Spring Break Fun

Grandma was here for a short visit at the very beginning of Spring Break. She was on her way home from Florida and figured she might as well stop in Texas on her way back. The first night and day she was here were mostly spent getting ready for and having Joey's birthday party, and then recovering, but then we did a few fun things. Saturday night, Grandma and I went shopping for some fabric (sans kids, so that was enjoyable). Sunday afternoon after church and dinner, we went on a family bike ride/walk in the nice weather. Monday morning we ran a few errands, then had some Mighty Fine for lunch and the kids were able to play at the playground. Then we made a quick trip to IKEA before rushing home to get Joey a nap and Grandma a little bit of sewing time before we had to take her to the airport. For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of this, but it was still fun.

Wednesday evening, Jim took Jake and J.D. to the Carnival in the parking lot of the baseball stadium near our house. We have seen this carnival come to town a couple times a year ever since we have lived here and the boys always beg to go and we never take them. When we saw it with Grandma, she looked up the times to see if she could take them while she was here. Unfortunately, it didn't open until her flight was leaving, so she couldn't take them, but we promised them that Jim would take them. They had tons of fun riding the rides and eating carnival food. (We made the decision that Janalynn and Joey would not enjoy it and neither would the rest of us if we took them.) Since I wasn't there, I had to ask J.D. what was going on in these pictures, so the commentary is from him (and some from what Jim told me).

Here are the boys riding a helicopter ride.


There were a few big slides that the boys enjoyed going down.


This maze was made out of clear plexiglass and Jake got lost a few times and the carnival worker had to help him get out.


The boys loved riding in these little cars. Jake picked this one because yellow is his favorite color.

Here is one of the many little roller coasters they rode.


They spent a fun four hours having great dad-son time and came home tired. Jake fell asleep on the couch when they had only been home for about 10 minutes.

The next day our nanny, Marlina, braved the bad traffic downtown and took the boys to the Children's Museum. Again, since I wasn't there, J.D. had to tell me what the pictures mean. Here he was building with things on a pegboard.


Joey was having fun playing with gears and turning them.


Give my boys trucks and sand and they will be entertained for hours.


Here the boys were sorting construction pieces and wearing hardhats. (J.D. actually gave me a much more detailed explanation, but I'm too tired to type it all.)


Joey enjoyed building with blocks.


Finally, the thing the boys enjoyed the most was playing with the train table--something they could easily just do at home. Oh well!


Friday afternoon, we played outside with our neighbors for a while. These three boys had a great time on the trampoline.

Joey and Grace were loving the sand and rocks.

I ended Spring Break with a fun girls' night on Friday and Jim had a guys' night the next night. We worked on some projects inside on Saturday since it poured rain and was really cold. We were glad to have a whole week to adjust to Daylight Savings Time, and still weren't really ready for school to start again, but we made it!