Spring Break

Spring break this year was the first week of April.  Tracy had the week off of work and was free to go with me and my kids to Washington to visit my parents and grandparents.  We took off on Saturday morning bright and very early, drove all day and arrived at my parent's house around 9:30.  The kids did really great and we made it in great time!

Sunday was Easter and the kids woke up to some new Easter outfits from Grandma Wright.  Here are the kids before heading off to church in the afternoon.  We are used to early church so the kids didn't know what to think when they woke up and didn't immediately need to get dressed and run out the door.  They took time to explore the yard and enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather!  Yes, that's right, it was 70 degrees in Washington and sunny!  Quincy found some neat shiny rocks and geodes in their old fort in the bushes.  They discovered a neat little area in the bushes last summer and couldn't wait to explore it again.  It paid off!  They spent the rest of the vacation finding some pretty amazing rocks and treasures (thanks to a very cool Grandma and Grandpa).

My cousin Janice (on the left) made some beautiful Easter corsages for her sister, my mom, aunt and grandma.  They were all different and so pretty.  She is very talented and everyone looked springy and so nice.

After church my cousins Janice, Sheri and Dode, Sheri's family, and my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Lynn and a family friend, Meledie, all came over for Easter dinner.  Then we got to go out and hide tons of eggs for these 5 kids:  Corban, Gabby, Quincy, Ellie and Seth.  Here they are ready to go searching.

Quincy and Ellie were so fun together.  You'd never know they are almost 2 years apart in age.

Gabby and Corb wouldn't hold still for a picture.  Like they weren't going to get any eggs?  Right!

Janice and Mom were just trying to beg the chocolate eggs off the kids.

 Quincy and Ellie enjoying their spoils on Grandma's swing

And Quincy didn't hardly go an hour without driving her Great-Grandpa Dickson around on his scooter.

While we were in Washington we headed to Mt. Vernon to see the daffodil fields in bloom.  We were a little early for the tulips, but daffodils are my favorite anyway.  Don't these pictures just make you happy?

We stopped by a garden center so Grandma could buy some daffodils for her table.  She ended up pushing these kids all over the place.

Corban and Quincy tried being humming birds.

 We couldn't visit the tulip/daffodil fields without stopping for amazing icecream.  These cones were huge!!  And so yummy!  The place is only open in the spring and there were plenty of people there just to get this delicious ice cream.  The kid's were almost as big!

Rocky Road and Spumoni - mmmmmm!

I have such a fun mom!  We enjoyed the continued sunshine for most of the week (how lucky are we?  It rained most of Spring break back in Utah) and my mom played Old Maid with the kids out in the sun.

One of the days we were there my dad watched the kids and I got to go to lunch with these great ladies.  My mom and her friend Meledie (who used her gift certificates on us and paid for lunch).

 After lunch we headed over to Marshalls and had a great time shopping!  The kids had fun and I don't think they drove my dad too crazy!  :)

Quincy got to spend plenty of time with her great-grandpa.  Many times I would look outside and see her just like this sitting next to him.  Or driving him around on his scooter.  Rarely were these two apart.

Like I said, I have a really fun mom.  Normally she sleeps out in the barn one night when the kids come, but it was too cold for the barn so she had a spa night and sleep over with them in her room.  They went to the dollar store first and got to pick out fun things.  Then they watched a movie, listened to stories and got pampered by their grandma.  My dad got to sleep on the couch!  Ha ha!

On the last sunny day before the rain came Tracy took the kids down to the park and the walking trail to get some more energy out and give the old folks a rest.  We had a nice, relaxing walk and enjoyed the scenery.

I had to take this picture because the kids thought the wrapped hay bales looked like giant marshmallows and couldn't figure out why that farm would need giant marshmallows.

Our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Dickson would not be complete without a trip to the Golden Corral, Grandpa's treat.  The kids were so happy and had plenty to eat!

Gabby might be a skinny little thing, but she put all that food away and more!

On our last night my cousin Dode and his wife and a few of their kids came over to show us their new purchase.  They got a kettle corn popper and tried it out on us for the first time.  These pictures are fun. Everyone is nice and close at first watching the kernels down in the oil.

Then the corn started popping and boy did it pop all over the place!  We had hot kernels and corn shooting at us.  We were all ducking for cover and laughing like crazy!

The popcorn ended up turning out wonderful!  The dogs did a pretty good job at clean up and we got to enjoy some yummy freshly made kettle corn.  It was a great way to end a relaxing and very enjoyable trip!

We headed out early, early Friday morning and again drove all day to get home by 10:00 that night.  The kids weren't quite as good as they were on the way up, but they were tired and still did amazingly well for how long they were in the car.  I am so glad we got to go spend that time in Washington!

I wish Bump could have come, especially since he had a record horrible week at work while we were gone and is desperately looking for a new job now.  But he is so good to me and let's me go away when I want without complaint.  How did I get so lucky?