Spring Breakin' Part 2: Now Including Easter!

Our second week of Spring Break ended up being busier than the first week for a few reasons:
1. Celeste was back in preschool;
2. There was a Primary activity coming up we needed to finalize;
3. I had a few activities in the evening that week; and finally,
3. Easter was the Sunday before school started.

So, fun times! Here's a rough breakdown of our crazy last week of March:

Random crazy picture of Aurora goes HERE

Monday: Actually, not much happened this day...just as well, since we had to prepare for the activities ahead! I did have to run a few errands, teach a few piano lessons, and have Family Home Evening at night, but none of this was particularly unusual. The girls enjoyed their time off.

Tuesday: Here's where things started to get a little nuts. We hurried Celeste to preschool in the morning, then immediately went to a Primary presidency meeting. Most of the meeting was spent stuffing plastic Easter eggs full of candy, in preparation for our LDS ward's Easter egg hunt that coming Saturday. That was a LOT of candy. Lorelai helped out a lot with stuffing the eggs, then went and played in the backyard until we finished the rest of the meeting. About halfway through the meeting, though, I couldn't help but notice that something was different with Lorelai's hair...

 ...and indeed, something was! Apparently, she'd taken the scissors to her head last night...because she was "tired" of her hair, as she put it! Hmmm...well, next time you're tired of your hair, honey, please tell Mom before taking matters into your own hands!!

She had quite an impressive "almost-mullet" look going on. I am pretty ashamed to admit that Lorelai did this Monday night, and I didn't even notice it until late Tuesday morning! Man, I am pretty unobservant sometimes. I got lucky this time, though...one of my Primary presidency members went to beauty school back in the day, so she was able to help out right after the meeting, turning this...

...into this.

 

I do miss Lorelai's long hair, but I have to admit the short bobbed cut looks very adorable on her. She looks like a little pixie!

geekyrant.com

Right after the haircut, all our friends arrived for our Spring Break Movie Party (the one we delayed from the week before due to illness). I provided popcorn; various friends brought candy and even pizza! We watched the latest Disney movie, Wreck-It Ralph, which was universally loved by all the kids who came (I counted about twenty or so). I got to catch up with some of my friends, and a good time was had by all.

We had a couple of hours to rest after the movie party...then we headed out to the playground for a final "party" for Lorelai's baseball team. She received her trophy, exchanged her phone number with her teammates, played on the playground, and ate even more pizza! I managed to get everyone home in time to get them ready for bed, then zip off to book club--always a fun night with some of my best girlfriends. Whew--long day!

Wednesday: Today was our "great outdoors" day. We spent the morning at the pool, per the girls' numerous requests. So far, the large pool at the neighborhood clubhouse is still closed for repairs (I certainly hope it's open by the time school's out, or there will be a riot!). However, we were able to go to one of the satellite pools, which was smaller but much less crowded.

Aurora was pretty scared of the water at first...but she caught on quickly!

Unlike the clubhouse pool, there are no lifeguards at the satellite pools...which meant the girls could jump in the hot tub there with no recrimination! It is now their new favorite thing.

But if you think swimming was our only activity today, you'd be wrong! After we'd dried off a little bit, we headed up to Tucson to check out the goings-on at the Reid Park Zoo.

 

 

I had a coupon for a free giraffe feeding, so each of the girls got a turn feeding the beautiful giraffes some carrots (I couldn't get a picture of Aurora because I had to hoist her up to help her hold out the carrot, plus she was a little scared of the giraffes). We didn't stay too long, but we still had plenty of time to run, jump, check out a lot of animals, and climb on fake habitat rocks:

Afterwards, the kids were getting pretty tired out, so we dropped by a nearby frozen yogurt shop and each had a bowl.

Refreshing and delicious! The kids slept well that night, I can tell you...

