Spring Break 2009

This year spring break actually had spring weather, and what a treat it was!! We spent most of the week out and about and loving every minute of it.

Monday- We met our friends at a school that has some really neat play equipment to play on. It was such a beautiful warm sunny day. When we got back from playing with our friends, the kids wanted to go fly kites at our school, so we headed up there to play and fly our kites. Today was the 1st really warm day we've had.

Tuesday-Today was St Patricks Day. We started the day off with some GREEN fun, then we packed our lunch and headed out. We stopped at the library to listen to some Irish music, then went out to enjoy the beautiful day. We made a stop at the Firefighters Memorial-which Ammon has been wanting to go to for a while. The kids liked feeling the names carved into the stone of those who have died, and looking at all the firefighting gear and pictures in the museum/building. They have a map that has red crosses for each of the fallen firefighters, and where it happened-we learned that our area has had 2 fallen firefighters.
We went to North Ridge Park which we've always seen, but never been to. They have a really nice walking path, which you can take and go under the Interstate to the mall. The wind was so strong out there, that we didn't stay as long as we had planned on, but we did get to enjoy the warm sun. There is alittle creek that runs into the lake. The kids were having alot of fun jumping over it and running over the bridges.

The Underground Tunnel. Corrine is in her Wonderwoman pose from dance!

Wednesday-Johann got off work at 2:00 today, so as soon as he got home, we headed out to the Devonian Fossil Gorge and Raptor Center. We weren't sure what we'd find at the fossil gorge since it flooded really bad last summer. There is alot of work to be done to repair the damage, but there were still lots of awesome fossils to be found. Last time we went to out here, it ended at a dirt embankment, but this time the gorge went right to the river, and there was more water in it. The kids had such a fun time finding fossils and looking at the wholes in the rocks from the water going through them. We were hoping to see a Bald Eagle by the dam-but luck wasn't with us today.
Then we went to the Raptor Center. On the road out to it, we were lucky enough to see 2 does right next to the road. We stopped and watched them for a few minutes. Ammon has a hard time seeing them when we are driving, and these were on his side of the van so he was super excited to get such a great view of them. We went into the bird blind to watch the birds eat, then went and saw the other birds. Simeon's favorites were the Bald Eagle and the Golden Eagle. There was an owl that was clicking it's jaw like it was trying to talk to us.
We ended the night going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. This was the 1st time the kids have been there so it was quite a treat!


I think this picture is cute. I reminds me of pictures of my brother Jake and I sitting with our mom when we were this age.


Looking down the fossil gorge. You can see where the flooding washed out the bank sides.


Corrine showing off a fossil. She was trying to make rubbings of the fossils.


Simeon found alot of really neat fossils today.

Thursday-we took a field trip to Hy-vee with our MOMS Club friends. The kids were able to help frost some giant cookies, pet a lobster, go into the freezer and yell Hy-Vee (Simeon wondered why they were asking them to yell in the store). After the tour the kids got to decorated cupcakes.
After the field trip we picked up some pictures we'd printed, and left our cupcakes and giant cookie on the counter. I went to work for the afternoon, then after I picked the kids up, we headed back to HY-vee to get the forgotten ingredients for Corrine's cream puffs and we found the cupcakes. On the way out to the van the container tipped and they all fell onto the ground in the parking lot. Corrine was so sad that we had found them, only to lose them again, and that we had to just leave them for cars to run over.


Ammon checking out the lobster. He did touch it, but here's he's looking at it's face.


Corrine decorating her very colorful cupcake.

Friday-We went to the Children's Museum to see Dan Wardell. The museum was so incredibly crowded that we only stay for Dan, then left. Dan Wardell is such a fun person to listen to. He read the book "There's a rumble in the jungle" and had the kids and parents up acting like the animals. He told the kids the 1st one that could touch the ceiling with their tongue, he'd give $20 to. The kids sure did try-but no one had THAT long of a tongue!

Saturday-We headed to Hills Bank to see the baby animals. The kids we able to hold a baby chick, pet a lamb, duck and guinea pig. Then we decided to head downtown and work on getting some more pictures for our ABC book. The kids really like going to the museums and library downtown, so we spent a good 4 hours walking around, checking out the museums and playing in the sun. That evening we celebrated Jonas's 4th birthday with a yummy Cars cupcake cake.


Simeon proudly holding a baby chick.


We found a tree that had a HUGE branch that the kids could all sit on.


Playing in the evergreen tree on the front side of the Old capital.


I love the way this picture turned out. The kids are the focus, but yet you can see the Old Capital behind them. There were people sitting on the steps to the capital, but with placement of kids, you can't even see them!