A week in pictures - Spring Break

The girls and I went East again for Spring Break.  I vowed last year that we would go someplace warm, no more cold spring break trips for us.  Well, we really lucked out with the weather because a tropical location was not in the budget for this year.  I almost needed to turn on the AC on the way there. :)  I was telling someone at work that road trips are slowly getting better with these two, particularly the little one.  They're not great, but definitely getting better. Translated, she doesn't whine the entire trip, just part of it.  Here's our week in pictures.

We stopped in Moses Lake for a little more coffee and gas and the girls were happy to be out of the car and even happier that it was so warm.

A little mid-trip stretching…

I sent Tom this picture showing him the temperature, he called me back a little while later asking if I got a ticket.  He thought the car behind me was a cop.  :)  No cop, just a red car behind a white car. 

On Tuesday we took the girls to Build a Bear.  I had gotten a text from a friend on the way over, letting me know that this week only, they had two My Little Ponies available for one week only!  Emerson is such a fan of My Little Pony that we just had to go.  At first Hannah was going to get a pony, but then she saw the Girl Scout bear and she knew that was what she needed to get.

"rub the heart on your back so your bear always has your back"…

Emmie and Rainbow DashHannah and Thin Mint

After Build a Bear, we got to have dinner at Red Robin with Uncle Lenny.

Wednesday we had a tea party with Nancy, Janet, and Janet's daughter Molly.  I found these fruit kabobs on Pinterest.  Donuts and fruit. Yum. :)

Thursday we went out to Aunt Kellie and Uncle Mark's ranch.  This little baby was born on April 1.  She was pretty cute, but her mama didn't much appreciate us admiring her. 

We hung out with the girls…Brittany & Brooke

We played a few games.

Emmie played a little piano.

When Uncle Mark got home, we went with him to feed the cows.  Emerson was in heaven.  She's decided she really wants to go back this summer.

The rain let up just in time for a little marshmallow roasting.  Such a fun end to a great day!

Friday, we got to hang out with Aunt Jen for a little bit. Shopping, lunch, and a little more shopping.

I'm not sure how I managed to not get a picture of Jen and the girls, but it happened.  Major fail on my part!

After we left Aunt Jen, we met up with Aunt Robin and Brady's girlfriend Bella for dinner and some cookie decorating.  The girls had a blast.

And just like that our week was over…it always goes by too quickly.

On the way home, Hannah asked if we were going straight home or if we were stopping by dad's office first.  I told her we were meeting him at the office and then going out to dinner.  She was relieved and said "drive straight there, I can't wait any longer to see him".  They sure missed their daddy. :)

It was a great trip and never enough time to do everything we want or see everyone we need.  The good news is that we've already got several trips scheduled for that side of the mountains.  :)  Bring on Summer!

Easter

Easter really snuck up on us this year.  For some reason, I kept thinking we had another week.  The week before was busy with half days, conferences and the book fair, so we weren't able to get anything accomplished early.  Throw in the fact that we were leaving for Idaho on Monday and it was a stressful week.  

Saturday night we finally got around to dying eggs.   Only problem was that I forgot to pick up a dye kit.  I went to Target earlier on in the day and they were out.  Haggens didn't have any either.  No problem…I've got food coloring.  I had about two drops of red and plenty of yellow, green and blue.  Needless to say, our eggs weren't very bright or colorful.  In fact they turned out a little bit on the icky side.  We had several brown eggs and a couple skin toned…just not what we were all hoping for.   No after pictures for us.  it was a memory for sure!

Emerson colored some really awesome eggs and then gave them bunny ears.  

Easter morning we all woke up early to get our egg hunt in before church.  Looks like someone already snuck a blue peep…

After church we went to Aunt Joanne's house for breakfast and Bielser family time.  As always the food and company was fabulous!

I thanked uncle Dennis for ordering such an amazing weather day.  He really did a great job. :)

It was absolutely gorgeous.  Blue skies and warm sun.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Ethan was so cute and he's getting so big.  I cannot believe that he's almost 3!

Hannah found Aunt Julie's secret egg.  That trick never gets old.  It gets them every single time.  :)

I wish I could have heard this conversation.  Emerson is a great talker.

Counting the loot with Dad…I think he said his cut was 10% this year.

Hannah and Cait-Cait.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we managed to get out of there without a kid group picture.  

We would normally have gone to Judy and Kevin's for dinner but this year we didn't.  Rich and Leina came over and they all went to the ocean for the weekend, which left us on our own for dinner.  We pulled out the china and fancy glasses and had our ham dinner at home.  The girls thought that was pretty fancy.  I think we'll have to dust off the china more often.  :)

 

Farrel-McWhirter Park

Our first letterboxing adventure of the year was at Farrel McWhirter park in Redmond.  It turned out to be an amazingly beautiful day.  We couldn't have asked for a better day the second weekend in  March.

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Kevin joined us on our adventure.

There were several letterboxes at this park so we took advantage of the sun and searched for them all.

Emmie packed her own backpack and filled it with lots of snacks.  Grandpa said he'd stick with her because of all the goodies…

There was only one that we weren't able to get to because of a swollen creek, but we were able to find the rest.  Some pretty amazing hand carved stamps are hidden in that park.  

We are loving our little letter boxing adventures and can't wait for the warmer weather and the end of tax season so we can fill out book with stamps. :)  

Emmie's Fun Run

A few days after my big run, Emmie's school had their annual Fun Run Fundraiser.  Emmie was super excited to have a run of her own.  Her class trained for several weeks…running around their play structure or in the church's reception hall.  It was serious stuff!  Emmie was really hoping that Hannah could come watch her run, but I checked with Hannah's teacher and they were having a district test that afternoon, so I decided Hannah probably shouldn't miss that.   

Her class ran for 20 minutes and each time they crossed the starting line they got a bracelet so they could track how many laps they did.  There were some very serious running faces on these kids.  

She probably could have run more laps if she didn't stop every time to tell me something.  She's informing me that there is a water station across the room…"everyone has their own cup, with their name on it"

"woo hoo…I'm done…" 

She did a great job and collected 20 bracelets!

After the award ceremony…such a poser!

Emmie's class minus a few.  They're all so cute!

I didn't hear the exact amount of money raised but between the 5 or 6 classes they raised over $4000.  I thought that was pretty darn good. :) Way to go!