Thursday: Also not the most exciting day...we dropped Celeste off at preschool, then headed off to CostCo and did some shopping. Whee! The girls had a lovely afternoon playing together and watching more television, while I put away a bunch of groceries and planned for a busy weekend. That night, I attended a dinner held for the sisters of the Sahuarita Arizona Stake...it was in celebration of the birthday of the Relief Society, the women's organization in the LDS Church. As part of the program, the women in our ward had to stand up and sing a song arrangement I'd never seen before. That's what being in Primary all the time does for you. Oh well, dinner was delicious and the company wonderful.

Friday: It was another outdoor day of adventure! I drove the girls up to Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, in the hopes of playing in a natural pool from the winter runoff. Sabino Canyon is a lovely area, with lots of great hiking trails. Sadly, the girls are still a little young to be doing a lot of hiking, but the shuttle ride up the canyon is still fun and educational.

We had visited the canyon last summer, but sadly the water holes were all dried up...a shame, because it was so hot, a dunk would have been very refreshing! This time, however, we hit paydirt.

 

The water was quite cool and felt great. The girls had a wonderful time splashing around and having a great time. I hope to make this a Spring Break tradition; in the future, though, we may go in the middle of the week, because it was a bit crowded on a Friday.

 

 

 

We were sad Nathan couldn't be with us; however, he wasn't able to take any time off from work this Spring Break. Maybe next year! But Nathan had his board-gaming group get together at our house that night, so he still got to have some fun on Good Friday.

Saturday: I got an early start on Saturday, hiding some eggs and cleaning up a park ramada in preparation for the Easter Egg hunt. When the kids showed up, it was all we could do to hold them back until it was time to start:

 All the kids had a great time picking up eggs, eating some breakfast (we provided milk, juice, muffins, and bagels), and playing some fun outdoor games...like this "crab walk" race the Senior Primary kids participated in (Lorelai is near the center of the pack, holding her own).

We restricted the kids from picking up more than five eggs; we were worried there wouldn't be enough for everybody. I felt a little guilty at first for "only" having a few eggs for each kid; however, several parents told me later that they had had an "Easter overload" at their school, and were happy the kids were held to a small amount of candy at the church event. And with the food and games, there were plenty of other things that held the kids' attention. It was all great!

Right after the Primary activity, I had to throw on a dress and head over to the church building, to participate in a youth baptism. I always love attending baptisms, epecially this year because Lorelai's is getting so close! It is getting very exciting to see all these kids getting baptized and thinking of my little girl getting her turn in just a few months.

For the last several years, our family has had a tradition of having a picnic lunch/dinner in nearby Madera Canyon on Good Friday. Due to Nathan's busy schedule, that picnic wasn't possible on Good Friday this year...so we waited a day and went up the canyon on "good Saturday" instead...

We had a spectacular view of Mt. Wrightson from our picnic table, and the girls had a great time running around and exploring nature as well. Since our morning had been so busy, we got to the canyon kind of late in the afternoon, and weren't able to get in any serious hiking this time. Also, I'd had a brutal allergy attack earlier and wasn't feeling super-healthy. But at least the girls had fun...and at least our streak was continued for another year! Next year, we'll try to plan ahead a little better.

Sunday: Easter Sunday...and Fast Sunday, too. Ouch! It was tough to fill the Easter eggs with candy, hide them, help the kids find them, and watch the kids eat out of them for hours, while not being able to satisfy my own cravings. However, the girls' joy was infectious...and they looked really adorable in their new Easter dresses! (Yes, I'm weak...I didn't intend to buy any dresses, but I saw them all at CostCo and couldn't help myself!)

That night, we had a large dinner (lamb, Greek ratatouille, mashed potatoes, pita bread, salad, and strawberries for dessert) with Grandma & Grandpa Barrett. We hadn't seen them for a while, and it was good to catch up with them and celebrate the holiday with family.

And thus concluded our crazy-busy Easter/Spring Break week! Our house was pretty disheveled by the end of it, but "real life" was starting the next day, and I knew I'd have time to clean. We'll see if April ends up as busy...and if I have time to blog about it!