Spring Break 2017

As spring break approached, I felt increasingly nervous about what I was going to do with the kids all week long. (They tend to quarrel a lot if we're all just hanging around the house with nothing to do.) I didn't feel up to driving somewhere by myself without Michael (spring break is a busy week at the office), so I decided to make a little plan of some little outings we could do each day.

It wasn't a ton of scheduling--just enough to have something to look forward to and plan around.

 Just had to include this--typical Henry: into everything.

Day one: visiting the Charlottesville children's museum and getting ice cream.

At Coldstone Creamery we got to use a gift card I'd had for four years, I think--I think it was an old one from Hyrum he had given us before his mission (!).

Day two (actually I can't remember what we did which day): dying Easter eggs and enjoying a cookout with our neighbors, the Zopps and the Wenigers.

Robbie was really excited about dying the eggs but lost interest after doing a few. Clara wasn't interested. But we did enjoy eating them as deviled eggs on Easter!

Day three: a trip to the JMU Arboretum.

It was really nice to let the kids play in sand that wasn't in my backyard. Of course, they tracked plenty back home thanks to Henry throwing it their hair, but y'know . . .

This old tree was lots of fun for the boys--Henry wants so badly to do everything Robbie does.

It was such a beautiful day, such a lovely spring here in general. I love the Valley.

Happy boy makes a happy mama.

Day four (or something): making Peeps play-dough and visiting the Winchester children's museum

The play-doh was fun for the kids--it didn't last as long as normal homemade play-doh, but it was a fun Easter candy activity. Clara, who really likes sensory things like that, really liked hers.

I met my friend, Carly, at the children's museum. There weren't a ton of things for Clara to do, but she  and Henry did enjoy this little "house of tricks" full of optical illusions. Robbie and Henry enjoyed exploring, and Carly and I had fun trying to keep track of all our kids and chatting along the way.

Overall, the week went well. Although the outings were a little tiring, it was much more fun than having the kids in each other's space at home. On Friday, we had our friends, the Robertsons, over for a cookout, and on Saturday, Michael took Clara on the stake youth hike. It was a hike that we'd had to quit halfway up over Christmas, so it was gratifying that this time they were able to finish it. And then it was on to Easter, one of my favorite holidays.