SPRING BREAK 2011

Well it's only Wednesday of our Spring Break but if I don't post about the things we've done leading up to and so far this week then my memory will fade. So I'm giving fair warning this one will be lengthy.

Last weekend was a weekend full of beautiful weather and doing nothing but enjoying time with my family. Which is exactly how I love spending weekends. We practiced baseball and enjoyed visiting with new friends. We ate then tried to burn some of those calories by making fools of ourselves doing Just Dance 2 for Wii. Many thanks to Sissy for that one - we've had many, many, many laughs.

And even more sore muscles.

We stayed outside A LOT,

played on the swing set,

Bethany talked me into attempting a back flip on the trapeze bar. She did it and insisted I try. She made it look sooooo easy. It is not anymore. There is evidence in the way of a video proving I finally got all the way over. It will not, however, make its way here.

We were wishful thinking about being at the lake. Mac is into it, boy. Look at his face. HA! 

  

My crazy kids even took a dip in the pool. And I do mean literally A dip. As in they dipped themselves in and came right back out. It was so cold it took their breath away but that didn't stop them.  

I can't imagine who came up with that idea...

Turbo decided to play it safe on the steps.

Of course we had some downtime too.

Then Sissy and I finally had a little time to ourselves on Sunday which always makes me happy. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

We kicked off the official start to our Spring Break with a trip to Auburn to spend the day with my dear friend, Shea, and her two beautiful kiddos. We don't get together much but when we do it's like we picked up right where we left off. There's a lot to be said for a friend like that. It took the kids a bit to warm up to each other, but once they did they had a great time and played so well together. We went to lunch then on to a local park. 

Once we had our fill at that park, Shea mentioned there was another park/playground up the road she wanted to visit:  Auburn's Nature Playground.

We both agreed it was by far the best park we've been to. I love that it wasn't your typical park with swings and monkey bas. The kids could just be in nature and use their imaginations which is something our children thoroughly enjoy. The kids' favorite was probably the sand.

Mine was the giant "Eagle's Nest."

Since it was all of our first time there we had to decide what we wanted to explore.

I'm still sore from the nature walk Shea insisted we go on in search of the pond. Hey Shea, I did some research. Did you know the trail is FIVE MILES long??? That would  be why my legs are still sore. HA!

Thanks for having us. We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

Yesterday was more baseball. Of course. We had our first practice game last night. I think we were all a bit anxious to see how we compared to another team in the league. We won 11-2. This is my blog. I can brag if I want to. :) So I will. Grant got two inside-the-park home runs. Mac did great as well. I got two short videos of them at bat. Naturally I didn't have it ready for either of Grant's home runs. Go figure.

Mac:

Grant:

I'm so proud of all our boys. I must brag on the hubs too, for taking this on and having the patience of Job with those boys. It takes being stern while still making it fun and being their friend, along with a balance of constructive criticism and positive reinforcement. I know I'm a bit (ok, a lot) partial but I think he has all that and then some. We have a great little team with some sweet families. The games start in a little over two weeks. Can you tell I'm just a wee bit excited?!?

In Froggy Incentive news, I'm blown away by how effective our little chart has been for Reid. It has changed his whole demeanor for the better. When he gets really tired he'll still want to be held but that's fine by me. He's become so independent that I look forward to those tired times. He wants to walk everywhere by himself, dress himself, just do for himself whenever he can. He has even started helping me pick up around the house some.

You might notice we made it to the lily pad a bit early. He was having some attachment issues at preschool so the days he walked like a big boy and was a big boy at school he received two stickers. And I'm not so sure he didn't sneak in the cabinet where I keep the stickers a day or two and add another one while I wasn't looking. heehee He's done great, though, so we went to Toys R Us today and let him pick out a little prize. It's working so well I think we'll start with another chart tomorrow. :)