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.

DEE-LITE-FUL

Yesterday was simply delightful. It was one of those days that I looked like the quintessential stay-at-home mom...the kind they put in the magazines. I was the mom reading her fashion magazine while she cheered her children on from the side of the pool (Hot Daddy was in the pool assisting the Big Guy with his lessons). I was the mom watching her kids play at the park while she munched on her Southwestern Chicken Salad from the sidelines. I was the mom making chocolate chip cookies while her kids played outside on the deck with their water toys. Ahhh...back to reality.

Today is zoo day. 8 kids. There will be no illusion of "calm mom". There will be no illusion of peaceful serenity. There will be yelling. There will be panic: "Jackson, get your hand out of that cage." There will be frustration: "Why can't you girls ALL hold hands?". And, hopefully, there will be sleeping children on the way home.

There had BETTER be sleeping children on the way home.