Spring Break

I had big plans for Spring Break this year. At one point I was either thinking of driving to New Orleans with the kids or taking them camping. And if all else failed, I was AT LEAST planning on packing the week full of day trips like last year. But then. . .

The new library in our neighborhood opened. It is the most beautiful thing! Right on the bayou and next to one of our favorite parks. The whole third floor - the children's section - with it's rows of pristine bookshelves, wall-to-wall windows, kid-size sofas, and beautiful murals is a library wonderland. It's magical. And the moment I laid my eyes on all those tantalizing-new, never-been-drooled-on books, my laziness kicked in. So instead of gallivanting on the beach, we spent our entire Spring Break toting (and devouring) stacks of books.

This is how the conversation went every morning:
"Do you REALLY want to go the the Children's Museum? I don't think so. It will be SOOOOO crowded. We'll have to park a thousand miles away. . . and then as soon as we get there we'll just have to turn around and come home for Eliza's nap. . . yeah, sweetheart, I know you don't have school and I know you want to do something fun, but. . . hmmmmm. . . Hey! How about the new library?? What? You don't want to go there AGAIN? But there's still like 8 million books there you haven't read!"

I could live at the library - truly I could.
But since my kids can't, we found a few other things to do. . .

Like this. Picnics and football at the park.

And this. Epic water-rocket battles.
Our neighbor confessed yesterday that he's been watching from his window and "having the time of his life" watching the boys battle it out with the water. I reminded him that we have several extra dollar-store-water-blasters and he's more than welcome to join in the action.



And just kidding. We DID go camping! In our backyard. It was a good trial run for the real thing. Because now I know we are most definitely not ready for real camping.
More fun at the park. It's not the beach but the kids had just as much fun playing in this water fountain.

We spent lazy mornings in our pajamas.


And sunny afternoons weeding and pruning.
And playing.
On rainy afternoons we went "soap-swimming".

and did inside projects.

Then we topped the week off at the elementary school Fun Run and Carnival on Saturday. It wasn't New Orleans. But the elementary school does have a nice track and the snow cones were delicious.


When Clayton's teacher asked him what he did for Spring Break he looked at me with a puzzled expression and then replied matter of factly, "well. . . we almost went to the Children's Museum"

.