Spring Break, Part I

In an effort to break my recent month-long stint of posting only Thankful Thursdays, I thought I'd try to catch you guys up on the first part of our Spring Break.

Here's what it looked like around here last year:

Notice the green grass, flower buds on our neighbor's tulip tree.  Ahh that was AWESOME.  Here's what it has looked like around here lately:

Oh well, a little snow isn't going to rain on our parade! As planned, we took off for KC early Friday morning.  Kent and my dad both worked half the day so my mom was a trooper and rode with the kids and I earlier in the day in hopes of being on the rode while Kase marathon napped.  What actually happened was that Kase slept for about fifteen minutes.  No worries though! Grandma kept him happy the whole ride. When we got to Kansas City it was a balmy 80!!! We had lunch with Tammy then hit the park in flip flops and tank tops.  I'm pretty sure I got a little tan. ;)

We spent the majority of our time swimming, eating, and hanging out.

The water was a little chilly so Kase didn't swim a lot the first day. 

The cold water didn't stop Kylee!

Kael spent a lot of time in the hot tub and I didn't swim much as I am not exactly in bikini body shape. I swear if it would ever warm up I would get back to running.... 

Kase did eventually warm up and LOVED when Kylee played "bumper boats" with him in their tubes. 

Can you get over this hair? 

I mean, seriously! 

We did venture out once as a big group (there are thirteen and a half of us now; five and a half of our crew are under 8  years old) to Fritz's, this cute diner-type place where food was delivered by train!  You can't see the train in the picture, but there was a track running around the top of the restaurant and it carried that box you see on the platform below.  So cute.  You ordered my phone at the booth then when your food was on its way a light by your booth lit up and a bell rang.  Oh the excitement when our bell rang!!!

French fry moustache. 

Kylee remembered when the leprechaun visited us at the hotel last year and wondered if he would visit us again this year.  He did, in fact, find us again! Left a few fun green surprises: apple juice, green kisses, a green pouch for Kase and seeds for the big kids.

Back to reality and on the way home (literally minutes from our house) our transmission in our Acadia was giving us some problems so we are really thankful we made it all the way home! In the meantime I'm driving a brand spankin' new 2013, fully loaded Acadia with less than 800 miles on it and I am not complaining! I'm sure I would be if it all wasn't under warranty.

Anyhow, we spent the rest of St. Patrick's Day over at our neighbors.  Super fun night.

Monday we totally vegged out.  I mean we did not get out of pajamas allll day.  We did get around to planting a few seeds, which I'm really excited about.  The kids had so much fun doing it and I'm so so so hoping something grows! I did finally manage to get out of my pajamas when a friend called and asked Kent and I to join her and her husband for dinner out at Sonny's.  My mom and dad happily kept the kids for a few hours so we could enjoy an adult night out.  We had such a nice time.

Today the kids and I hit the mall to see the Easter Bunny.

Aren't they sweet? They had just thrown a penny into the water and I always wonder what they wish for but I don't even ask because I know they think their wishes won't come true if they tell!

I wasn't sure what Kase would think of the bunny but he did so well!

Even a little smile!

We met some friends there. 

It is awesome having Kael be so much older than Kase.  He was an amazing help with Kase on the train! Kase had spotted the train from a long ways away and kept making choo-choo motions with his arm so of course he wanted to ride! 

As if Kylee would ride anywhere but the conductor's seat. ;)

Whew.  Well, there's the first half of our break.  I hate to think that it's half over already, but we sure have been having a lot of fun!

What have you been up to?