SPRING BREAK!!!!

Everyone in the family was excited for Spring Break. Dad was taking the week off from cello teaching and Mom said she was even going to take off a few classes!

They tried really hard to surprise us, but Mom blew it one day early when we overheard her on the phone. They had gotten a hotel room in Vegas for two nights.

We stayed at the Tahiti Resort which is the sister resort to a VERY popular Tahiti Village resort. Ours was much calmer and it only had two pools. The other one has a HUGE water park like area. We preferred our calm one. The shallow end had sand in it!

We played and played.

That night we headed to the strip for a little while to show the kids the sites. We actually were attempting to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, but we hadn't been in years and it had apparently moved out of the MGM!

We became world travelers. We saw the Eiffel Tower.

Japanese gardens...

The Bellagio water fountain...

The Statue of Liberty...

The next day we went to the Amazon and the coast by going to a ridiculously expensive aquarium at the Mandalay Bay. But it was worth it because Sam was adorable.

We had a girls night and did face masks! (They burned a bit which surprised Cara!)

Jetted tubs demand to be used!

Sam found a binkie in our swim bag. He doesn't like binkies so it made it extra funny.

We continued our world travels to Italy. We made it to Venice!

And then we discovered Cake Boss has a bakery in Vegas. We had to have something. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!

Wax museum! We didn't actually go in, but Mom took our picture out front.

It was a quick two days, but we had so much fun!

More park time, more swimming

Mom's friend, Ginae, lives in Cedar and she came in to town! Mom arranged to meet her at the park and decided to check us out of school early AGAIN. We played at the All Abilities Park and Iva couldn't resist getting wet.

I think Mom brought me as slave labor. Look at Sam swing!

Grandma and Grandpa's spool is the best place to learn how to swim. Sam is discovering just how much he loves the water. And jumping to Daddy.

Arch Canyon

Guest post by Mom:

One Thursday in March, the stars aligned and I was able to go do a canyon with my Dad and brother Marty and Marty's friend. Funny enough, this is the only canyon I have done in the last few years, but that's probably because it only takes about thirty minutes to get to it. 

We can only do this canyon for a few weeks because the bottom of the canyon closes to protect wildlife. 

It was a gorgeous day!

We were expecting a lot of water, but it had been warm for a week or more and had dried things up.

It was so much fun. Until the end. When the rope wouldn't come down. I was already pressed for time so it made it extra stressful. We had to do a lot of creative pulling and using all four of us to pull. Which was great. Until we ended up stepping in poop. Human poop. It smelled so bad, but we got the rope down!

My dad and brother are like twins. They had on matching shoes and matching glasses. Marty leaves for med school in July and I'm pretty sure my dad is going to be lonely. 

The first week of March

When we go back to look at all these photos, there's not a lot special going on. It's just snap shots of daily life.

Mom trying to eat healthier....

A play date with friends that ended with eating of lots of Doritos.

Iva pouring her own lunch. Nerds. In a bowl. HA!

Dr. Seuss week at school. Here were our characters! Can you guess who Cara is?

More Iva shenanigans...she figured out how to climb our pool.

More sunshine brought time outside. Sam can swing on a big kid swing. Really well. Mom had no idea until I sent her a video while I was babysitting of me pushing him.

Iva helped herself to Nutella with a spoon. She got the nutella and the spoon. She almost got it opened too.

Sam suddenly started HATING HIS CAR SEAT.

We transitioned his crib to a toddler bed which we have never done before. He doesn't really sleep in it and it makes it lots easier to transfer him if Mom can lie down next to him for a moment.

Documenting Cara's tastes...apples and ketchup. Gross. She loves it.

We bought some new accessories for our van. Little TsumTsum Baymaxes!

And Mom captured me reading. I was wearing her old Bloomington Elementary shirt from when she was in fifth grade. It was still in good condition and I found it in a box in the garage!