We had spring break the first week of April. We had a couple chill days at home, then Gemma, Jack, and I headed up to the cabin with Katie and her kids. Ryan was out of town for work and Hazel was taking a driver's education class. Todd brought Hazel up Thursday night when she was finished with that.
We weren't sure what kind of conditions we were going to find. The weather had started warming up and the snow was beginning to melt, but we still kept seeing small snowstorms on the forecast. It was sunny and kind of slushy when we got there Wednesday morning, but the roads were still being groomed. We got some fresh powder that evening, so we had fresh snow to play in and make sno-cones wtih throughout the rest of the week.
We played lots of games and watched a movie or two, but the main event of this trip was definitely sledding. We used the big hill a couple blocks northwest of us where there's a large clearing with no cabins built on it. We all had some epic rides down the entire block. Todd loaded kids on their sleds behind the snowmobile to take them all up the roads back to the top, and it's hard to say which everyone loved more.
Missy recruited Todd and Hazel to travel down to Mexico the next weekend with her and Carli. Missy's friend orchestrates a program that builds houses for single moms with high needs. A group of about 20 people banded together to put the house up in just a couple of days. It was a satisfying experience for them. Hazel said she especially liked connecting with the local kids living in the community. I love that Missy brought down a suitcase full of Spanish language books to give away.
That same weekend our ward had a temple day and I helped run a primary activity while the adults and teens went in. The other ladies in the primary presidency and I brought in blocks, lego, cars, and other large motor toys and also set up a table for paper bag puppet making and coloring. The kids were easy to entertain. We also had a missionary-led tour of the temple grounds and the visitor's center.
Katie and I made a goal to try grounding for 30 days. Each of us tried to spend half an hour a day outdoors and barefoot. The weather was perfect for this goal! It was easy for me to want to read a book, eat my lunch, or practice yoga in the backyard.
We headed back up to the cabin for the last weekend of skiing before they closed the resort. The temps were in the 50's. Todd convinced Hazel and Jack to ski in shorts with him. Gemma thought they were nuts and wore her snow pants. Turns out she was the genius. Hazel biffed it on the first run and got some gnarly road rash on her upper leg. She spent the next couple hours doing homework with a view while Todd and the other two kids hit the slopes. (I was back at the cabin, walking in solitude and reading.) Hazel was such a good sport and even joined the crew for some jumps after lunch before coming home.
Todd spent countless hours and countless dollars planning an epic Survivor-themed youth night. For weeks he researched, plotted. bought, and built. He's got a spreadsheet full of ideas for the future. Probably the most time-consuming piece was building six of these massive wooden puzzles; with a string in each hand, you're meant to guide a golf ball in a hammock up to the top without falling through any of the holes along the way.
He dressed up like Jeff Probst and divided the kids randomly into six different tribes, complete with patterned fabric buffs.
The first event was the Coconut Stomp. Everyone attached a balloon to each ankle (which Todd and I had previously blown up and tied with a rubber band in the knot). Six at a time entered the basketball key and had thirty seconds to try to pop each other's balloons and protect their own.
Next up was Bubble Toes. We had six coolers, each filled with 200 marbles, water, and dish soap. The kids had 45 seconds to grab as many marbles as possible with their toes and drop them in pie tins.
The third event seemed to be the crowd favorite. Three teammates used a rubber slingshot to catapault wiffle balls high into the sky, where two other teammates tried to catch them.
When all four wiffle balls had been successfully collected, teammates ran back and forth with holey paper cups of water, racing to fill up a PVC pipe so they could grab the ping pong ball that was at the bottom. Then someone had to balance all the balls on a wooden board and beat the wind, getting all the balls back to the starting station.
Of course we had a food challenge. The kids - and leaders!- tried their hands at eating edible pinecones, vienna sausages, roasted grasshoppers, a glob of mayo on a spoon, taro noodles, and teriyaki sardines.
The final challenge was a beanbag toss onto a teammate's belly, a crabwalk to the center of the gym, a repeat of that, and finishing up with having to get three balls in the holes at the top of the wooden puzzle,
Suzanne flew in from Colorado and had a girl's weekend with Chrissy and me at Half Moon Bay. We rented an airbnb with a cozy sectional and a hot tub. We played games, talked, ate, and gazed at the beach for two and a half glorious days.
We hiked a little bit.
We went to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve at low tide and squished sea anemones.
We found a bluff hike and walked it a little bit, found a little nook on the edge and had a picnic lunch.
We played most of the games I brought, plus a few more Suzanne taught us.
We watched the sun set over the ocean.
It was so filling to be with my two best friends. Their friendships and examples have strengthened me in so many ways and at so many times to be a better woman, mom, wife, and friend than I otherwise would be. They are Godly like that, helping refine my character in loving and inspiring ways. They are two of the biggest blessings in my life.
Jack filled out an intensive application for a week-long study abroad in Japan. He spent days fine-tuning his short essay answers. He got teacher referrals and prepared for weeks for an in-person interview. We were thrilled when we received the call saying he had been accepted! Of course, we went out for boba to celebrate. He gets to spend the next several months preparing, and the trip of Jack's dreams will happen in October.
