Still, we tried to fill the week with as much fun as we could, despite mother nature taking a crap on our plans.
At the beginning of the week we took the boys to an indoor waterpark near our house. Outside it was snowing and super cold but inside it was 84 degrees and full of fun.
Todd and I couldn't get over the difference from the last time we'd taken the kids to the waterpark. Last year none of our kids could swim (though they had had a billion swim lessons they were still too chicken to put their faces in the water for more than a second) and trying to hang on to all four kids while "having a good time" seemed impossible. This year Joey is swimming and Tommy and Ben are very comfortable in the water. Last year Ben screamed and cried each time the huge bucket of water dumped all the water out on the people standing under it. This year he raced over so he was sure to get dumped on. Last year none of the boys wanted to go down the kiddie slide and this year all three of the boys were going down the big slides on their own and Grace was happy to go down the kiddie slide. It was so exciting.
The next day Grace was sick. We had planned on going up north and doing some skiing for the rest of the week, but I really didn't want to take Grace up north and hang out in the cold with her when she wasn't feeling well. Todd decided to have some boys' time and took all three monkeys up north with him for three days. After a harrowing six hour drive (it normally takes three hours) through a blizzard and towing a pickup out of the ditch with the Suburban (the boys' highlight of the trip) they finally got up north to the cabin. They skied. They went tubing. They built forts. They had a blast. It wasn't exactly the weather we planned to have fun in for spring break, but it definitely worked out for them.
Meanwhile back at home, Grace and I stayed in and watched some movies while she recuperated. On Thursday morning after the massive snowstorm I got up early to snowblow the driveway and ended up shoveling the whole driveway for two hours after our snowblower broke. It did not make me happy. Thursday was a really rough day for Grace too as she had a pretty high temperature and was just a poor little potato. Our spring break was not going so well. I spent the remainder of the day feeling sorry for myself. Feeling replaceable and unnecessary. And pretty much being a big baby that I was home on my butt while my boys and husband were skiing and sledding and having a great spring break.
Still, there were moments. Precious moments. Gracie nuzzled into my arm watching Snow White together. Reading books. Playing kitchen. Her constant hugs and kissies. She is my little buddy. And I really did relish our time together.
Friday Grace was feeling a bit better so we went shopping. That made me feel better too. Ha! I bought a few pictures and curtains and homey things for the house. I got out Todd's power tools (I love his power tools) and got to work. I fixed up my bathrooms and they looked so good that it turned my mood around.
Saturday the menfolk came back home and all was truly well again. Todd was exhausted from entertaining the boys for three days of nonstop action so we all just snuggled up and hunkered down in the house. It was so good to have my family back again.
Today was the last day of spring break. Todd and I bundled the kids up, plunked them in the car and took them to a nearby woods for a nice, long walk. The boys immediately found walking sticks, Todd plopped Gracie on top of his shoulders, and I let Molly off of her leash so she could get some of her pent up energy out.
Single file we walked on the familiar path. Molly would run 20 yards ahead of us and then turn around and make her way back to us for her "Good girl!" praise. The boys tromped around pointing out the geese on the river and the cardinals in the trees. Grace pleaded and begged to walk and did an amazing job keeping up the the boys through the snow once we finally put her down.
We made it to the teepee in the woods. The boys' favorite spot. Grace went inside the teepee with her brothers and squealed as Molly ran in and out of the opening. Even I was excited to see the giant teepee and had to giggle to myself as the boys told me how "real live Indians probably made this teepee!!!!"
We continued on up the big hill. Soon we slipped and slid back down the hill on the other side, with Joey doing a major faceplant at the bottom. Momentum mixed with gravity is just not your friend sometimes. Still, we all had a good laugh at it. Even Joey.
The boys praised their sister for being such a trooper and a good hiker and pointed out all the muddy spots and sticks to avoid. Every once in a while Todd or I would pick her up and carry her for a bit of the hour long walk but it wasn't long before she was begging to be put back down again. The girl has her own mind and definitely loves her independence. I wonder where she gets that from.
As we walked back to the car we heard turkeys in the distance and saw a bright red cardinal on a nearby tree. I cursed myself for not bringing my camera as I watched my littles making their way out of the woods. I guess this is just one I while have to file away in my mind's eye. It was a really good way to end spring break.
Dinner is in the oven. A fire is being started in the fireplace. One of the last fires of the season (I'm sure). The kids are all playing nicely together and everything is right.
It wasn't the vacation I imaged. I suppose they rarely are. But it was a good one, nonetheless.
12 comments:
You're so right, they really rarely are what we imagine. I'm glad you got your trip to the waterpark in anyway, and glad Grace's doing better too.
Hopefully one of these days spring will really come.
Sounds like you guys had a great time minus Grace being sick.
maybe not what you expected but glad there was joy in it.
I'm sorry you had to miss the skiing and the cabin. But the water park looks like a really good time!
Sounds like you had a great spring break! I spent 4 days of mine home alone with my dogs. It was BORING!
Y'all really are the sweetest family. Am I sounding like a broken record? ;)
I'm sorry it didn't go completely as planned but it definitely sounds like it had some wonderful moments..
I've been going through a bit of a spell that I can only explain away as it being selfishness. Most every Sunday, the grandkids here go spend the day with their Dad and about 2 months ago, my daughter started going, every Sunday afternoon, to her boyfriend's place -thus leaving me totally alone, Sunday after Sunday -a day that I had become accustomed to preparing a dinner to feed all of us plus my son and sometimes, even my older daughter and her son. That my daughter was making herself absent week after week, took away my cooking incentive for the day and well, in general, the whole absence of people here then -when we could ALL get together (maybe) ya know- was really bogging me down. Finally, yesterday, we had a "family" meal again -the grandkids were here, Mandy (their mother) and my son and his girlfriend -and it all curbed a lot of my issues except it made me realize too that I have to work on this issue of being so damned selfish that I want my kids to be with me for the one day a week -or every other week for my older daughter to be here too! Maybe the fact that even though it is still pretty cold here, the sun shining brightly more and more often has lifted me a bit out of the winter doldrums. I hate those things when they show up after the thrill of the first couple of snowfalls has disappeared, don't you? Usually, for me, that feeling sets in about the beginning or by the middle of February -and lasts till about the end of March too.
Still sounds like a great vacation to me! :-) and girl time? You can't beat that!
That is one fine-lookin' bunch of humans you've got there. I especially like the 'body builder' pose from the guy on the right :-)
What a great time!
And, seriously, Grace looks like a grown up...those bangs and that look on her face. Love it.
I'm glad you were able to get away for a least part of the time before Gracie got sick. We have a similar indoor waterpark nearby that my kids are begging me to take them to. It does look fun!
That looks/sounds an awful lot like the Great Wolf Lodge. We have one in KC, and we're headed there next week! The kids are so excited they could scream!
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