Spring Break, or should we say Sprinter Break?

Babies are tucked into their beds, ready to head back to school tomorrow. Boo!

While we didn't do anything major for Spring Break, we did keep very busy playing. We talked about going to Wisconsin Dells, and then I found a waterpark hotel in Indianapolis that also included tickets to the children's museum. They have the world's largest children's museum so I have long been meaning to go there. But then we decided against going that far away, and decided on a place in Lake Geneva, but didn't end up going there either. Seth suggested that we just stay home, since all the kids wanted to do was go to the Recplex. He promised he would still take Thursday and Friday off, and suggested that what we saved by not traveling and getting a hotel could be used for littler day trips and going out to dinner instead of cooking. I was sold!

So we went to the gym and swam, and went and let the kids play in the Kids Court while we walked the track and played basketball, we watched college basketball, we went to the movies (Mars Needs Moms-skip it), we took an Ikea road trip which is another one of our kid's favorite places, we started the hardest puzzle ever and have still barely made a dent in it, we went to Chicago, and we ate out every single day. It was lovely.

I love having the babies home. I notice a difference in them the longer they stay away from school and peers. They are sweeter, and they lounge all over me every chance they get. It is my own personal heaven.

Since we didn't do anything super photo worthy, I only pulled out the camera on our day trip to Chicago. On St. Patrick's Day it was so warm (high 60's). We decided to spend the day in Chicago. We started out at the Children's Museum on Navy Pier. We have three "local" CM's and this is the only one we had not been to, but since our annual pass includes all of them (except for that super huge one in Indiana), we decided to check it out. Not as cool as the other two nearby, but major points for being on the pier. Out every window we could see the Chicago skyline or Lake Michigan.

The weather was so nice so I suggested that after the museum we should head to Lincoln Park Zoo, since we hadn't been there before. This zoo is right in the city and free. It was probably our least expensive Chicago trip. We just had to pay parking at the Pier and then again at the Zoo, oh and lunch. Unfortunately, it is utterly impossible to do Chicago for free, or else I would be there far more often. It was a great day. It was so nice to be outside after MONTHS. It is now cold and rainy again, but we were so happy to get just a smidge of Spring weather.

This net ladder went up three stories

The bridge at the top of the net ladder

Alyssa went with a traditional skyscraper in the skyline exhibit

Alex built something with his own unique flavor

Dinosaur Dig

Alex preferred to play in the mouth of the T-Rex. This was his interpretation of a scared face.

You could put your face on a bug and fly it around on the walls of the Bug room. Here's Alex.

And Chloe.

Water fun!

All Alex wanted for St. Patrick's Day lunch was a Shamrock Shake. He requested that I take a picture of his paper smile.

Off to the Zoo

The seals put on a fun little show.

Other animals who were putting on a show were the monkeys and one hilariously naughty vulture. He was teasing the zookeeper and his antics drew quite a crowd.

But if you ask the kids, this was the best find of the day. A giant climbing room.

Even Chloe made it through a couple times.

I almost liked this picture of me and Alex with the city in the background, but dang it all if I didn't have the half-closed Jack Nicholson eyes again. Ugh!

This next picture is for you Valerie. Alex always says humans instead of people. He will even say , "do you see that human over there in the skirt" instead of that girl, or boy, or whatever. A person is a human, people are humans. It is something that will always be SO Alex to me. Me and Seth find it incredibly amusing and point it out all the time, but Valerie is the only person who has ever matched our enthusiasm for this little Alexism. So here he is, our little human specimen, although we have often wondered if maybe he is not human and that is why he refers to our kind in such a formal manner.

Even though I only have pictures of that one day, the whole week was such a nice break. I wasn't thrilled about a Winter Spring (Sprinter)Break, but it was the best week all Winter and I think we all needed to forget the cold and just have a little fun.

Unrelated: This morning Alyssa was looking in the mirror after getting ready for church and I heard her mumble, "Ugh...I wish I didn't look so 1850's". She was in a very modern, multi-patterned dress and knee high boots, all of which she picked out. I still have no idea what she was talking about and it made me laugh all day.