Spring Break

Mackenzie is on Spring Break this week, along with the majority of children.  It seems really early to me for Spring Break, but evidently some wise educator decided the week after Easter was the time for Spring Break.  We are having a fairly unplanned Spring Break.  I took the week off work and I pulled both kids out of daycare and we spent the first weekend at Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Mike's.  To make it more of a vacation, we got a hotel room so that the kids could stay in a hotel and go swimming in the pool, and so that Grandma and Grandpa got a break now and then and got to sleep in past 6. 

Before we left on Saturday morning we went over to Grandpa Butch and Grandma Linda's for the first Easter Basket/Egg hunt.  The kids found their baskets first and I didn't realize there were eggs as well.  So when Isaac asked me if he could eat a piece of candy out of each egg and there were only 4 eggs in his basket, I said "Sure."  Then he found 12 more plastic eggs during the hunt and had to stop and open each one up to get his piece of candy.  Lucky for me some of them had coins in them.

After we go to Midland, we went to Dow Gardens with my parents.  We walked through the gardens and saw the butterfly house.  We tried to get an impromptu family picture while we were there in front of some metal flowers:

It turned out about like every other impromptu family picture we have ever tried to take.  Here is a shot of more of the metal flowers:

 The kids really liked climbing on the giant rocks.  I think everyone else at Dow Gardens was really nervous about them climbing the rocks. This was probably for good reason, but I remember climbing the rocks and I really didn't see much harm in it.  We were all right there and the kids have fallen and survived before . . . I don't know, evidently my spidey-sense just wasn't very strong that day.

Here is a shot on the rocks with Grandma and Grandpa.  I think that Grandma really wanted this picture so that she could make sure the kids didn't fall off the rocks : )

We went over to the children's area that the kids remembered from going there with Grandma and Grandpa last summer.  Mackenzie was bound and determined to climb up onto this pig even though its back was quite sloped and smooth.  She made it . . . 

Isaac didn't get his picture with the pig because he didn't want to leave the sandbox.  He did strike a pose for a picture with the entrance sign though:

We left Dow Gardens and went to the Midland Center for the Arts where they had Grossology.  The kids thought it was pretty fun, although they didn't focus much on the learning components.  But they really liked the esophagus slide into the stomach and then the crawl through the intestines:

 

Isaac was also very fond of the faucet with a cold that had snot come out of it while he was talking, but I don't have a picture of that one :) 

 

We walked around the Center for the Arts after going through Grossology and the kids really enjoyed it.  Here is a shot of Mackenzie after she built her tower:

We went to the hotel after finishing up at the Center for the Arts and then went out to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse where the kids got to throw peanut shells all over the floor, which was pretty awesome.

We went to church on Easter Sunday at the church that Brian and I got married in, which was nice.  There is a new pastor there, so it wasn't quite the same as when Pastor Koke was there, but it was still nice and the kids did very well, especially considering there was a baptism as well as a large number of people taking communion and it ended up being an hour and a half service.  The Easter Bunny was kind enough to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the kids so we did our egg and basket hunt back at their house:

 

 

The Easter Bunny did very well by the kids.  After Lexie got to Grandma and Grandpa's they got to do another Easter basket hunt (this would be number 3):

Here is a shot of the 3 grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa on Monday after Grandpa read them a new book:

Today we went to the Toledo Museum of Art with Grandpa Butch.  They had a family activity today with beads.  Mackenzie made a necklace, bracelet and a ring and also made a necklace for Isaac, since he didn't want to do beads and was playing with the toys instead.  I need to get a picture of her with her jewelry on.  They had a blast playing at the family center in the museum, and played very well with all of the other kids there.  We then went to lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse and got to sit in the trolley to eat.  Again, my spidey-sense was probably not on, because I let them walk around the trolley a lot, but there weren't that many people there, so I figured as long as they were walking and they were fairly quiet, what harm were they doing?

When we got home after lunch everyone was pretty tuckered out.  Both kids ended up napping for a bit, and Isaac actually napped for 3 hours.  So I got a chance to almost finish my project for Isaac's birthday party.  I have been working on a castle tent for him.  It is pretty much finished, except for the mat for the bottom, which I think will help shape the bottom of the castle and will keep it from spinning so much.  However, I broke 3 needles (including an upholstery needle) because I bought the wrong Velcro.  I thought I could sew through the sticky Velcro but no . . .  So, I don't think at this point that I am going to finish the mat, since I cleaned up the sewing room to convert it to a guest room this evening.  But I think it will work fine as it is on the carpeting for the party and I can make the mat for him before we move it to his room with the hardwood floor.  Here are the kids tonight in their way too small pajamas checking out the tent:

 Isaac is way too cool in his shades:

Tomorrow I desperately need to make it to the grocery store and I am hoping we can make a trip to Imagination Station afterward and before swim and ballet in the afternoon.  Then we are off to Castaway Bay in Sandusky to meet up with Michael, Misty and Lexie for a couple of days.