Spring Break: Part 3

After my birthday we had another low key day - we went to the park for a while.  Matthew likes that park because there is a skate park there where he can ride his scooter.  John and Emma hung out together a little bit.

Anna and Grant played some baseball

Emma started a rock collection

And we had fun.

Don't I look so happy and carefree

But then things took a less fun turn...

...later that night I discovered that some of us (in the family) had lice.  LICE!!  A few weeks ago we got a letter home from Anna's school saying there was lice going around at school and to be vigilant about it.  I guess one of the kids brought it home and it got spread around within our family.  Once I started to suspect we had it I actually drove to the drug store in the middle of the night to get lice fighting supplies and was up all night going through my own hair.  And yes, I found lice.  First thing in the morning as the kids woke up I started grabbing them one at a time and going through their hair and shampooing them with the lice fighting shampoo.  It's gross but myself, Anna, Matthew and John all had lice.  And I found a few nits in Emma and Grant's hair.  So everyone got the special shampoo and a thorough going over.  Of all the tedious parenting jobs I've had to do since becoming a mom, searching hair by hair through five little heads for lice has got to be one of the worst.  It took me hours.  And then I was freaked out that I missed something and went through them again.  But I know how to do this now - I have earned my lice fighting merit badge.  I also washed all the bedding and a lot of clothes, hats, coats, blankets, special stuffed animals etc.  We did a lot of laundry.  And yes, we washed that hat in the above picture.  :)  I didn't sleep for 36 hours or so.  Going through my own hair was the worst.  I couldn't see my own head and I have thick, long wavy hair.  I briefly wished I could just shave my head but figured I would regret it later.  When Scott got home from work that night I checked him too.  He was all clean though.  :)  Hooray!!  It was actually easier that we figured this out during spring break.  But we didn't do anything fun that day and had to pass on a few playdate invites.  I think we will re-shampoo next weekend to be on the safe side and can hopefully stay lice free.  Ew.

Spring Break: Part 2

As it often does, my birthday fell during spring break this year and we went to Casa de Fruta.  Casa de Fruta is a fruit stand near us that's grown into a little tourist attraction.  It's been around for over 100 years.  The kids and I drove over for a little fun.

They have a little train there and a carousel.  Neither of those were running.  

They may only run in the summer.

They have lots of old tractors to check out

And a little playground

Small duck pond with a few fish and turtles

The kids all wanted to try out the stocks.

And climb on one of the trains

We got some ice cream at the little sweet shop there

Lots of photo ops

There were several peacocks walking around.  This one got real close to Matthew and Anna

We got to use this sluice

For a few dollars you can buy a little bag of sand with a few treasures inside and sluice it

The kids loved doing this part and can't wait to go back and do it again.

We headed home after that.  We had Chinese take out for dinner which was nice and strawberry shortcake for birthday cake.

Emma was having a sad time that evening. 

She missed her nap.

Emma helped me blow out candles

and open presents

It was a great birthday!

Spring Break: Part 1

The kids had the week off for spring break this past week.  Scott had to work all week but I wanted to go some fun and exciting places with the kids.  Our week ended up being a bit more low key than I had planned but we still had fun.
We kicked off our spring break with soccer games and general conference.  We had great weather on the weekend and the kids spent lots of time outside.  We got out the outdoor umbrella.

We listened to conference and I made some cinnamon rolls.

Yum

Emma fell asleep at the end of conference.

And we had jello/juice for April Fool's Day!

Everyone was in on the joke (jello that looks like its juice until you drink it)

It was fun anyway.

Got out a tent (given to us by a friend) to play outside.

On Monday rather than going anywhere we stayed home and the kids played Beatles Rock Band.

The kids had lots of fun and played Yellow Submarine a lot.

A Quick Visit With Scott

Scott has been doing reserve duty for the past two weeks.  On the weekend in the middle the kids and I drove up to see him for a day.  Saturday soccer games were canceled because of muddy soccer fields following a rainy week so we had more time to hang out with Scott.  The Air Force base is about 2 hours away, so not too far.  We found Scott at the base and then headed to the Jelly Belly Factory.  Because free jelly beans!

We've been there before (for Scott's promotion) but we went on the self guided, free walking tour (with free jelly beans at the end).  Since it was the weekend none of the machines were going but it was still cool to see.

Jelly bean art

More jelly bean art

You can smell some of the different flavors and guess what they are

Waiting our turn for a virtual jelly bean hitting game

Emma just didn't want to wear her hat.  She did wear it when I told her she couldn't have jelly beans if she didn't.  She was quick to take it off at the end though.

John with his free jelly bean sample

Pretending to eat jelly beans off the ground.  Ew.

We also had lunch at Chick Fil A (which they don't have down in our neck of the woods) and the kids enjoyed that.  Later we went to play some mini golf.  We've had bad experiences playing mini golf with the kids in the past, so we had a little talk with them before hand.  They were much better behaved this time and let each other take turns.  Except Emma.  She had missed her nap and had a total meltdown on the golf course which involved a lot of shoe throwing.  We lost one of her shoes recently because she threw it out of her stroller when we weren't looking and we were never able to find it.  Luckily Emma didn't lose any shoes this time, but it wasn't for lack of trying.  If you look closely you'll see she has taken off her shoes in this picture and thrown them somewhere and we hadn't noticed yet.

We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse because there aren't many of them in California and we happened to be by one.  Lots of other people had the same idea and we had to wait a long time for a table.  We then had a rough night in which another child succumbed to the dreaded stomach flu that we've been trying to shake.  I spent a lot of time cleaning up vomit in the hotel room.  :(  The next morning everyone felt better and we had pancakes.  Hopefully no more sickness.

Emma continued on her quest to lose a shoe while at the restaurant.  Can we duct tape her shoes on?  We headed back home after that.  And Scott stayed and did one more week of reserve duty.

And eventually came home!!  Everyone was happy he was back!  And he's done with reserve duty for the next six months or so.