Happy Fourth of July

This past weekend, we went on vacation, but only traveled 20 minutes to get there. So, I guess that is what you call a "staycation."

We were planning on going to the symphony at Deer Valley on Saturday night with some neighbors, and then decided it would be fun to also go up for the parade on Sunday morning, so why not stay the night in Park City? When I found such a good deal at the new Waldorf Astoria ($99/night), we decided to stay for two nights.

Oh, I am pretty sure the rate we got on the room was a mistake because when another family tried to book at the same rate, the website had been changed with the correct promotional rate of $199/night. Oh well. Their mistake. Our gain. We lived like the elite for a few days...champagne tastes on a beer budget.

Here are some pics of our "vacation house" as Carolyn called it.

We started our weekend with a night at the symphony with our neighbors Brian & Katie, who have two girls, Abby (almost 4)and Emily (18 months). It was at the Deer Valley amphitheater and they played all patriotic tunes. My favorite part of the evening was when Carolyn started singing along to the "Ants Go Marching" song. As for the picture of her in the tall grass, she thought she was playing hide-n-seek with a group of older kids. She was sad when they ran right past her, instead of saying "I found you." Poor girl. She tried to fit in with the big kids, but they hardly even noticed her.

We went to the parade on Sunday morning, but Carolyn was not all that interested. Who could blame her, we did not have the best of view. Instead, she insisted on going back to the playground that she spotted when we were walking to the parade route. It was perfect timing because she had the whole place to herself since all of the other kids were busy watching the parade. We then meandered around the street festival, listened to some music, and ate lunch on Main Street. For lunch, Carolyn told me that she wanted to eat tofu, green beans, brown rice, and kiwi. We had to settle for a slice of watermelon and a crepe with roasted veggies and chicken.

Next, Steve played golf with some friends, while Carolyn and I relaxed back at the hotel. I think her favorite part of vacation might have been jumping on the bed in our room.

When Steve got back from golf, we made ourselves a picnic dinner (well, more accurately, we bought it from Whole Foods) and took the shuttle to the golf course where we had a great view of evening's fireworks. For this meal, Carolyn did get her tofu! She was even more pleased with her special treat, a piece of berry streusel. As the sun began to set we realized how very cold it was going to be and how unprepared we were for the extreme drop in temperature. We dug through our bags for anything that might keep us warm. We used socks as mittens, sunhats on our heads, and all three of us bundled together in the blanket. I am not exaggerating; we were in survival mode.... it was 43 degrees! The thermometer on the shuttle confirmed it and so did the evening's news.

On Monday morning, we slept in, spent some time in the pool, and enjoyed a final brunch before we went back home, where we all took a 3 hour nap. Now, that is how holiday weekends should be spent!