Spring Break Adventures

This week was Babs' spring break and we had lots of fun. Each day we set off on a local adventure, visiting favorite locales and discovering new destinations. Of course, I left the camera home every single day (you would think I would have thought about it by Friday but no!) but here's a run-down of the fun times we had:

Monday we visited the Farm. We fed llamas, goats, chickens, and threw corn at ducks who were completely uninterested. We got to pet a cute little calf who kept trying to eat Quay's skirt. We took a wagon ride which MungBean loved (the girls loved it too) and the girls rode ponies. It was close to 80 degrees and I got sunburned. Argh!

Tuesday we went to IKEA. I spent lots of money! The girls played in the playland and loved it. Their favorite part was filling out the comment cards afterward. That afternoon I took MungBean to the doctor when I discovered a nasty sliver in his finger that had clearly been in there for a while and was all infected. The doctor took it out, decided no antibiotics were necessary, and a $15 co-pay later I'm still glad I took him in because now MungBean resents the doctor for all that pain and anguish and not me. :) After summer-like weather yesterday I was thrilled to find daffodils and violets blooming in my garden that morning. Then in the afternoon a cold front moved in and it snowed!

Wednesday we went back to IKEA where we ran into Meredith and company. We shopped and visited with them and had lunch in the IKEA cafe. Then the kids and I set off for the aquarium. We'd never been there before so that morning I did some cursory research to find the aquarium's address. I was surprised that there was actually a listing in the phone book for "The Aquarium," how lucky since I couldn't remember the official name. Anyway, turns out "The Aquarium" is a pet store. Oops. But luckily we found the right place (just down the street!) and spent several delightful hours staring at fish. And petting stingrays, starfish, horseshoe crabs, and sea cucumbers. Quay got really upset when she was reaching to touch a stingray and another passing stingray touched her arm. I suggested that maybe it just wanted to pet her and she liked that explanation.

Thursday we visited the dinosaur museum. Babs was particularly interested in finding dinos that had lived in Utah and was shocked to learn that women can be paleontologists too (a surprise to the girl who is already concerned about how she'll balance her career as a firefighter with motherhood?!). Quay was fascinated by the shelves and shelves of "apostles" that she saw. I tried to convince her that they were actually "fossils" but you know Quay! Her other quote of the day was in reaction to noticing models of prehistoric squid-like creatures suspended from the ceiling: "Oooh, look! Shooting carrots!"

Friday Babs had piano lessons and we decided to stay closer to home. Since the weather had warmed up a bit again we did some playground hopping around our neighborhood. MungBean even got to get out and climb around a bit. He loved getting to explore with the big kids.

So that's how we spent our spring break. It was fun but not as much work as fun sometimes is. I tried to keep from planning everything out in advance (and you can see how well that served me on Wednesday!) and I think I achieved a good balance of going out and doing stuff with staying home and relaxing. And as much fun as it all was, I'm still looking forward to school resuming on Monday!