Spring Break started with Chuck E Cheese. The kids worked hard to earn certificates at Chuck E Cheese so they could have ten extra tokens. We were the firsts ones there, so we had the whole place to ourselves. We bought extra tokens so their fun lasted a little longer than ten minutes. The kids ran from one game machine to the next collecting as much tickets as they could. After all the tokens were used, we combined all their tickets together to make one big pile. They got 567 tickets! Even though they earned a lot of tickets, they were only able to "buy" a few pieces of candy and glow in the dark teeth. It cost an arm and a leg to go there but the kids had so much fun and I love seeing them laugh and play together. Multiple times they would say, "This is the best day ever!". So in the end, it was worth every penny. Mom and Dad definitely needed a nap after a fun and crazy morning.
After naps, the kids helped me pack for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Lewis' house. A funny story I have to share that Clark said about Grandpa. As we were driving to Chuck E Cheese, we told the kids about the budget we had for Chuck E Cheese. Clark then piped up and said, "Maybe Grandma and Grandpa Lewis can give us money. They have lots of money." I asked how did he know they had lots of money. He said, "Because they work so hard all day long. They don't even take a break!" Clark then continue to say, "Dad, you need to work hard like Grandpa so you can get more money!". Funny kids! It's interesting to see how much children are aware of things around them even if they don't seem like they are. Grandpa set up a tent in their basement for the kids to play and sleep in at night. When we got to Grandma's house, we helped packed a picnic dinner to take to the park. The kids were more interested in playing on the swings and slides than eating. Grandpa was so good to play soccer with the two older ones while I watched Kaeley play on the play structure. At the park, there was a skate park next to it. Grandpa and I took the kids to watch the boys do all sorts of tricks on their skateboards and bikes. I could hardly watch because most of them didn't have helmets and they were doing all sorts of crazy flips and other tricks. I guess it's the mother in me, to want to put helmets and elbow/knee pads on them. We finally left after one boy did a flip on his bike and almost landed on Kaeley!
When we got home the kids quickly put on their pj's and Grandma served them ice cream. Then Grandpa told them stories that made the kids laugh and giggle. Clark was the only one that stayed in the tent the whole night. The other two girls ended up in bed with me. Grandma and Grandpa gave them the movie, "Frozen" and they spent the next morning/afternoon watching it. We came back home mid afternoon to find a clean house all done by my fabulous husband!
Tuesday, we went to the mall and visited See's Candy for chocolate samples, The Disney Store, Hannah's Adoption Center (the kids love this place because they can play with the kittens and puppies) and just walk around the mall mostly to get their energy out if that is ever possible with my kids! On Tuesdays and Saturdays at Denny's Resturant, kids eat FREE with an adult meal. So of course, we had to take the family to Denny's for dinner. I love that I didn't have to make it or clean up the mess afterwards and everyone is full until the next morning. It was raining all day but the rain stopped for awhile and the sun poked through the clouds creating a BEAUTIFUL rainbow! We all stopped and were in awe of it. I couldn't take a full picture of the rainbow because it was so big. At one time was a double rainbow!
Wednesday I spent the majority of the day in the Portland Temple. My mom is a temple worker on Wednesday and since Brett was home I decided to take this opportunity to go and be with my mom. I was able to attend an Endowment session and do Initiatories. I cannot express how much I love love love the temple. It is so peaceful. I spent a good amount of time in the Celestial Room. The best part was doing the temple work with my mom. I am blessed to have a righteous mom who loves the Lord and is willing to serve in the temple. I saw the newest of the new temple video. It was beautiful, I really really liked it and can't wait to go back and re-watch it again.
Thursday was a relaxing, cleaning the house, potty training Kaeley kind of a day. We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Caudle's house to visit his aunt and cousins who were here from Utah. We didn't have much of a dinner before hand so after our visit with them everyone was tired and very hungry. For some crazy reason, I was craving Taco Bell so we stopped on our way home to grab some food. I promise we don't go out to eat this many times but since it was Spring Break and we don't go anywhere big or fancy during Spring Break we spend our money on doing things locally. :)
Friday, we spent all afternoon at OMSI. It seemed like everyone in Portland had the same idea because it was CRAZY BUSY! There was a new exhibit there. It was the "Tony Hawk, skateboarding" exhibit. We spent most of our time there. The kids loved trying to run up and down ramps of different surfaces to see which one was the easiest to run up to compare to the others. We took a short break and ate some lunch before we headed to another exhibit. Daisy particularly loved the "paper airplane" area. She found one plane that spined up really high and when it came back down, she would quickly follow it and try to catch it before another kid would. Brett stayed home with Kaeley so I could take the older kids and let them do the bigger kid stuff. We have a tradition of having a moving night on Fridays. Right now the kids are obsessed with Ninja Turtles so we ended up watching that movie, again.
Saturday we spent all afternoon running lots of errands. I like to coupon and wanted to use some of my coupons before they expired. Brett got two new pairs of shoes, two big packages of socks and two big packages of socks for the kids all for under $50! We stopped by Trader Joe's to use some of Brett's gift cards he had gotten from his co-workers at Christmas time. Then off to Winco for Sunday dinner supplies and then Target where Clark got an Angry Bird game. Earlier Daisy heard that Clark wanted an Angry Bird game at Target. It was a really good price when combined the sale with a coupon. She opened up her piggy bank and had the right amount of money for him to buy it. She gave the money to Clark and I helped him print off the coupon. Because Daisy was so thoughtful, Brett bought Daisy a few small things from Target too. After we got home and put all our stuff away, I realized that I had forgotten MILK! Brett offered to go and grab some but I had already put my shoes on and was ready to go. I actually enjoyed having a few minutes of quiet time to myself. I was exhausted, so Brett put the kids to bed for me. He is such a good dad like that. I really appreciate him.
Sunday, we celebrated Bryson, Gary, and mom's birthday at the Vance's house. It has been a long long time since we have seen the Vance's so it was great seeing them again. I love having some of my family around! Wish the rest of my family was closer so I could see them more.
3 comments:
What a fun spring break! I need to jump on that denny's deal! I don't know why we haven't yet! Thanks for the reminder
What a great spring break! And perfect that there is so much to do locally, right? Mom, told me how you got to be in the temple with her...so cool!
You made it such a fun Spring Break for your family! I'm glad you got to do so many things that made it "the best day ever" for your kids. They are so cute! I love how they care so much for each other; Daisy giving Clark that money for the game, was so very sweet. It was so fun to have you come to our home for the picnic and sleeping in the tent in the basement. That was so funny about Clark's comment about us working hard!
It was such a choice experience to be with you in the temple, where I could be a temple worker and serve you there.
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