entire restaurant sang to me.  It was a blast!  All the kids loved it, they sang loud, clapped and yelled "HEATHER" between every line, as instructed. 

With full bellies, we somehow made our way back to the hotel and to bed. 

Sunday we went to the Children's Museum, which was a blast.  My little one's favorite part was the dinosaurs.  My big one was afraid of them.  My favorite part was watching the paleontologists work in their lab.  One was trying to assemble a t-rex tooth, and the other was cleaning and repairing an actual fossil dinosaur bone. Cool stuff.

On the way home, we stopped in Danville to eat at the Beefhouse.  YUMMY, again! 

We all made it home safely, full and tired.

Thanks to mom and dad for a great weekend.  Maybe next year we'll make it to Florida.  (But I refuse to wear one of the silly hats that my mom insists we all need!)

(Note:  Anyone with kids needs to see the Indy Zoo and Children's Museum.  It is a great weekend getaway for the family.)