Spring Break Days 9-11

The kids always have off the Monday after Easter.

Someday when I have conquered my fear of flying and we use this extra day to fly home from Aruba or somewhere, this will come in handy.  Now?  It's just a giant pain in my ass.  Especially because Ben had to work today and it was just me and the kids and a shitload of laundry.

(I cleaned the house from top to bottom the day before we left, and I was SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT when I got home).

We broke the last leg of the trip in Springfield, IL to take in some of the Lincoln sights.  And I am going to use one of these pics as our official Easter Bunny shot.

 EASTER MORNING!  We had a wonderful day in Pekin with my parents and my brother.  All of the cousins loved opening baskets they had to hunt for and gathering a million candy-filled eggs.

 After baskets, Ben went back to bed to recover from his date night hangover, and I took all the kids to an elementary school park.

 BABY HENRY!

 Egg hunt

 Ha!  My little brother is such a DAD.

 Comparing loot

 Pointer

 Cooper's fancy Easter clothes

 COUSINS!

 Dorothy put on the contents of her dress up basket immediately.

 THIS ROAST WAS THE BEST HOLIDAY MEAT I HAVE EVER HAD (**snicker**)

 Easter Eve we went to Bradley and our old favorite bar for a nostalgia date night, which was awesome.

 Today, I took the kids to Little Gym babies' class; Harry and Jack read in the lobby), a pizza place with a playroom for lunch and a giant indoor play place to while away the hours until Ben came home.

 And then Dorothy asked for a Sonic "smushie," so of course we got some.

 Jack helped me vacuum the car so i is mostly not carpeted in Pop Tart anymore.

AND TOMORROW 50% OF THEM GO TO SCHOOL.

Spring Break Day 8

 We said goodbye to the beach this morning and piled in the car for 10 hours of fighting over iPads (there are 5 of them and only 4 kids, so you'd think there'd be no fighting, wouldn't you?)

I spent my time reading this amazing, sad, disturbing, haunting, epic 700 page book.  You should read it, too.  I can't stop crying.  In a good way.  A good way that's really depressing.

 Picnic mid-Alabama.

 Don't worry-- Captain Jack was here:

We finally pulled into our hotel in time to watch the Badger LOSE while we drank (THANK GOD) and ate abr food in the, um, bar.

Spring Break Day 7

And Today started out GREAT. It was gorgeous-- warm but breezy with crazy awesome waves because a storm was on the way in. We spent three hours building sandcastles and watching the gulf after I worked out and we all had breakfast. 

I really will miss my quiet breakfasts. 

And this is a way better view than my work out dungeon at home. 

I went back to our place to find it empty because Ben and the kids had already gone down to the beach, so I took a few pictures of my walk. 

I love adding my shoes to the family's little pile on the end of the boardwalk. 

We made the kids take our picture, giant hair and all

And then we tried and tried to get a good group picture. 

The kids were THRILLED to go play in the pool before the rain, and we were happy to have them wash off all the sand. 

 We made a take n bake pizza from Publix for lunch and had plans to wait out the rain at Zootopia. 

And then we got stuck with a FLAT TIRE a thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. 

So the kids watched the newest Chipmunks movie and The Smurfs while I packed and Ben dealt with the tire. Kind of a bummer of an afternoon, but the rain over the Gulf looked awesome. 

Bonus: Dorothy got to eat all the ice cream. 

We rallied for dinner and souvenirs, and now Harry and Jack are swimming and playing in the game room while the babies sleep and Ben watches basketball. 

An excellent spring break!  As much fun as our spontaneous Mt Rushmore trip, which I didn't think was possible!