Spring Break Spotlights

Woo-hoo, Spring Break!  This was a stay-cation for us of course with it being the week leading up to Easter (kind of an important work week for the pastor), but I planned lots of meet-ups and playdates to catch up with friends we rarely spend time with during the school year to keep this break special, interesting and fun for the boys and I.  So, here's a quick tour of what we did during the boys' Spring Break...

Monday
Well, this was Koen's party day, but in the AM we had some fun in the balmy (although crazy windy) weather.  We stopped at the Lawrenceville library for plenty of Spring Break reading materials, then we had Tav's appointment at Children's, then we headed to Arsenal Playground.  Here we met up with Koen's friend, Delia, who is also off of school.  Her parents needed to work that day, so Delia ended up spending the rest of the morning and afternoon with us.  It was great for Koen to have a same-age playmate.  He was quite wound-up after days of resting to get over his sickness (man his body just soaked up the rest and he had so much energy afterwards!), plus he had his mind on his birthday party that afternoon, so yeah, a little high-strung.  Delia was a great distraction and had a calming effect!  The kids played great on the playground.

As you know (previous blog post), that afternoon we had Koen's birthday party.  It was quite a full day and quite a kick-off to Spring Break week!

Tuesday
This Spring Break came with some interesting challenges.  For instance, Monday was 75 degrees.  Tuesday we woke up to 30 degree temps and blustery snow.  And it wasn't just a fluke, it lasted all day.  So bizarre!  Not only that we also had some health issues as Tavin contracted Koen's cold virus from the week before and it hit him hard.  I had planned for us to get together with my friend Deborah and her kids that day, but it was clear that it would be best for Tav to rest and not go out.  So, instead of keeping all the kids cooped up, we just dropped Tavin off at Daddy's office and he watched movies in the Kidz space while Doug got lots of work done in his office (perfect!) and Koen, Penn and I headed to the Carnegie Science Center with Deborah and her kids, Miles and Hazel (Claire had preschool).  We started at SportsWorks and Koen and Miles both wanted to wait in line to jump on the trampoline.  It turned out to be about a 45 minute wait (crazy!), but we let them run and try other things while we held their place in line or they would wait and one of us would take the little ones around to look at things, etc.  It worked out, but was a crazy wait especially for the little jumping the boys got to do.  Here's Koen testing out his pitch while we held his place in line.

Penn wondered over to the Operation table while we were waiting.  He just went ahead and got on the table.  I love that he was not inhibited at all that the older girls were also working at the game at the same time.  He is really growing in his independence and confidence!

The waiting was paying off.  Miles and Koen have their harnesses on!

And the jumping!  Yay, finally!!

Here are the two that really win the patience prize.  How cute are these little buddies!?!  We were telling them to hug and say hi and they got all sweet with each other.  Precious!

After the trampoline, we headed back to the main museum and let the little ones loose on the 4th floor where the activities cater to ages under 6.  This was Penn's first visit to the Science Center where he could really participate here and he loved it!

Koen seemed to still enjoy it too.  I grabbed this picture as he was getting really into the water area.

I felt so bad for Tav that he had to miss out on our fun outing to the museum (although Doug said he loved his special attention movie date at Daddy's office), but I was so thankful to get Koen out of the house and somewhere hands on, interesting and engaging.  Not to mention I love spending time with Deborah and we had some great chats while our kids enjoyed all the museum has to offer (including that long trampoline wait!).

Wednesday
As far as I could tell and even he could tell, Tavin felt a lot better on Wednesday and was ready to play.  I had planned a playdate with some more great friends that we don't get to see much during the school year, my friend Adrianne, and her kids.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't bounce back as the weatherman said it would, so we ended up having to meetup indoors.  I didn't mind so much, but I was dying to get Koen outside as he was a bundle of energy again on Wednesday morning.  Thankfully he and Adrianne's oldest, did spend about an hour or so outside throwing a baseball back and forth (really fun to see him enjoy that for the first time).  During lunchtime Adrianne and I both grabbed our cameras to try and snap a few pics of the some of the kids all together.  

