Spring Break Stay-cation

Day 1 - March 29 - Wall climbing and swimming at the big YMCA in Grand Rapids; stop on the way home for ice cream

Day 2 - March 30 - Anika and mom go shopping for a graduation dress; no dress was found in her size, but it was still a fun outing; she did get some new paint for her art set
Day 3 - March 31 - Easter breakfast at church, service, egg hunt at friends, amazing meal, walk on the beach, NCAA basketball, and MN scrapbooks
Day 4 - April 1 - Kangaroo Palace - its a jumpy house place - like Pump It Up in Minnesota; and more graduation dress shopping

Day 5 - April 2 - Meijer Garden with Aunt Kathy.  The butterflies are out - it is always so much fun to see them flapping all over.  Brandon badly wanted one to land on him, but it didn't happen.  We took a walk outside before heading home.

Day 6 - April 3 - Rise of the Guardians free kids movie. We all loved the movie!

Day 7 - April 4 - Childrens Museum in Grand Rapids - well - that's what it was supposed to be.  We drove there and discovered a line of people outside the building.  We joined the line - and the kids had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk that was provided.  We stood in line about 20 minutes at which point we were told the building was at capacity and we would have to wait for people to leave before anyone else could enter.  We drove home.  Matt had hidden the Easter eggs, so we had our egg hunt, ate some supper and went to bed.  Not the greatest adventure of Spring Break.

Matt's good at this hiding thing

jelly bean creation

Our annual Robin Bird Egg lipstick picture

Day 8 - April 5 - USS Silversides - Its a US Navy WW II submarine.  There was a museum with a working periscope and lots of information and then you get a self - guided tour on the submarine.  We had a good time and tried not to press any buttons.

3 kids in a torpedo

4 kids on a torpedo with the submarine in the water in the background

time for bed on the submarine - isn't Anika excited!

Day 9 - Home Depot - now there's an adventure.  It was kids workshop day so each of the kids made a planter.  They had a painting station which we ended up at for a LONG time.  But we have four very colorful little wooden planters.

Day 10 - McDonald's - We met Aunt Kathy and my cousin and her husband and kids at a McDonald's playland.  The kids had ice cream and lots of energy burned off playing tag and the adults had conversation.  It was a great time.

Day 11 - school - some were happier than others

We still have several adventures we have to take. There is a dairy nearby that we want to tour.  We haven't all gone fishing yet.  There is a farm and a petting zoo.  Maybe Tulip Time.  So many adventures to plan - so much other stuff to do - like school and work!

Easter

time to dye eggs

I said eggs girls, not your hand

The front door

Dressed for church - we had a breakfast at 9:30 and church at 10:30

The egg hunt after church at a friend

We had a wonderful Easter season.  The weather hasn't caught up yet - but the birds are back and singing and almost all the lakes are ice free.  Spring is trying to get here!

We had Maundy Thursday service - which was great and then Friday marked the beginning of Spring Break.

Easter we had breakfast at church, the service, and then we headed to our friends that live on the beach.  We walked in to a well planned egg hunt in the living room, played a game of blockhead, enjoyed a delicious meal, took a walk on the beach, watched college basketball and ate some ice cream sundaes.  It was a great day!  We topped it off at night by giving the kids their Minnesota Scrapbooks.

Lollipop

Its hard to see, but Ferdinand is sitting beneath his cork tree, just smelling the flowers and the five men from the city are watching him.  They are trying to find the biggest, meanest, fiercest bull for the upcoming bull fight.

We went to the Lollipop Concert put on by the Grand Rapids Symphony.  It was a great concert.  Every year they have a concert for small children that tells a story.  Last year was Green Eggs and Ham.  This year was Ferdinand and the Bulls - Brandon's favorite book when he was 2 years old.  Aunt Kathy met us there and we laughed at the story and enjoyed the music.  It was a quick visit as the girls were attending a birthday part back in Muskegon and Anika won a trip to a Lumberjacks hockey game with her teacher, but it was a good concert and fun to be with Aunt Kathy again.

Storybook character day

March was reading month at school.  The kids were challenged to read and had a few planned days throughout the month:  Bring your favorite book to school day, comfy cozy day, storybook character day.

So, I sent Annie and Snowball, Hermione Granger, Nancy Drew, and Frog, to school last Friday

On Comfy Cozy Day, they all wore pjs and read books on blankets and pillows.  If they had read the required number of minutes, they got to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the gym with all their blankets and pillows.  All four made their goal, so they got to watch the movie.  

I find it ironic that a movie was the reward for reading! 

We also got forms to fill out for free tickets to a local AAA baseball game, so that will be a fun outing sometime in the near future!

Fun with cousins

We had some family come to visit and we did our best to have fun.  Matt and I weren't home when they arrived because we were out enjoying an evening of a really good dinner out and an incredible symphony with friends.  It was a great night.

We came home to a house full of people laughing and playing games.  Anika had an all nighter at church so she was off on her own adventure!

We woke the next morning and had waffles then we were off to the St Patricks Day parade. I mentioned to the kids that last year on this day we went swimming in Lake Michigan.  This year we watched a parade in the snow.

We came home, packed some lunches and went on an adventure to Holland. They have an old farm there that harvests sugar maple sap and turns it into syrup.  We went and watched it happen.  My kids will tell you that part was boring, but they had a great time getting REALLY muddy by the river and then cleaning off with a snowball fight before coming back home. I thought it was interesting to hear and see how it all worked.

We enjoyed Pizza Ranch for supper while Matt and his brother went to the Wild Game Dinner at church.  The Orange Hat society puts this on every year.  The only food served is something that has been killed or caught by the people in the church and prepared for eating.  Only men are allowed, which is just fine by me and everyone comes home with a prize.  Matt got a scope for a gun and his brother got scent for hunting.

The old boys went shooting after church on Sunday, but the rest of us enjoyed a mostly green meal for St Patricks Day - a green veggie tray shaped like a shamrock, green jello, and shamrock shakes!

The time to leave came all too soon, but it was fun to make the memories!

Pinewood Derby

Brandon and Matt each made a car this year.  Matt did not enter his into the competition, but they both had fun with the process!  Brandon's won one race and he lost his next - to a tank of all things.  The boys had a good time with it!

Indoor Soccer

Brandon started up something new last week.  He and a friend joined an indoor soccer team.  The pavilion isn't far from our home, and Brandon's friend has been playing there for awhile, so we decided to join them.  They both joined a house team, which means a bunch of kids that just join up and play.  Brandon and his friend were placed on a team that have been playing together, but were short a few players.  Its a U12 team so our 4th grade boys are some of the youngest, but both are holding there own and playing quite well.  They are playing other teams that practice and play together year round, and have won both of their games so far. Its fun to watch!  Brandon was quite excited as the first game he just wanted to play.  He ended up scoring two goals and got to play goalie for part of the second half.  It was a great start to something new.
update: They got beat pretty badly last night, but it was still fun to watch!