I wish I could say we had an unforgettable spring break this year, but I doubt the kids remember what we did over spring break even as early as …hmmm….today? Gavin's spring break started a day earlier than the girls so we ventured outside to enjoy some scooter riding time. Like I said, nothing exciting.
The girls had a half day to start their spring break. I ignored all the voices in my head about germs, stigmas and recent news worthy shootings and took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese. Obviously, I am not a big fan of the place but we had a ton of left over tokens from a few years ago so I figured it would be cheap and the kids love it. Ella had her friend Emma so she was happy no matter where we were. I need to take a minute and address their friendship. They are so close and would rather be with each other than anyone else in the world! I have never seen two young kids form such a close bond? I had normal friendships in kindergarten as did Ava and most kids….get along with everyone, have your preferred friends for play dates and such, but still have moments of drama with everyone. Not Ella and Emma, they never seem to argue? And if they do have a disagreement they work it out quietly themselves. They should teach other kids about compromise, although Ella only seems to do it with Emma! There's never any tattling. They play with everyone at school, even without each other, but they have every intention of meeting back up after school or as soon as their mom's allow. Even at 5 they can sit and just talk forever, but if they are really quiet for a long period of time it usually means they are hiding with a secret stash of candy somewhere! I love that Ella has a nice friend that she is so close with, but when they are teenagers these to will be TROUBLE!! They are both adventurous, daring, social and love a good party!
Ava also brought her friend, Abby. I didn't get any pictures of them because once we got there they took off with tokens in hand. Please don't get the impression Ava doesn't have any friends. She has plenty of friends, but you could have Ava invite a friend over everyday and everyday it would be someone different, where Ella would have Emma over everyday...if I let her! Gavin did not get to bring a friend, one three year old is plenty for me to watch. I was pleased to see Chuck-E-Cheese had done away with the giant (nasty, germ-infested) climbing playground. They now have nice clean bumper cars. Gavin enjoyed these much better anyway. After lunch Ella went with Emma to a pottery painting place, Ava and Abby came back to our house to play for a bit, and Gavin got the pleasure of playing me! :)
Over the weekend the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa F's house. We went out on Saturday so the kids could spend the night and me and Dan could go out to dinner with some friends. I went back out on Sunday to pick up the kids and after a late night and an early morning, Gavin was not in the best mood. I don't even remember why he was pouting but Gavin was mad at me and G-ma for something so he went to pout on the curb. He was so mad and he would yell at us every time we tried to take a picture of him pouting…"don't take pictures!!!" he would yell. I got this one from a distance with my phone while Ella tried to cheer him up. The amount of sleep Gavin gets can determine every one's entire next day!!
With only one day left of spring break and having done nothing but played outside, gone to dentist appts. and doctor appts. I decided to end the break on a high note and brave the Magic House. As soon as we got there I remembered why we never go there, it was SO crowded. The kids don't really mind the crowds so they went straight to work in the panda bear care center. That is Ava, Gavin and Ella in the picture….no one would take 2 SECONDS to smile at me.
Only took us an hour to make it up to the top floor for the static ball, but we made it. Ava was hesitant but went first. Ella was next but she was too short to reach the ball so I had to stand in the middle as a conductor for her…it didn't work as well and I couldn't get a picture. I'm not sure if it was the crowd or the noise of the machine but Gavin opted not to do it at all and was relieved to get out of that room.
We then made the descent back down to the main floor. They have a pretty cool beanstalk looking thing going from floor to floor for the kids to climb up and down. Kids loved it, but I'm sure it would have been more enjoyable if there hadn't been 500-ish kids trying to climb up and down at the same time in the tight/claustrophobic net surrounding the beanstalk!?!?
We headed over to the "grocery store" where Gavin's goal was to fit as much as possible into one cart. I tried to explain the problems I was foreseeing with this but he refused to listen. Two minutes later he was beyond frustrated when he couldn't carry the cart to the checkout! Sometimes I just want to shout "I told you so", I don't do it, but I think it would be therapeutic?! The kids also got a lesson in burglary from two junior high kids that were there with a field trip…yes, a large YMCA camp field trip, so fun!! The two lovely boys from that group ran around yelling "lets rob the place" and then they proceeded to grab things off the shelves and cash out of the registers before moving on to the bank! Shockingly, the TEENAGERS who were in charge of the campers did not stop this behavior!?!? I wish I could say I stepped up as a fellow mom and taught those kids a lesson on behavior in public and setting a good example for the little ones, but I let the fact that I was the same size as the "boys" intimidate me from even saying a word.
Now that Ava is over the age limit for the "little bit of magic" I was trying to avoid that area. However, I risked being kicked out to escape the ongoing robberies. The kids, particularly Gavin, could have spent the whole time digging in mulch! It's the little things in life :)
We had had enough after 3 hours and headed for the door. We were almost there when Gavin spotted this "motorcycle" that he just "had" to "ride". Doesn't he look SO tough!!
As I sat in the Magic House surrounded by complete chaos I noticed this sign on the wall. In my experience I think they are a few hundred questions short…maybe it's just Gavin (and he's only 3)?
All that fun and now if you ask the kids what we did over spring break they will say "nothing, oh yeah, we went to the dentist". :(
With only a week and a half of school before Easter break there is light at the end of the long school year tunnel. Ava had a pretty easy school day yesterday when the second graders had their "activity day" before their First Communion, it's kind of like a retreat day. Here are all the second graders ready for lunch.
They had already made host bread, banners and footprint towels, meditated, played games, and listened to stories. After lunch was a movie and a prayer service. A fun day, plus any school day that's not spent in the classroom is good with Ava!
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