I also got this picture of Penn and Charlotte playing.  It was fun to see Charlotte really participating this time as the last time we hung out she was still just crawling.  Penn had fun hanging out with her, but also enjoyed the older siblings as well.  He just loves to be a part of the action!

Thanks for hosting us, Adrianne!  As usual, I loved my time chatting with you and catching up and my boys loved being with your sweet and fun kiddos.  I can't wait til summer when we can meet up more regularly!

Thursday
So I guess Tav wasn't completely better on Wednesday because on Thursday he had a fever all day and was just a wreck and clearly uncomfortable with a cough, snot and chills.  Poor bug!  I had plans to meet another friend and her kids at yet another playground, but I just knew Tavin would not benefit from a morning outside playing (or clinging to me on some park bench).  I went into a hectic text/call routine trying to find a local friend to hang out with him so that I could still get happy, healthy, energy-filled Koen out the door and into the fresh air for some much needed exercise.  Thankfully our dear friend Lisa came to our rescue yet again and she came over for a few hours and hung out with Tav.  They watched a long movie and then she read to him for a long time.  So precious!  Thank you, Lisa.  It was a much needed day of rest for Tav and enabled me to get the healthy ones outside for some much needed outdoor playtime!  So I took Koen and Penn to Highland Park to meet my friend Allison and her kids.  Koen and Mary Boyd, Allison's oldest, go to school together and were carpool buddies last year.  They are sweet friends and play together really well.  Here's a quick pic of Koen, Mary Boyd and Charlotte (MB's middle sister).

Penn loved playing with MB's littlest sis, Libby.  It was adorable how they started palling around.  Here they are on the swings (with a super cute closeup of Penn because I just can't stand the swing/Gap hat classic Melder boy pic).

Later after lunch Penn and Libby had a hilarious time enjoying a little slide.  It was precious.  I should've taken video, but at least I got some pics.

As Allison and I were chatting on our way back to our minivans, I was just struck with how fun and refreshing and rejuvenating the week had been.  I had originally planned these special playdates to keep Koen busy and get him to see some friends we don't always get to see during the year, but turns out I think I enjoyed them as much or more than he did.  These other moms are all such wonderful women that I appreciate, look up to and enjoy spending time with, so it was so refreshing to just talk about life, motherhood, things going on in our lives, our kids' lives, our marriages, our ministries, etc.  I am just so thankful for these dear friends that although I may not get to see that often, I am so blessed by their sincere friendships.

Friday
On Friday we didn't have any big plans with anyone else, it was just an us day.  I had high hopes of getting out of the house in time to make it to the Oakland Carnegie Library location, but alas, it took us a full 45 minutes more to leave than I had hoped and the parking was a mess in Oakland, so we ended up just going to the playground instead.  No big deal though, the boys loved it and it was a mild day, so it was very pleasant.  I had packed lunch because we were headed to the noon Good Friday service at church.  Here's Koen hanging out with his littlest bro.  Koen is amazing with his littlest brother when he wants to be and it can be such a help!

Tavin played with Koen a lot, but also just really enjoyed playing the pirate ship game himself (he stays up in a tall tower and looks for bad guys).  At one point he called for me just to wave and say hi, so I grabbed this adorable smile.

After our playground picnic, the boys and I headed to church for a lovely, honoring and reflective Good Friday service.  After that it was home for naptime.  Post-naptime the boys and I had another fun outing...fish fry Friday at Whole Foods.  Doug took them a few weeks ago and they were huge fans, so I thought I would give it a try this final Friday of the Lenten season.  They again just crushed the delicious, flaky, white fish.  We ate outside and Penn enjoyed eating on the run as he just did laps around the eating area grabbing a bite or two every time he passed (he is so hilarious).

Here are the fish fry fans.  True Pittsburghers that they love their fish fry.  It's that kind of city and these boys are on board.

Well, that about sums up our technical Spring Break plans.  It was a great week with some hiccups here and there (namely the snowstorm day and the annoying cold virus).  Koen, it's been fun to have you home with us every day.  Tav, it's been fun to have you home from preschool too.  It's a privilege to be home with my 3 boys.  I love it.  It has it's intense moments, but the amazing, sweet, fun moments totally outweigh those.  Thanks for a great week, boys.  Happy Spring Break!