March Break

Thank goodness for holidays!  We had a wonderful stay-cation this week.  I feel very happy right now.  Very blessed too.  I would of course love to have another week off, but one shouldn't be greedy!

We started the break with Alice's party, and my Dad's birthday celebrations, which both got their own blog post.  So this begins with...

SUNDAY
Sunday was pretty much the same as it usually is.  I helped out in nursery a bit, and we had to do garbage after church, but the most fun/different thing, I had a nap!

 

Fiona, Memphis and Cedar are all about a month apart. It's funny that all the 2013 babies are born within four months - four in June, one July and one in September.

Monday - Baby Day at the ZOO!
It was cold and rainy, and we hoped it wouldn't be too crazy.  We renewed our zoo pass for another year.  We went five times in the last year, Ken would like to go more often so our trips cost even less.  We'll see how we do!  In any case we brought our rain gear, and for the most part we stayed dry.  I really wanted to see all the babies, and at my suggestion, we went to see the baby pandas first.  We waited in line for an hour and got to watch the pandas for about a minute.  I'm glad we did it.  They're small for such a short time, and we saw them!

When we finally got to the pandas, the sister was sleeping and the brother was snuggling with Mom.  Dad was outside doing laps

Next we took a quick detour past Juno and then went up the hill towards Africa and ate lunch at the restaurant. Ken made some snacks and sandwiches for us, but we bought pizza for the girls.  After lunch it was more babies! The white lions.

We continued on through the loop around Africa.  It started to rain a little more heavily, but we mostly stayed dry - rain gear.

We made our way to the Indo-Malaya pavilion and warmed up and dried out.  At first it didn't look like there were any orangutans in the enclosure, but then we noticed one on the far side.  Alice and Fiona watched him (or possibly her) walk over to the water with a black blanket cloth thing, dip it in the water and then walk back over to its perch and cover itself completely with the blanket.  It was kind of odd and kind of sad.

Then Alice, Fiona and I watched the Chinese soft shelled turtles for a while while Ken and Kate sat on a bench.  Alice asked me to take pictures of the car under the water, the turtles, the blue ball, and the sign, so I did.

The last baby was the baby rhino. I wish I'd gotten a better picture but I was holding Fiona and she was really unhappy because of the smell.  The baby rhino was so cool.  Baby day at the zoo was awesome!

Afterward we went to Vaughan Mills and while all the girls slept I popped in to pick up Easter Bunny outfits.  Then we drove over to Kelsey's and woke the girls up.

Tuesday
This was supposed to be Bunny, Ruth and Ava day.  Sadly Ruth had to cancel. So we did the Easter Bunny with gusto!  I wasn't planning to make a day of it, but that's what it turned into.  We went to see the Bunny first!  Fiona was being such a crazy person, that I wasn't sure how it was all going to go down, but the girls were awesome, and I just love the photo we got!

After the bunny we had lunch, played in the play area, some rides and then Alice spent the rest of her birthday money.  There was a melt down in Toys-r-us (Fiona), a crying march down the escalator (Fiona) and then when we got downstairs and Kate and Alice still wanted to go to the Disney store Fiona managed to pull it together.  Then after that I realized that I'd forgotten my jacket on the back of my chair in the food court.  We then marched back upstairs and to the other side of the mall, found my jacket and went home.  Melt down aside we had lots of fun and the girls were awesome.

We got home, and I started to tidy up a bit, and in walked Ken's parents.  The girls had a lovely visit with Nana and Papa.  Kate chatted Christine's ear off - it was pretty cute.  Ken made breakfast for dinner and we generally had a lovely visit.  Sadly as I was just checking, I didn't take one picture. Not one.  I'm a little mad at myself.

Wednesday
This was Michelle, Marisol and Amelie day.  We were originally going to play in the morning but no one was moving very quickly.  Ken and Chris left shortly after nine.  The girls were playing nicely, so I decided to do a quick shopping trip to No Frills.  It was weird, Fiona choose to stay at home and play with Alice.  It made me a little sad.

We had lunch and then Michelle arrived with the girls.  It had been ages since Michelle and I had gotten the chance to talk - since Christmas, so we had a long lovely chat and the girls mostly played well.

In the evening we met up in Newmarket with Andrew and Rayna and went to see Zootopia. We all loved it, it was so good!

Thursday
Thursday morning we got up and went to Orangeville to clean the chapel. Then we went to the temple. My Mom met us there and took the girls back to her place and Ken and I went to the temple. And then we went to pick up the girls afterward. It's pretty awesome that my Mom can watch the girls some times. The girls always have so much fun playing at Grandma's.

Friday
It started with a lot of waiting. We weren't sure when Nicole and Matthias and Nicole's Mom Jeanne would arrive... they were supposed to see people in the morning and then come to us. It got later and later and the girls got more and more impatient. But they came! It is so fun when Nicole comes into town and I'm so grateful that she fits me into her plans. I love that I still get to see her. The kids had so much fun playing and I had a lovely time visiting with Nicole and her Mom.

After dinner when they left it was time to get ready for the next guests! Heidi, Todd, their girls and Martin's oldest Eden came to visit. Talk about fun! They came late, which was actually good, because we were able to be ready for them. Heidi and Todd were in the guest room, Josie was on the couch, Eden and Maggie on the double air mattress, Lily on the single air mattress, and Ruthie slept in the top bunk with Alice and Kate below. It is amazing how many people you can fit in a place when you need too!

Saturday
We started the day with the most important stop - Bulk Barn for candy! Then a tour of Heidi and Martin the early years. Went past their house on Browndale Crescent, then past Richmond Hill high school. And then on to Finch Station to subway it downtown. We went to the Eaton Centre, walked over to city hall, over to Smoke's for Poutine, then took the streetcar to China town walked around and back over to the Yonge line and back to Finch and then IKEA.  It was a busy day but it was SO MUCH FUN! I just love that Heidi is not too far...for now. It looks like Todd might have a job opportunity in California. They won't know for a few months and they haven't told anyone yet. (Good thing I'm writing this in the future and back dating... because of course my blog audience is so vast!)

Sunday
Being with Heidi is good for my soul. March Break is good for my soul. I'm so thankful for all of the amazing people in my life. My life is rich and full and good. Heidi and Todd and all the girls left this morning early because Todd had meetings to get to in the afternoon. This week really was so great. I'm not sure I'm ready for reality tomorrow, but hey, who is?!