Spring (Break) Has Sprung

Here are the shoes...but where are the children? This phrase (or its reverse-form, "...where are the shoes?") seems to typify my whole spring! Spring is a great season in AZ; it's warm but not too warm, all the plants are blooming, and everyone loves to be outside...in my family's case, mostly shoeless.

Here are just a few of the things we've been up to this lovely spring (most of these pictures are from March, but I didn't have much time to write in March! Then came General Conference, then I had a cold earlier this week, yada yada yada...excuses, excuses). Lorelai's Spring Break actually lasts two weeks...which gave us plenty of time for fun. A lot of our activities included my parents, who came for a visit. Here, I'll talk about what we did the "rest" of the time ("rest" meaning, "before and after my parents' visit").

We played at the playground a few times...

...and also attended a spontaneous "Pie Day" celebration (one of our brainier ward members wanted to have a pie party on Pi Day (3/14--get it?), and everyone jumped eagerly on board).

Mmmmmm...pie. This picture only shows the tip of the iceberg, snack-wise; there were at least twice or three times as many pies as this. My contributions are near the lower right (by Lorelai); a ginger-flavored pear/apple pie, and a pumpkin pie (I had to raid the pantry for both, but they turned out great). It was one of the more fun, spontaneous parties I've attended recently, and the kids all enjoyed themselves too (even though two kids from the same family had to go to urgent care that night from injuries obtained near the skate park!).

We also had a few friends over to play, did some housecleaning, and went swimming at the clubhouse for the first time this season. Spring Break is becoming our traditional "first trip to the pool" time each year we live in Sahuarita! Speaking of family traditions...

...I also took the kids to Madera Canyon for a little lunch and hiking. As always, it was beautiful, relaxing and fun. It's always nice to see actual running surface water in Arizona, so I love to let the kids play in the creek.

The weekend before Spring Break's end was pretty busy all by itself. For one thing, we had to celebrate the end of Lorelai's second season of soccer!

We had our end-of-season party at the nearest Peter Piper Pizza's--the same restaurant where I had all my soccer parties as a child. "TRADITIOOOOOONNNN!"

Sadly, Lorelai's team only won a single game this season. It was tough on her (Lorelai is very competitive sometimes). Nate had to take over as coach partway through the season, and kids kept vanishing from the team. There was never a sense of cohesion. But by the end of the season, it was obvious that all the kids had improved, and they were really hustling out there! Lorelai in particular became a really good goalie...

Just look at that beast!! I was very proud of her improvement. Lorelai will be playing again this spring, and Nathan might be coaching as well (and although I love and support her in her activities, I hope this is the last soccer season for a while--it can be time-consuming and energy-draining for all involved!).

We also took a quick trip to the Reid Park Zoo just before school started again; it's just opened a large new elephant exhibit, complete with a whole mini-herd of elephants just transported to our zoo! We've loved visiting the zoo over the years, and we were pretty impressed, both with the elephants, and with their large new habitat:

Yay for cute baby elephants!

Hmmm, let's see...is there anything else I'm missing from Spring Break?

Oh, yeah, Celeste made an adorable Dr. Seuss hat at preschool (sorry, too cute not to share)...

...and we got our first family pet!! Yes, after more than a year of the kids bugging me for a pet dog, guinea pig, whatever...we finally settled on a hamster. A friend in the ward was actually trying to get rid of hers, since her pet cats were getting a little...threatening...toward the poor little guy. So, we agreed to take him on (along with his cage, bedding, food, etc., all of which was included in the deal. Nice!).

The girls decided to name him "Tuck," after a character in "Wonder Pets," a favorite show of theirs. He is very cute, but a little shy (he bit both Nathan & I, but has since consented to being gently petted). Hopefully he'll be a good introduction to the girls in the care & feeding of pets. Plus, I've always liked hamsters; I love watching them zoom around in their exercise balls or in their wheels! We'll see how long this lasts.

See you all at the pool later this summer!!

That's about it for Spring Break. Hopefully next time I can catch up on some field trips of Celeste's, as well as our Easter weekend. Stay tuned!