Spring Break

Spring break in Minnesota was always something to be dreaded. March is one of the snowiest months and if you hate snow and cold (ohh, so much) then it is hell frozen over. If the kids want to go play outside you have to spend 20 minutes bundling everyone up (unless, of course, they are old enough to do it themselves then you just have to help them locate everything they need) only to have them come back inside after a maxium of 30 minutes saying it is too cold to be outside and now they are bored. You drive yourself crazy coming up with activities for them to do and they drive you crazy by saying "No" to almost everything, including a paper snowball fight, which I am perfectly willing to clean up. Finally, they ask if they can watch TV and you say "Yes" just to finish the battle and the TV stays on for the rest of the week. You can manage to squeeze in a trip to the library and maybe a trip to the movie theater (providing there is anything good playing that you AND your kids will want to see) but then you just trade in one screen for an even bigger one, but that's okay because everyone is out of the house and being entertained. Of course, you return back home only to hear them ask if they can watch TV again.
Now, spring break in Texas was something I could look forward to. The weather was in the sunny 70's all week and I was optimistic. I did take them to see a movie on Monday, "The Race to Witch Mountain", (for the previous "Witch Mountain" movie fans, did anyone catch the appearances of Tia and Tony? I did and actually shouted it out in the theater.) We took a trip to a fantastic park, Celebration Park, (thank you, Jolyn) where I realized I forgot my camera. Something happened to the kids that day because even though they were outside on a glorious day at a fabulous park eating a picnic lunch they couldn't stop complaining. Took some of the glory out of my day but spending time in the sun does a lot for my happiness. We took a trip to the fire station, which will be blogged about in an upcoming entry. Of course a trip to the library was in mix and one of the best days for us was going to Thunderbird roller skating rink. I did take my camera but I couldn't get any decent shots because the kids were moving to fast or other kids were moving too fast and getting into the frame (every single time!). I stayed with Sam most of the time. Once I left him at the wall with Analee while I tried to catch Jacob, who was on rollerblades, but I couldn't catch him. The kids asked if they could go swimming even though I think the water is too cold, but I finally told them that if they could stand it they could swim. No one actually went swimming. One day, Friday, we just stayed home and played games, rode bikes, played in the playroom with blocks, and legos and had a great day, almost without any TV. It is safe to say that spring break in Texas is far and gone from spring break in Minnesota and what a lovely distance it is.