Spring Break...

We had a great spring break! The boys and I were off the same week, which was nice. I pretended that I was just a stay-at-home-mom again and not a student. Well, that's not completely true because I worried about not studying throughout the week and I did go to S.'s house to identify muscles on the pictures she took of the models in Anatomy. We ended up with a playdate every single day. Here is a brief description of how that went.

Monday: We were originally supposed to go to TG Park and ride our bikes, then go to lunch at the R.'s. But then M.R. got strep so that was cancelled, but we still had the boy R.'s over for a playdate while M. and A. went to the doctor and then had the prescription filled. Then we rode bikes to my in-laws house, where we played and fed the dogs and watched satellite. Then we rode back home.

Tuesday: We went for a bike ride to TG Park. Then we stopped by my in-laws, to see if A. needed us to come back to feed the dogs. She didn't so we went home and the boys played in the back yard for something like four hours. I stayed inside and cleaned the kitchen and tidied up the rest of the house. Later in the evening, The Scientist's friend, M., came over for a sleepover. They stayed up pretty late playing video games then reading.

Wednesday: We all went to Mastadon State Historic Site, in Imperial, to visit their museum and hike their "Bone Bed Trail". It was a neat little museum and I learned the difference between Mastadons and Mammoths. Mammoths were mainly in the western portion of the United States. Mastadons were mainly in the eastern portion. Mammoths were bigger than Mastadons. The differences between the two are similar to the differences between African and Asian elephants. After the hike and a snack, we came home and the boys played outside for another few hours.

Thursday: We went "all the way" to Wildwood to visit the Ri.'s. It was the first time that I got to meet their newest addition C. He is super-cute and pretty much just slept the whole time were were there. BUT that meant that D. and I got most of the entire playdate to ourselves to sit and chat. The boys all got along great and were pretty much off playing. D. and I ended up tidying up the toy room near the end. I realized mid-playdate that I forgot to take the play table, which I told P. M. that I would transfer to D. Then the boys and I left, and it wasn't until I reached Lindbergh on I-44 that I realized that I'd forgotten both of the boys books in her basement. So I called her and we set up an additional meeting the next day to exchange everything I'd forgotten.

Friday: I dropped the boys at the R.'s to play while I went to meet D. in Eureka, where we had a cup of coffee and chatted a bit more. It was nice to see her two days in a row (just like old times). That ended pretty quickly, because I needed to leave to get back to the R.'s. I watched A.'s boys, and my own, while she took M. and G.K. to dance class. While she was gone I tidied up her kitchen from lunch. I figured it was only fair since she fed my children. Then she got back, and we sat and chatted. I tried to help her process clothing choices for her upcoming reunion in NOLA. It was a lot of fun, but being the fifth day of non-stop action I was pooped and therefore not much in the energetic scheme of things. The boys actually left relatively easily, which was a nice end to things. That night, we met my in-laws for dinner at Pho Grand, and then we had gelato next door at The Gelateria.

Saturday: I believe we had a pretty lazy morning, then we headed to Home Depot. After that, we came home, regrouped, then headed back out. The boys went swimming and I went to Target. I bought all of the Charlaine Harris' paperback books, Twilight: The Movie, new shelves for the boys room, and a few other odds and ends. Then, I went back to The Heights to meet the boys. They were finished playing, but the weather was so nice, so we went to the playground.

There one of my pet peeves reared it's ugly head. A mom sat in her car where she talked on her cell phone the entire time. Within one minute of the boys getting onto the playground, the youngest needed help getting down from somewhere. Within fifteen minutes, the youngest whipped "it" out and started peeing in the middle of the playground. Granted, this was after a minute or so of him looking frantically around for "something". At that point, his mother started yelling his name from her car. He obviously couldn't hold it and she's yelling at him. After about ten seconds of him peeing in the middle of the playground and her yelling, she FINALLY gets out of her car, still on her cell phone, and it isn't until she actually gets to the gate that she says, "So and so, I have to go. Yeah, I'll call you back later." Then she yells at him, "YOU DO NOT DO THAT! IF YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM YOU GO TO THE SIDE OF THE PLAYGROUND! YOU DON'T STAND IN THE MIDDLE AND GO! YOU ARE SO NAUGHTY!" Then she called her older son and said they had to leave shaming her younger son even more by saying, "We have to leave because your brother is naughty." Um yeah, how about you don't leave two children under six unattended on a playground. Sure, the playground is completely fenced in, but what are they supposed to do if they need you? Walk out of the playground and across the parking lot to your car to ask you? Right, then you make your child feel like an idiot because he doesn't know what to do, but you are nowhere near him in order for him to ask you. Nice.

Sunday: Another last lazy day. We took our time getting ready and then we went to the Zoo. We went to Zoomagination Station and renewed our Zoo membership. Then we rode the train and got to see the orangutans close up. All of them were right up against the glass just looking at the people looking at them. So cute. After the zoo, I dropped the boys at home and I went to Old Navy. Then, we spent the rest of the evening at home, winding down, and getting ready for the upcoming week. I finished my homework for tomorrow and finally completed my notecards for the muscle test in Anatomy on Friday. And now I'm writing a blog about our Spring Break week. It was so nice to have a week off, do nothing but be, and we have fantastic weather. It could have been slightly warmer for my tastes, but overall it was lovely.