Spring Break and Easter

 Sunday was normal.

 Charlie was cute.

 And happy.

 Whatever.

 Monday was the first day of Paul's Spring Break (but not Grace's). Alice dressed as a princess.

 Paul let me have the day to get stuff done without worrying about the kids. He took care of the kids, including the diapers, while I made a family yearbook (2007) on shutterfly, mended, and got other stuff done.

 Naked!

 Paul had a lot of nice one-on-one time with each of the kids, including soccer with Alice, and magic tricks with Grace.

He even made dinner! We had FHE about Easter, then played frisbee and bubbles. Paul and I did an exercise video that night.

 Tuesday was busy with laundry, story time, taking the girls to the dentist, and going grocery shopping. Then we ate dinner in the backyard, and went on a family walk near our house. Charlie LOVES the great outdoors!

 The girls do too.

 We found a log to sit on for a rest.

 Grace found a walking stick.

 Nature girls.

 Interesting choice of hiking shoes.

 We saw quite a few rabbits on the trail, just in time for Easter!

 On Wednesday, Grace went to school while we packed, then we drove an hour to Little Basin State Park. It was a pretty drive through the trees, and we had so much stuff that we layed down the middle seat and put all the kids in the back row! When we got to our campsite, it was cool outside, and mostly deserted.

 The girls loved all the cool trees and stumps in our site.

 Paul set up our new 12'x12' tent.

 Good thing it has an awning, because as soon as it was set up, it started to rain.

 We were nice and cozy inside, with so much room!

 We were having so much fun! We played Go Fish and hung out until the rain died down some.

 Grace found a newt she named Newteroo. We saw ate least 10 while we were there, including one dragging a worm in its mouth.

 Paul was able to start a fire even though it was sprinkling. The girls loved his magnesium fire starter!

 Alice got pretty dirty.

 We cooked hot dogs and smores. Alice lost most of her food by dropping it. Charlie loved watching the cinders fly, Grace helped cook, and the tree cover blocked most of the rain.

 Once it got dark, we started settling in for bed. Alice had a lot of trouble falling asleep. She slept by Grace, and kept bothering her. "Grace, help me fall asleep, I don't know how!" "Grace, wake up, I have a secret!" She kept losing her doll in the night (once Charlie had it), and she somehow fell out of the foot of the bed! Grace was sleeping on her at one point, the air mattress sank - not to mention dealing with Charlie crying in the night and wanting fed. But we all woke up happy around 7 am, after it rained all night. Some rain did get in through the bottle seams of the tent.

 Paul heated water on the camp stove for our cocoa and Charlie's bottle. Then the girls explored while we got ready.

 Charlie got tuckered out.

 It was still raining lightly, but we decided to explore the campground.

 We saw lots of newts, and had the place to ourselves.

 Paul said, "When are we gonna see a banana slug?" and there one was!

 Artsy.

 Redwoods. We had to pack up our wet tent and check out at 11.

 Then we decided to go on a 2-mile loop hike. Charlie was excited.

 The boys.

 The girls.

 It was still sprinkling, but we had lots of tree cover. It was perfect weather!

 We ended up seeing at least 6 banana slugs.

 I'm so glad Paul has taught us to love camping and hiking!

 Grace insisted on climbing the vine she called "Rapunzel's hair".

 Then it got really foggy. We heard owls, and possibly some sasquatches?

 Alice wanted a walking stick, so she could carry it like a baby.

 Charlie tired out.

 Into the fog. It took us about 3 hours, including a stop for lunch. Paul told Alice not to eat so many chips. With her mouth full of the, she growled "we'll buy more!"The girls got worn out, but did fine. Alice went back and forth from being Boots, to a princess, to Julian (the guy on Barbie Princess and the Pauper). When she was a princess, she would dance and she walked. We had nice talks with Grace. She has interesting questions. "Do you know anything I don't? Name three." "Mommy, do you know anything about science? Types of clouds, that sounds interesting. Tell me about them."

 Back at the campground, we found a stage the girls played on.

 Paul liked the swings at the playground.

 Charlie's first swing!

 Grace cried when it was time to go home. "I wish we could live here!" It was pretty perfect. The rain made it magical, and the big tent made it comfortable. The campsite was the perfect size and location, with tree stumps to play in, and we had so much fun from beginning to end!

 

 Alice and Charlie fell asleep as we drove home trough tiny mountain towns. When we got home, we unloaded and layed stuff out everywhere to dry. We were sore and tired. I went visiting teaching.

 

 On Friday, Grace had a pajama dance party at school. I took Alice to playgroup at the park. It was so hot! We tried to do our camping laundry, but the laundry room was locked, so we spend a lot of time/energy trying to get that worked out. The house was a wreck with everything drying everywhere. In the afternoon, 4 of us (minus Grace) took a 2-hour nap. We never nap - it was great! Then to dinner at Joe's Pizza and Subs.

The sandwiches Paul and I usually order were on special that day! We told Alice to be careful since the fries were hot. "No they're not. They're delicious!" We wanted to continue our Joe's theme, so we went to Trader Joe's and got Joe-Joe's cookies for dessert. Paul and I watched Under the Greenwood Tree that night.

 It was raining when we got up on Saturday, but we still got all ready for our friends' Easter party.

 Alice the lamb.

 Grace the bunny.

 Easter baby.

 Excited for Easter!

 Our friends invited tons of people to their party, and the light rain didn't stop many. They hid over 50 dozen eggs in their big terraced yard overlooking the bay. We had a nice breakfast at the party, and the girls made a haul.

 Then home to dye eggs.

 Grace helped me make a bunny cake, and Paul organized the storage area. That evening, we ate pizza while watching Veggie Tales.

 Sunday was Easter. The Easter bunny brought candy-filled eggs. Mom/Dad Gabe supplied coloring books and new space-themed drink cups.

 We got sandals for the girls and sunglasses for Charlie.At church, we sang in the choir, and I substituted as primary chorister. We had deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches for lunch, then got the house ready for guests.

 We had the Seegmillers over for a ham dinner, then played Settlers of Catan with them.

 The kids bugged us all during the game, even though we set out toys and turned on a movie and everything.

Paul's Spring Break week was so fun, but it's all over now. He started his internship today, and starts his last quarter of classes tomorrow. Grace's Spring Break is just beginning, so we set up a fort for their vetrinarian clinic. To be continued..