Spring Break, WOOOOO!

And wouldn't you know it, Spring arrived right on schedule. We've been having gorgeous weather and have been out sucking up all of it into our lungs. Would you believe the kids got a sunburn on Friday? I had to go buy sunscreen! Ha! Of course I breathed deeply of its smell, because the scent of sunscreen is one of the loveliest in life.

An aside to my poor friends up north who are still suffering under the weight of winter: please don't hate. Come back here in August and when it's 105 and the air is thick with mosquitoes, and I promise I will be miserable and you can gloat over your fabulous weather. Just wait.

So far, we have gone to the zoo and picnicked at two of our favorite parks. The rest of the week off will probably be spent doing yard work (sorry, kids), doing some more serious picnicking, perhaps another trip downtown to ride the trolley and hear live music at the Museum of Art, or if we're too tired from the picnicking, perhaps not. I have big plans in the junk food/crafting department, mainly this sweet little craft that encompasses both. We'll see if ours turn out even close to the same. And how much of the chocolate ends up stuck to my kitchen chairs.

Also, Grace is taking a two-day horseback riding workshop. My baby, on horseback! For two days! Without me! She is really going to grow up to be a Texan. That's a little strange for me, because I can count on one hand the number of times I've been near a horse in my life, but I'm excited for her just the same. You better believe I'm going to take a million pictures and report back.

This coming weekend, we will of course be celebrating Good Friday and Easter, along with the arrival of the Easter bunny. I haven't quite worked out how we're going to celebrate that last thing, but I think we're going to talk the bunny into coming a day early since Greg has to be at church before dawn, and I have no interest feeding sugar to my children at that time of morning. Plus, I am trying to fashion the bunny into more of a "Spring has arrived" tradition than an Easter morning one, as I want to emphasize the real reason we celebrate Easter more than the basket of candy. I'd really like to start some new family traditions about Easter, as I feel we are a little bit lacking in that area, so if you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

I pretty much forgot all about St. Patrick's Day, so I guess we don't have any traditions around that, either. Unless you count the train ride we took to the zoo on Saturday, which was mistakenly timed to coincide with the St. Patty's Day parade downtown. But I don't think I can count squeezing into a train car with three little ones and a stroller with a sea of jolly green-clad revelers much of a family tradition. Especially since we won't be doing that again. Ever.