The Place to be When You Turn 15

This past weekend was Margaret's 15th birthday and we decided to celebrate by taking the girls to Burlington for an overnight. We stayed at the TownPlace Suites in Williston in a two-bedroom suite. TownPlace Suites is the Fairfield Inn version of the extended stay hotels by Marriott, but the price was right and they allow dogs so Tessa was part of the celebration.

The weather was glorious -- sunny, warm and smelled of summer. The ferry ride to Burlington was nice and Brigid as usual enjoyed getting out of the car to explore with Dad.

Unfortunately for Dad (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) he had to work part of the weekend, so while he stayed at the hotel, we went shopping, first to Barnes and Noble so Margaret could spend her birthday money (thank you, Chet, Marilyn and Kathy!) and then across the street to the mall so both girls could pick out a few things at Aeropostale. Brigid enjoyed having a cheesy burger for snack and took three turns on the merry-go-round ride -- one paid for by me, two paid for by parents who wanted to give their kids rides but had to allow Brigid clear passage because she wouldn't get up.

We returned to the hotel to pick up Dad and then it was off to Pizza Putt for some time in the play place, arcade fun and miniature golf. (note to anyone who hasn't been in a while -- the mini putt has gone WAY downhill and is sorely lacking. It's suffered at the hands of a new bowling alley and bumper cars). Brigid loved the play place, and Dad actually got his groove on playing Rock Band with the girls. Yay baby!

Margaret decided she wanted to go to the Olive Garden for dinner, so we headed over, knowing in our hearts that Saturday night at the Olive Garden meant a 45 min. wait holding one of those pagers. It started to rain right then, so we weren't even able to wait outside where Brigid would have had more fun.
We were finally seated about 7 p.m. and Brigid was doing remarkably well considering she hadn't really eaten. Most of us enjoyed our meal (Dad wasn't too pleased with his chicken Caesar salad) and we had leftovers to take home -- always a bonus. Brigid was great all through the meal (!) and I was able to sneak a note to the waiter to bring Margaret a slice of lemon cake so we could sing her "Happy Birthday."
The waiter joined in the singing but we were spared the entire-staff-marches-out-and-sings-the-same-song-different-version you get at most of these chain restaurants. Margaret was grateful for that.

Back to the hotel for some swimming in a pool that was almost solid chlorine. I'm surprised any of us still have our retinas. I didn't even go in the water and my eyes were burning. Snacks and cable TV (one of the only times we get to watch cable is when we're in a hotel)in the room afterwards and then off to bed. The next morning, Daddy took Brigid in the pool for a quick swim before we packed up and headed back to Plattsburgh in time for him to get to work. It was still gloriously beautiful, so we capped it with dinner out on the deck.

To think there was snow on the ground four days before...

B O N U S P H O T O S
These were taken in late April 13 when I took Brigid to the hospital pond to feed the ducks. The heron returns quite often: