Spring Break

Spring Break was made much more exciting due to the arrival of 4 chicks (on loan from Anna's school class). They did stink up the house (more) and were quite the messy little things - but the kids had so much fun with them. Sadly, two days into having them (on Easter of all days) one of the chicks died. We were very much paranoid the following week - trying to make sure no more died. It was kind of sad, but I'm over it. This week and 1/2 with chickens did change Brett's mind about getting chickens. It has been nice having this "other life" in our home/around. So he and Anna are drawing up plans (well, Anna is - Brett will have to approve) for a chicken coop/run. We'll move on to that after the garden is finished being put in. Note: You can kind of see in the above pictures how I moved my pantry from garage into the family room. Sounds crazy, but I love it. Just waiting for the wall to go up to make it "officially" my pantry off the kitchen :)

Truly sad was when our neighbor's (Jim & Charlotte) dog, Rusty died. They had him for 13 years and the kids used to go on walks with him and loved seeing Rusty. The kids made cards and we made cupcakes that were supposed to look like Rusty, but ended up looking more like Alf. But they tasted good :) (Thanks Beth for the top secret recipe :)

Can you see the resemblance??

Another fun even (pre-Spring Break) Aunt Courtenay/Uncle Jared and Cousin GLORY came to visit us. Anna and Glory had their little pack of students that followed them around. We didn't see them much except for when they got hungry. Glory taught all the little ones how to skate with "dignity".



Glory showed them some real style and how to skate (vs. marching/rolling!). Now they wear their skates more than their shoes. Thanks for the lessons, Glory! Anna is now in withdrawal with her buddy gone. Is Jared through his missing March Madness withdrawals?


Brett took a couple of days off and we camped in our yard (the original plan was to GO camping, but........) and went to the Aquarium in Monterey. As soon as you drive into Monterey you see this amazing, huge park and lake. We couldn't resist stopping there first. Ate lunch and then could have called it a day with just that. This park is huge and it was a beautiful day.









We did end up going on to the aquarium - here are some token pictures......

The sea horse exhibit was interesting:


Played on the beach for a short bit on our way out while Brett went to get the car which was about 2 miles away. We thought the aquarium was closer to the park than it actually was. So we thought we would walk. Kind of a mistake as after the park Luke was ready for a nap and we didn't bring the stroller. (That morning Brett had said when I brought the stroller out to the car, "He's 3! He doesn't need a stroller anymore!) I could have squeezed it in on top of the cooler, but didn't want to argue at that moment. Brett later said we will not leave without it again for something like this :)

Also did some spring sports camps:


(Playing football and baseball are Luke's top 2 right now.)

Cleaning up messes. Can you believe this was all under/behind Anna's bed?! That little packrat! Makes me crazy.


And this is a record: (Luke falling asleep reading books before Brett)


And now spring break is over.................