Spring Break

                                                       

The kids were out of school for spring break during the first week in April.  The great thing was that their spring break lined up with the break from the school where the dad of my daycare kids works so I had the week off too!  It was so nice to be able to spend time with just my own kids again.  We really didn't even do all that much over the break, but it was really wonderful.  I'm looking forward to summer break now!

It has been a beautiful, if somewhat chilly spring this year.  We had that crazy warm spell in the winter and wondered what kind of extreme temps we would have in the spring, but it's like the seasons got themselves all mixed up or something.  The other day we had the first really warm day of the spring and Taylor came walking in the door after school sweating and said: "You'd think it was February or something!" 

Lynnsey and Kaya LOVE to wear matching outfits whenever they can!

Lynnsey and Kendall had a lemon eating contest at dinner one night.  Lynnsey won.

We did make one fun family excursion.  We took a day and went to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.  It would have been a beautiful day except this freezing cold wind kept kicking up every couple of minutes.  We still enjoyed a little pizza picnic lunch before heading into the museum.  And played on the playground for a bit.

They were doing a lot of spring break activities so the kids got to visit little craft areas and make things like wallets/coin purses, piggy banks, pinwheels, etc.

Years ago, shortly after we first moved to Michigan, we visited the museum.  Taylor was about six and he discovered the tornado simulator that day.  And then didn't care to see any of the other exhibits!  He was a little bit like that on this trip too...

Kendall and Spencer had fun in the newsroom.

And a few of us took turns with the video game about bacteria and viruses.

There was a special display of civil war memorabilia.

And for lack of time and space, I won't share every photo we took there--three floors of exhibits and lots of fun.  We even decided to see the planetarium show of the day.  The younger kids thought it was pretty cool.  I actually wasn't all that impressed and was wishing we had saved that money.  But I guess now we know for next time.

The next day we decided to head to our own local kids museum.  I had a few free passes that weren't any good to us since we have a membership, so we called up a family from church and invited them to join us.  They have several teenagers and I was a little worried that they would be bored out of their minds.  I should have known better.  Everyone had a great time!

They put on a play for us in the dress up section.

Spencer was the butcher.  Didn't you know that butchers wear judge robes, clown wigs and hard hats?  It's the latest trend!

The older kids took over the water table for most of the day while the younger ones explored the rest of the place and made creations in the messy art room, constructed a giant cage in the construction zone, made all sorts of music in the music room, had a birthday party for the dolls, played legos and trains, went shopping in the grocery store, and rescued a few people in the ambulance. 

Easter weekend was very nice.  We did our usual family egg hunt.  Kalen was a bit too good at hiding them this year and we were searching forever!  We finally gave up on the last one of Kendall's and Kaya's.  Kaya's has since been found--but had been opened and emptied by some critter or other.  Kendall's never showed up and I'm thinking I may have just miscounted when I was filling them. 

The Easter Bunny always sneaks in and leaves goodies while we are out searching.  He had plenty of time to make his getaway this time!

I took about twenty pictures of the kids on Easter Sunday hoping for a good group shot.  And this was about the best of the bunch.  I'm not kidding.  I love my kids.  I just wish they would cooperate for photos once in awhile!

This one of Kaya and Lynnsey in their new dresses is a little better but Lynnsey, who looks like she was lovingly holding her little sister was actually using all of her strength to keep her from running off!

Oh, and one last one of Lynnsey.  She was able to go with her best friend to the circus one day and had a great time seeing all the performances and getting her face painted.  She said her favorite part though, was getting to ride an enormous elephant named Tiny!