Spring Break...

We just returned today from our Spring Break trip to the beach... fun but exhausting. We left Easter day right after the egg hunting so I didn't get a lot of pictures of that but here are a few of the egg decorating from the day before. Nyah was sleeping (we planned that; what a mess that would have been if she joined in) and Price was at a friend's house (he knew what he was missing, Mr. Social Butterfly). Caleb was put in charge of the more sophisticated egg coloring - tie dye. Look how many adults it took to help out! Thanks mom & dad!

Here are a few of my favorites. Doug worked hard on this egg. And only 1/2 of the household eats the eggs (Doug, Brynn, Price & me) and really only one will do it not on Easter (me).

She takes her egg decorating very, very seriously.

Showing off her findings...

Shame on me for not getting many good pictures of Nyah's first Easter home. She loved it though, pointing to each egg and shouting "ball" and then grabbing it. We were able to hold the others off until 8am so my parents could watch the hunt but not Nyah. Her basket was full of lollipops so she was a happy camper... how did the Bunny know those are her favorite?

So we headed off to Myrtle Beach, about a 6 hour ride... we borrowed Nana and Papas van (with a movie player!) and it was so nice to have a lot of space even though I was too scared to drive it. We spent the first three days in a hotel (2 rooms thankfully) that had a few pools, play areas, and hot tubs. It was cold and cloudy all three of those days, with off and on rain. The pictures below of the kids in the water are actually in a hot tub. The third day the weather was warm enough for the kids to spend some time in the water slide part of the pool but they would come out after just a few minutes with blue lips and body shivers. Two of Price's friends from school were vacationing at the beach as well so they came over to our hotel for part of one day; they all had fun at the beach and in the pools before heading out to celebrate one of the boy's birthday.

Nyah's whining about the sand lasted about five minutes and then she enjoyed playing in it. She did not like to put her toes in the ocean but I don't blame her. It was frigid.

One day the boys went to play mini-golf (a more serious version than the time we all played... Brynn and Nyah just don't take the game seriously enough to make the boys happy) so we headed to do the girly thing... see the alligators. It was, um, interesting, and I have seen enough of them to last me a lifetime. The ice-cream after, however, was divine!

The last few days we moved to a different part of the beach and stayed in the same condo complex as friends of ours who lived in our neighborhood for a way-to-short period of time. It was a lot of fun to catch up with them. Sarah and I were even able to sneak away from the chaos for a short run on the beach one morning and it was beautiful out... still chilly but sunny! So eventually, yes, the sun came out and we had to pull out the sun lotion, but it never really warmed up until, of course, the day we pulled away to head home (it is warm here now though!)

Look, I am in a picture. There is proof I actually vacationed with my family.

Finally, I love the below picture. It is so calm and peaceful (and if you know Brynn, she is not). I love how her bottom and legs are covered in sand. Brynn loves the beach. I think some day she might live near the ocean, and will hopefully have a guest bedroom for us when we visit. She has talked about how much fun she had on the trip many times in the past hour.

So in addition to all the above, I got to go to the movies with the four older kids and was able to sit without fussing for 2 hours; I got to read a book (Twilight... loved it! Thanks Kelly); I got to see my husband for more than 1 hour a day for 6 days; and I got to eat ice-cream without worrying about adding pounds (because ice-cream on vacation has no calories). An added bonus, I washed our clothes at the condo (when you can fold and stare at the ocean at the same time laundry just isn't as bad) so I don't have any to do now that I am home! And now, only 7 weeks until Disney!

Real life starts again tomorrow. Soccer games and baseball practice in the morning and unpacking in the afternoon!