Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Lest you think my kids got the short stick...

I know some of you were concerned that my children were getting a raw deal for spring break. Apparently my list of options was unimpressive. Some even suggested that the dentist, hair salon, and photo studio were not exciting outings for children. Pshawww.

True to the master plan decided upon by the SBPO'A committee, we've been doing one "special" item a day with the kids. We started on Saturday night with a trip to the Rainforest Cafe in SouthCenter (which apparently is not called SouthCenter anymore. Now it is the Westfield Mall in Tukwila. Why do they gotta mess with stuff?). The kids had a great time...it even felt a little vacation-ish.


...and, don't forget about the exciting roller coaster my kids got to ride!


That was Saturday night. On Sunday, we went to worship services in the morning and spent the afternoon with friends.


Monday's exciting schedule included swimming lessons and a trip to the dentist.




Now I ask you: Do these look like faces of children who don't want to go to the dentist? They nag me to make their appointments. I kid you not! They think going to the dentist is a chance to sit back in a lounge chair, watching the movie of their choice (ignoring that person poking in their mouth) and then getting a prize afterwards.


Tuesday's outing was haircuts!




Wednesday's outing was the movies. We took the kids to see Mars Needs Moms, which I thought was very cute. I loved some of the messages of the movie (be careful what you say to each other, moms that make you do your chores are the best, etc.). Unfortunately, Spunky Girl had an ear infection that flared up during the movie, so she isn't too happy in the pics. We got to visit the pediatrician directly following the movie; Lucky us!

(The big guy went to the movies too, but was too busy playing with the video games in the lobby to cooperate with my picture taking. Spunky Girl didn't want her picture taken either, but mom was pushy!)

On Thursday, the kids didn't get a special outing. They got to trail along with me as we visited the chiropractor, Oil Can Henry's, QFC, two banks, and Best Buy. There were errands to be done and sometimes that's just the breaks! =)

Friday we took the kids to Yuen Lui to get their portraits taken. Yea for Groupon! The kids did great and we took them to FatBurger for lunch afterwards, followed by a trip to the Lucky Strikes arcade.




Now it is Saturday morning and Spring Break week is nearly over. I think we'll get in one more outing, a bike ride at Marymoor Park, if the weather holds!

All in all, I think we had a pretty good time this week. I guess I'll have to wait to read what my girls write in their "What I did during Spring Break" journals to see if they agree!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Ummm...I guess it is spring break

The winter/spring season has been the busiest I can remember. It turns out that Spring Break is next week. THAT snuck up on me. I've got 3 kids who are so excited to be off for a week and I've got nothing planned. I briefly considered several mini-vacations, but we've had a lot of vacations lately and are planning a trip for May...so that's not in the cards (or checkbook).

I chased down hubby this morning and invited (forced) him to discuss a Spring Break Plan O' Action. We are now on the SBPO'A committee. We came up with a list of fairly low-cost items that we could do and plan on implementing one per day. Here's our options:

* matinee movie (Mars needs Moms? Okay for a 4 yr old?)
* Kid-friendly dinner (Rainforest Cafe?)
* get haircuts
* Arcade at Lincoln Square
* Rollerskating at Bellevue Skate King (take the 4 yr old?)
* Go visit Great Grandma
* Go to the dentist (is it possible to get an appt for all 3 kids on the same day?)
* Get a kid portrait taken at a picture studio

So, anyone got an other ideas? Swim lessons for Spunky Girl and the Big Guy continue this week, as does the Big Guy's preschool (they couldn't possibly have the same Spring Break. Of course not.) We'll just have to schedule our other outings around those. Maybe I can think of some other inside the house things to do that would be fun too, but I can already hear myself saying "No, you can't have any more screen time" and "Please put the video games away and find a book" a million times.

Who's got other ideas for me? Other sanity tips? We're not supposed to have great weather next week, so sending the kids outside to play won't work most days. Even if they do go outside, I have to watch that they don't grab their gaming devices on the way out.
Apparently they don't find a yard full of grass as inviting as I'd hoped they would. Sigh.