A Cold Spring Day

Spring Break this year was really cold and yucky. The kids were trapped inside the house most of the week and were ready to get outside--for any reason. It was windy, too, so we took our dragon kite to a nearby park and had some fun.




Natalie has her mother's athletic gifts. See?



How Natalie gets up the playset.

Spring Break Broken Down

I thought I'd post some pictures of Spring Break while it's still 2011. It is still 2011, isn't it?

Brett could only take one day off that week, so we decided to surprise the kids with a mini tour of Spokane (I refuse to use the word 'staycation'). They had no idea Brett was taking vaction or that anything was planned other than another day at home. We woke them up early and told them to get their clothes on because we were going to have an adventure.

We started off by taking them to Frank's Diner, a place they've heard us talk about, but never been. It is an old passenger rail car that has been lovingly restored to all its polished hardwood and art deco glory. And they serve yummy, huge breakfasts. It was a total hit. Cameron caught the waiter's attention every time he walked by saying "Excuse me, sir. Can I have some sausage?" Cam has a special relationship with sausage.


When we left Frank's, we headed to the Garland Theater, an old time movie palace style theater to watch Despicable Me. I don't know which was the funnest part: listening to Brett laugh himself breathless during the movie or the rocking theater seats. They kids would probably vote for the seats. I don't think their chairs stopped moving through the whole movie.


They showed the original preview reel from The Wizard of Oz. How cool is that?

Can we get some of these at our house?

When the movie was over, we drove down to look at Gonzaga University's beautiful campus. I have vowed to go for a run there some day on the trails along the river. Except I think I'll have to find a way to run faster and look lots younger so I don't stick out so much.

One of the distinctive pieces of Gonzaga's architecture is St. Aloysius, a beautiful church.




Our visit was shortly after the NCAA men's basketball tournament, where BYU knocked the Zags out in the second round. And I was unintentionally decked out in my Cougar gear. The Zags are a polite lot, though. No one threw anything at me. I will admit to a little quiet gloating, though as we passed the McCarthey Arena.

I may have gotten a little overzealous, though, when setting up the following picture. After a few tries with the standard 'Say Cheese' prompt, I switched it up for "Say 'Go Cougars'!" (Of course, not until after carefully checking that no one else was in sight. I didn't want to press my luck. We did win pretty convincingly.)

Brett wasn't expecting the 'Go Cougars! line.'

From there we went to Riverfront Park for a picnic lunch and some fun.



One of the best parts of Spokane is the red wagon 'sculpture' in Riverfront Park. It is a giant, red Radio Flyer wagon. The kids climb up the back and slide down the 'handle'. It never fails to inspire surprised gasps, smiles and an expression of 'That is so cool!' when we take visitors there.

A picture of the red wagon from an earlier visit with my brother.

Another favorite, especially for the kids, is the garbage goat. It is a metal goat sculpture hooked up to a vacuum system. Push the button on the wall, hold your garbage to the goat's mouth and it is sucked up and away to some remote dustbin.

Ride 'em cowgirl . . . uh, goatgirl?

With all the crazy weather this year, they were letting a lot of water out of the dams to avoid flooding. This meant that Spokane Falls was absolutely CRAZY. The noise and violence of that water volume is almost scary.

It was hard to let the kids go onto the bridge, but I wanted to let them experience the Falls in their full power. It was hard to not get wet.


To end the day, we went for ice cream at The Milk Bottle, where they do dozens of flavors of homemade ice cream.

The little kids liked the Bubblegum ice cream (the flavor ONLY a kid could love). Brett preferred the Huckleberry. He's a huckleberry kind of guy. My personal favorite is the Lemon Custard. I have a hard time ordering anything else when I go there or to their Valley location 'Mary Lou's' because I'm sure it can't possibly measure up to lemon custard and I know I'll go away disappointed.

By the time we were done with the ice cream, the kids had pretty much had it. They were so exhausted they just wanted to go home and lay down. So were Brett and I. So, we stopped off at Winco for pizza on the way home. A perfect, non-stress ending to a terrific day.

How to Tell if Your Kids are Having a Great Summer

This is how I can tell if my kids have had a great summer day: They leave a huge bathtub ring! The bigger the ring, the better the day.



Natalie is obviously REALLY enjoying herself this summer. Our little Dirt Bag likes nothing better than to be surrounded by piles of soil and mud.

Truly the Queen of the Dirt Ball.

We've seen her look like this a lot this summer--a pretty typical kind of day, in fact.


Well, maybe these hands are a little grubbier than usual (at least I HOPE they are!). Tonight I was seriously considering spraying her off in the driveway. Then I decided against it and took the hose away from her.

I don't think she was very happy about that. Apparently she was opting for the outdoor hygiene option.

Indoor or outdoor, no bathtub ring tonight. Natalie has discovered the shower! I'm good with that since it is easier to clean dirty little footprints off the shower floor than to get that darned soapy brown ring off the tub.

Also, for those of you who have been campaigning for us to get a pet, a final reminder of why we don't really need one.


Child number five apparently already thinks she is a dog. Getting another pet would somehow feel redundant.


P.S. Someday I will get caught up on this blog. Yes, someday. As of right now, I'm thinking about getting those spring break photos posted.