Spring! Break?

Spring Break is usually a time of rest, renewal and relaxation. I say usually because in our house it is just the opposite. Jeff has been itching to go to the beach now for several months, but with every teacher workday the kids had off this year rescinded for snow days, we have been stuck without a vacation for some time. Add to that, all of our prime summer vacation time with the kids will be spent transitioning a new baby. So this break Jeff had lofty ambitions for our 9 days off.

Day 1:

Saturday we spent driving to Myrtle Beach where we met up with my parents and step-sister, Wendy and her husband Jason. After some playtime on the beach, we spent the next several hours playing in the pool and then went out for ice cream. We topped the night off with a late night stroll down the new Boardwalk.

Day 2:

Back to the pool, soaking up the sun and on to the beach for sand castles and kite flying. Later that day we got together with my cousin Jennifer and her daughter Erica for more pool/beach fun. Finally we all went to dinner at Cracker Barrel for some good ole southern fare.

Jeff was up and on the beach EVERY morning of vacation by 6:30am to catch the sunrise.

Soaking up the rays, while we swam at the pool!

Jeff made up a new game called "Hit the Kite with a Football". Of course the little boys cheered him on while the wind made the kite a difficult target!

Day 3: For a change of pace, we drove up the coast to our all time favorite beach, Sunset Beach. With sugary sand and picturesque dunes, it is no wonder we spend all day here. The boys made up a fun frisbee game while the girls and I took a walk searching for clams. After Sunset, we drove up to Ocean Isle for some shell hunting. Everyone got a full bucket of beautiful shells and Grandma found her clams. Then on to our favorite seafood spot, Ella's for linner (lunch/dinner). After being thoroughly stuffed we headed back to the hotel to, what else, swim!

Cuddle time with Grandma!

Just the girls.

Day 4: Tuesday was our last day at the ocean:( But we did make the most of it with a leisurely breakfast and then back to the Boardwalk. We found a fun arcade at the Boardwalk and spent a good bit of time determining the best skeeball player. After the arcade we got ice cream cones to eat on the beach and even saw a jellyfish that had washed ashore.

Walking the beautiful boardwalk.

YUM!!!

Day 5:

Catch up duty. This was a necessary day of our break. Not fun, but not relaxing either. I think I did an innumerable amount of laundry and then Jeff and Calla, Noah, and Bella all had dentist appointments where I got to sit in the lobby with the little boys and try and entertain them. Lots of fun, but no cavities, so gold star for this day as well.

Day 6:

Jeff got up early on Thursday and took a look at the weather to determine that this was the best day to visit Biltmore, and he was right. So we packed up the van and headed to Asheville, a bit unexpectedly (we had thought about Friday but the weather was not in our favor). We toured the first floor of the house and then strolled through the gardens. The tulips and azaleas were in full bloom and spectacular.

My little men!

Day 7: We woke up to rain on Friday, but all was not lost. This was our Girls Day/Boys Day. After Father/Daughter Date Night the boys wanted a day with Daddy all to themselves. I give Jeff big points since their pick was Chuck E. Cheese on a rainy afternoon. After dropping the boys off at the arcade (and taking the only vehicle so they could not escape!) I took the girls for a fun shopping trip at Blakney. We were on the hunt for modest bathing suits for the summer. I am here to tell you, they are an endangered species! After several stores and no luck we went to the old standby (Target), which did not disappoint. We renewed our search with a mango smoothie and a mission. Finally the girls found two bathing suits each which were respectable and modest.

Trying on clothes.

Chuck E Cheese fun.

I will never forget the look of relief when we got back to Chuck E. Cheese and Jeff saw us. He was thrilled we were back and had even saved the girls a few dozen tokens to play some games. When we finally made it home, we dyed eggs in anticipation of the Easter Bunny's arrival in the morning. Day 8:

Saturday dawned very early, about 6:30am. The kids may have been just a tiny bit excited that the Easter Bunny had come. In our house, he comes early on Saturday morning to hide eggs and this way on Sunday morning, we start our day off in the correct state of mind.

With the laundry reasonably caught up we decided that the rest of Saturday would be about enjoying our town of Waxhaw. We started just north of Waxhaw at the strawberry farm, picking strawberries. Turns out the baskets I thought held 2 pounds (the ones each of the older kids were readily filling) really held 5 pounds. We left after 30 short minutes with 15 pounds of strawberries and two smoothies.

Back in the heart of downtown Waxhaw, we played at the park, unexpectedly meeting up with friends and neighbors. After the playground we took a walking tour of main street with the intent of stopping at the book store, but holiday hours had it closing early.

Bella and Micah were talking to each other through a cute megaphone.

Day 9: Easter morning. The culmination of a long, busy, exhausting week. What better day to stop and take time to reflect, renew and remember that 2000 years ago our Lord and Savior died on the cross to save us from our sins. In one day all of our exhaustion and fatigue was lifted as we focused our attention not on the candy and eggs, not on the household chores, not on ourselves at all, but on the selflessness of Christ.

I think Bella had her share of smiling for pictures by Sunday:) After a beautiful service, a great family dinner and an exciting game of baseball with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Linda and Uncle Bruce, we were ready for good night sleep before the old routine started back again. Am I the only one who was excited for that? Goodnight!