Spring Break Shenanigans

It’s spring break in our neck of the woods, and no we aren’t going to Disneyland. Or, well, anywhere out of town for that matter. But just because we are not going on vacation doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have fun.

Monday we started the week with an at home day. The kids did some jobs and Cole mowed the very last of the lawn that Ryan didn’t get finished on Saturday. It was nice weather and there was a lot of trampoline jumping. Even though some of the kids complained that there was NOTHING to do, and they couldn’t find friends to play with, I think they found enough to do to keep them occupied, broken tv and all. At 5:00 John went to his first baseball practice, and was VERY excited about his team shirt, baseball pants and shirt that says “River Cats”. I don’t know what a river cat is, but it looks like a cougar, I guess.

For FHE, we decided to do something outside, since it was supposed to rain for most of the week. The kids all grabbed scooters (except for Megan, who brought her rip-stick). We went to the trail by the river that’s about a 1.25 miles from home.

We drove there, and then got out the scooters and wheeled vehicles and started out on our walk/ride. I was walking. They would scooter ahead and then wait for me to catch up. I should have changed to workout clothes, but I was in my jeans. Good shoes, but not exercise clothes, so the little bit I was jogging to keep up with them felt funny. Not having a pedometer or knowing how far we went, I would guess we went about a mile and a half up the trail before I made them turn around and come back. The trial continues around the golf course, but it gets steep and I didn’t want to be out too late.

We were having a great time until John hit a downhill spot and was going a little too fast. You know where we’re going with this, don’t you? Well, he biffed it and went down hard on the trail. I was about 25 yards behind him when I saw the accident. I never run as fast on the treadmill as I did right then. I saw him get right back up, so I knew it wasn’t a serious injury, but he was crying, and it takes a lot to make that boy cry.

He had a big scrape on his elbow, with blood trailing down his arm. I picked up his scooter, but he was ok to walk, so the two of us walked back to the car. He was so sad, it broke my heart. “We should NEVER do this again,” he said. What could I say? I thought it was a fun family activity. One where my little boy, who won’t slow down when anyone warns him, got hurt.
“I won’t ever make you come here again,” I said.
“Because this was a BAD place to come, ” he said.

I gave Cole my keys and told him to hurry to the car, and get some band-aids out of the first aid kit and then hurry back. I would guess we were about 3/4 of a mile from the car. I would have picked him up, but I couldn’t really carry him and his scooter and the camera without dropping something or bonking him with the scooter, so we just kept walking. And crying. What a sad sight.

Cole finally made it back with the band-aids, and that made him feel a little better. When we got to the car, I asked him if he wanted to go right home, or if he wanted to go pick up a movie from Redbox at the grocery store. He voted for Redbox. So, I knew he wasn’t hurt THAT bad. He picked Spongicus. A classic. It made him happy to carry it out to the car.

When we got home, Ryan did the honors of washing him off, which brought about another round of crying. Poor little guy. But I was pleased to find out that it was only his elbow, and a little scrape on his back. I let all the kids stay up late and watch a movie downstairs. It is Spring break and all.

On Tuesday, I took the kids up to Temple Square.

We haven’t been to the Church History Museum in quite a while.

We especially like the kids’ area. Here we are dressed up as shepherds, coming to see the baby Jesus.

Even with all those fun things to do, my kids would rather play on the escalator.

We also went to the temple square visitor’s center and saw a few presentations. If you haven’t been in a while, it’s always a fun thing to do. We really liked the presentation on the Family: A Proclamation to the world. Of course it made me cry.

We topped off our visit with lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe. Even though it was raining most of the day, it ended up being a fun day.