Easter, Conference & Spring Break

This year was kind of like a perfect storm with Easter, Conference and Spring Break all hitting at the same time. We've had a great week of spending time together.

Our first activity was to go to the $3 movie and see "Paddington 2." It was a fantastic movie.

There were only two other families besides us in the theater. It was great.

After the movie, we made our first trip to Blue Flour Bakery. Jalen's teacher is a huge fan and always talks about it so we were excited to try it out.

It did not disappoint! The cookies were huge and delicious! David and I had the lemon honey ginger cookies, which are what they are best known for. They were amazing! Baylie had the sprinkle cookies and Jalen had the coconut macaroons, which were also delish.

We didn't try their Easter cookies, but they were sure pretty.

Our next activity No matter what we try, we end up a mess.

Jalen colored all his eggs in about 5 minutes. Fastest colorer ever.

He didn't bother with a dipper. He just used his hands.

David on the other hand is the slowest colorer ever. We always finish and leave him sitting at the table by himself. (This also happens at dinner time.)

I forgot to take a picture of the Easter baskets, but here are the goodies that were in them.

The kids woke us up pretty early so they could hunt for eggs. It was nice to be able to hunt outside. It seems like we haven't been able to do that for awhile.

We did all the Easter stuff on Saturday morning and then got ready for General Conference. Now that the kids are older, we do a conference store. They listen to the talks and after each talk we ask them each a question or two. If they answer correctly, they get conference cash. Then they can later use the conference cash to buy items at the conference store. It works great because they are quiet and paying attention during conference, but it's also fun for them.

This year was unique in that we got to participate in a Solemn Assembly where we sustained a new prophet of God, Russell M. Nelson. It was a very moving experience and I'm glad I got to share the moment with our children.

Sunday was more conference and then Monday was some Spring Cleaning. We went through every inch of the kids' bedrooms. I should have taken a picture! It took about four hours, but they look so good now. My kids are hoarders.

For the past three years, we have gone to Rock Hill for Spring Break. David has a different break from the kids so he doesn't have vacation when they do. Since he usually has to drive back and forth an hour and a half each way four days a week, we go stay in a hotel during Spring Break so he doesn't have to do that. The kids love staying in a hotel with a pool and being able to watch t.v. from bed.

They loved Lazy 5 Ranch last year so we decided to go back. We dropped David off at school on Tuesday and then headed for the ranch. Our wagon reservation wasn't until 12:30, but we got there a little after 9. We decided that instead of waiting, we'd just drive our own car through this year. The kids loved it, but I'm not convinced that was the right choice.

Jalen was okay feeding this llama, but he did NOT want to feed any animals from the car.

Peacock

Can you see the lemurs?

These watusi are my favorite animals at the ranch. They are so impressive.

It was a little scary having one come up to my car window though and I'm afraid those horns may have dented my car. 

Brahma bull

Road block

I fell in love with these Scotch highland cattle several years ago when I was in Scotland. It's so fun seeing them at Lazy 5.

HOWEVER, I didn't know how slobbery they are! This guy did a real number on the inside of my car - and me. Gross!

I also really like the yaks.

The buffalo were a little disconcerting, plus they would bite the bucket and try to steal the whole thing.

The llamas were pretty friendly.

Cool tree roots.

The emus were kind of freaky looking.

The goats really scratched up the side of the van. I didn't think that through very well.

The zebras were the most agressive and the only ones that actually bit me. We had to roll up the windows on them to get them to stop.

On the way back to Rock Hill, we stopped at IKEA for lunch. We were lucky enough to be there when Greg Olsen of the Panthers was shaking hands and taking photos. He was nice.

The kids favorite part about staying at Rock Hill is playing in the hotel pool. We always stay in the same hotel because it's the only one with an indoor pool. The other hotels don't open their pools until after Memorial Day.

For some reason, the kids thought that ordering pizza to be delivered to the hotel would be the most exciting thing ever - so that's what we did.

On Wednesday, we returned to Historic Brattonsville. I blogged about this when we went before so I'm not going to talk about all the buildings this time.

Carding wool

 

Blacksmith

 

School

Kitchen

Cotton Gin

Field hand slave cabin

Ruins of house slave cabin

Basement

Nursery

 Master Room

On Thursday, our last day, we went to the York County Museum. It was a pleasant surprise. It was a great little museum with tons of things that the kids could touch. There were cabinets full of drawers that had skeletons, pelts, specimens, feathers, etc. The kids were free to explore it all, which is unusual.

Sabertooth tiger skull

Grizzly and Polar Bear

Elephant

 Rhinocerouses (rhinoceri??)

Can't remember what this one is, but it was big and cool.

We came home Thursday, and Friday we just hung out in our p.j.'s all day. On Saturday, Baylie had a soccer game in the rain and then the kids challenged David to a water fight.

It was a super fun, relaxing week. We made lots of fun memories.