Our backyard had a bajillion excellent hiding spots for the egg hunt. We are going to have to fill more than 12 per kid next year! They were just too fun to hide.
We dyed hard boiled eggs in the afternoon and were eating them all week long.
We even managed to end the day with Grammie's egg blowing game. Now that needs to become an annual Easter tradition!
The kids had spring break the entire first week of April. We cleaned and worked basically all day Monday, but hit the Oakland Zoo on Tuesday before picking Nana up from the airport for a visit.
Gemma, for whatever reason, absolutely loves giraffes. She always says she wishes she could ride on one. Also, side note, she has a lot of favorite animals, and she is just amazed by them. It is typical of her to see an animal, admire it's skills for a moment, and then say, "I wish I could be a [fill in the blank]." I wish I could be a giraffe. I wish I could be a bird. I wish I could be a monkey. I wish I could be a squirrel. She is totally sincere. If Gemma could have one super power, whether she knows how to articulate this or not, it would be the ability to change into animal form.
Jack always loves to look at the tigers. They have always been his favorite animal. He gets a little bit sad and defensive when someone talks about how fierce or wild they are. In his heart of hearts, Jack wants them to be snuggly and gentle and tame. He doesn't admire them for their hunting skills or stealth; it's all about how big and soft and orange they look.
Hazel always gets a little bummed out when J and G get a picture next to their favorite animals at the zoo. She was over the moon to find, during our wanderings this last visit, a statue of a fox in a den. She is absolutely obsessed with foxes lately. It's probably been about a year since they beat out cheetahs in Hazel's heart. I'm not sure what she loves so much about them. I think she thinks of them as shy and noble and independent, which aligns with her self-perception as well.
We took my mom to the secret beach her first full day here, because it had the best weather forecast. It turned out to be absolutely perfect! It was a bit chilly, but no more than usual. We had sun for the first 3/4ths of our visit, which was glorious. And we had the beach completely to ourselves. Paradise.
Gemma loves to chase the waves. She gets soaked every beach trip. She just loves to flirt with the tide, no matter how cold the water is.
Hazel is an explorer. She loves to climb rocks and check out caves and tide pools. She gets bored fast if the beach is all sand. She just has this drive to hunt.
Jack, my jokester, my mellow fellow, is happy just to be. He spent some time with each sister on this trip, but seemed to find the most joy from rolling downhill in the sand, over and over. We made slow motion videos of him doing cartwheels and other antics, and then he'd watch them and laugh, and make more.
While my mom was here, Todd and I took advantage of the opportunity and had a two-night getaway over the weekend. We didn't go far, just over to Fremont, and spent Saturday at Great America. We were so excited to ride the big roller coasters and feel young and alive and get a big adrenaline rush. Sadly, we realized pretty quickly that we have gotten too old. At the end of that first ride, he and I looked at each other with wide eyes, and realized a) we felt nauseous, b) this was going to give us a headache, and c) we were going to have to take breaks between rides if were to survive the day. We did, in fact, stick around for about 6 hours, and rode our favorite multiple times, but there was a long lunch break, lots of people watching, and Todd even fell asleep on a bench while I was using the bathroom - an old man's nap! We rode our favorite roller coaster one last time before taking off hours before the park closed, and Todd screamed through the whole thing. I thought maybe he was really enjoying himself, but he admitted at the end of the ride that he was trying to keep his blood pumping so he didn't pass out. Ha ha ha! So sad for us.
Our stake Activity Days Girls held a pinewood derby. I wish I had a more close-up shot of her car. She shaped it like a canoe and painted the bottom blue, like it was in the water. She named it Sitka, Alaska. It didn't win any prizes, but it was a fun night.
Todd's parents have just returned from a short mission in Germany, and drove up to see us for a couple of days. Grammie and Poppa were good sports and rode bikes and scooters to take the kids to school in the morning.
Todd was at drill, busy flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and other cool stuff. Lame side effect of his parents just showing up instead of calendaring with us when they come to visit is they always seem to be here when Todd is not.
But we held a family BBQ in the backyard anyway! I tried to get Erika into the picture, but she wouldn't budge. But believe me when I say that Erika came over, and Vlad and Luna came up as well. It was fun to get everyone together for a family dinner.
Basketball season is still going strong. Everyone is loving it. Gemma has practiced enough that she can make baskets now when the hoop is on its lowest setting. That has been thrilling for her! Jack and Hazel are both lots better than they were at the start of the season as well. All the kids are having a good time. We are definitely signing up for this again next year!
Todd tries to make it to practices after work when he can. The kids maul him. He's not going to be able to carry all three kids at once for much longer. They're all getting huge.
We took the kids to Legoland in Southern California and it was awesome. It was the perfect time to go. Gemma is just barely tall enough that she can go on every single ride, and Hazel isn't too old for everything yet. It was super cool to see all the creative displays throughout the park made of Lego.
There were two horse rides that made all of Gemma's wildest dreams come true, this one, where the horse canters as it takes her around the track, and a carousel full of ponies. As much as she exclaims over giraffes, I think horses might truly be G's very favorite animal. Right now it's her dream to grow up to own a horse ranch and just ride horses all day long, every day.
Most of the rides were really mellow, but there was one, called Knight's Tournament, that had some serious thrill factor. You could choose from 5 levels of intensity, and Hazel rode it at a five, probably ten times over the course of our two days there. Todd went with her one and hated it. You're like a knight in a dragon's claw, and it throws you around up and down and upside down and in circles and is kind of crazy. This ride is purely for the older kids who come to the park.
Jack was mesmerized by the Lego Factory tour, which showed how Legos are made. The assembly line machinery was pretty fascinating.
But Jack's favorite part was the biggest hit with our entire family: the Technic Coaster. It was an exciting, but not intense, roller coaster, with one big drop and a couple smaller ones, and a lot of hairpin turns. I sat next to Gemma multiple times (I can't even tell you how many times we rode this one - a lot) and she was always funny. She'd exclaim, "That was so scary!" after the drop and then laugh in this giddy, wild way. Huge, bulging eyeballs, and a darling grin. Jack described the drop as simultaneously his favorite and least favorite part as his stomach felt like it was falling and was also pressed tight against the safety bar.
I couldn't believe my luck when Hazel told me it was Crazy Hair Day at school and that I could do what I wanted with her head. She absolutely hates for me to do her hair. She always wants it just loose or in a ponytail, and often takes out any braids or cute things ti sneak in while she's reading at breakfast. I used the opportunity wisely and did something mostly just cute, instead of getting all whack-a-doodle. I just wanted to play with her hair!
Last, but not least, I always want to be able to look back and see Gemma's first giraffe drawing, which she gave away on a birthday card. Isn't it cute?
