Granny Slash - the Gift

Kyle, Braden, and the other kids made my mother a beautiful blue jay out of Legos. (They also made a robin for Craig's mother.) Go here to see the kids with the birds.

Clearly, Great Grandma loves her bird!

She had me put it next to the TV so she could easily see it.

Spring Break Day Seven - Friday

Early Friday morning, Craig and I began the fourteen hour drive back to Indiana. We decided to call Cole and Emily and see if we could stop by for a quick visit since we were driving through Nashville.

We arrived while Julie was eating her supper.

She wanted to share her beans and rice with Craig.

Yummy! A red bean!

More, Boompa??

Cole and Julie danced together after dinner.

We had gyros for dinner from Opa!, one of Cole and Emily's favorite restaurants. And then we were back on the road again.

We arrived home at 2:30 AM Saturday morning, tired but safe and sound. It was a terrific spring break, and with Curt, Vanessa, and Ian coming Sunday, I will have seen five of my six kids and all but two of my grandchildren in one week. Heaven!!

Spring Break Day 6 - Thursday (Afternoon/Evening)

Thursday after dinner, we went to Braden's pack meeting.

Kyle is one of the pack's leaders.

Kyle helped present awards to the scouts.

The moms got to come up with their sons.

Ashley pins Braden's Bobcat patch onto his uniform...

... while Kyle looks on.

There were a lot of awards to hand out!

Belt loops, patches, and pins!

Braden took a selfie of the two of us.

The school where the pack meets has a mustang as its mascot.

So, of course we had to take a picture by the mascot's statue!

A smaller one was around the corner.

After the pack meeting, we went home and had scripture study, family prayer, and read stories.

I read our old favorite, Caps for Sale, to Corinne.

And then, Kyle showed us that a favorite family tradition for us lives on in his home.

Potato sacks to bed! Addie got the first one.

With Braden going next.

Corinne waits for her turn.

Now it's Whitney's!

It was hard to believe that our time in Florida was drawing to a close and that the next day we would be heading home.

Spring Break Day 6 - Thursday (Beach Movies)

These are movies I took while we were at the Crescent City Beach.

Spring Break Day 6 - Thursday (The Beach)

Thursday, we went to the beach!!

Packing the car - we followed behind in ours, so it actually took two cars!!

Setting up our spot before heading to the water.

A bunch of red jellyfish had died and washed ashore. We had to be careful to not step on them.

Fascinating creatures!

The tide was coming in, and the waves were high with lots of breakers.

Braden and me. It was 70 degrees outside, and the water was colder than that. But we still went in.

The kids also chased the sea birds that were hanging around.

Addie loved running in and out of the waves.

Running from the incoming surf.

Boompa and Braden.

Craig and I took a selfie.

Kyle with his kids. I love their reflections on the beach.

Whitney enjoyed sitting in her wagon.

Braden and Addie filled their buckets as the waves rolled in.

Ashley and me.

Kyle dug a deep hole at the kids' request.

My son!

His legs are in it, so you can tell just how deep he's gone.

I love this picture and the rolling waves in the background!

Whitney tries the surf.

Help from Boompa.

Whitney and Corinne.

Addie runs out again.

A sudden rainstorm sent us scurrying for shelter. (Seems kind of silly since we were already wet!!)

Kyle helped each child shower the sand off - in the pouring rain.

And then we picnicked in the shelter house!

Spring Break Day 5 - Wednesday

Wednesday began with more photos taken by the kiddos, mostly Corinne. She accidentally discovered the "paparazzi button" which takes multiples at one time, and I had 200+ pictures on my phone in no time!

 But I don't mind - she caught some cute shots like this one of Boompa.

 And she wanted to take one of "my tins horse," too. (She loves looking at this picture of Abby!)

Since the weather was nice - temps in the 60s and overcast - we decided to go for a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood.

Braden immediately challenged me to a bike race. Ashley let me use her bike, and after adjusting the seat upwards quite a bit, I was able to make the bike work for me without crunching my knees.

Addie and Corinne rode their scooters.

 Ashley pushed Whitney in her bike trailer. Corinne hopped in occasionally when she got tired.

Braden is a typical child-rider. He has not yet learned to be aware of those riding behind him, and so he used the entire path, bobbing back and forth in front of me.

 I gave him a wide berth as a result.

 I love this picture of Addie!!

 I took a break at one point and Craig snapped this shot of me.

 Whitney seemed content to remain in her buggy.

Braden told me that we'd already had three races and that he'd won them all. I countered that it wasn't really a race if only one person knew about it!

 We decided to line up and start together for our real race.

 And we're off!

 Addie and Corinne follow along in our wake.

Halfway around the lake, I had overtaken Braden and was leading our race. He called out that he was tired and needed to stop. I hit my brakes and then he decided he was able to go ahead and finish after all, blowing past me. With a geared bike, and not having shifted to gears for easy pedaling when I stopped so suddenly, I could not get my speed back up and so I lost.

So, Braden got braggin' rights today - but there's always tomorrow!!

Plans for tomorrow include going to the beach, so after lunch and naps, we decided to get ready for our beach experience.

Some surfing music was in order, so I played Wipeout by the Surfaris while the kids practiced their surfing skills.

 Not that we have surfboards, but still...

That done, Addie read her own book while I read to Corinne The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf  three times. (I had to laugh - every time the wolf blew down a pig's house, Corinne would turn to me and we'd frown and say, "MEAN!!!" together.)

 While Boompa played a card game with Braden. 

Braden got a surprise after dinner; he got to stay up late and watch (for the first time ever)...

 The Empire Strikes back!!

 Braden was absolutely riveted by the film, and we all enjoyed watching him watch the movie.

This was a movie we watched a lot when the kids were small, having Star Wars marathons over spring break.

Often I would make the kids carmel corn to nibble as they watched, and Ashley suggested I make some for us to eat while we watched this time, too.

Even the temptation of carmel corn could not distract Braden from the movie!

Funniest moment of the night came when Yoda appeared onscreen for the first time. Braden said in amazement, "Whoa! He looks like a puppet!" Er, yes, Braden, he IS a puppet in this film.

Movie done, it was off to bed as we have an early start in the morning for the beach!