Easter

It was a low-key Easter this year. We came back from the hotel on Saturday, got some things done around the house and had a nice Easter lunch as a family on Sunday before we hunted for eggs.

The attempts to get a nice photo of the kids with their Easter Baskets---

Emma Claire was excited about the "Oyster Bunny" visiting this year. "Who is the Oyster Bunny!?" demanded Oliver. Perhaps next year the word "Easter" will be a little more clear.

 Then the egg hunt began--

And then insanity ensues with the breaking of the cascarones. This is such a hit at our house. The kids love these confetti eggs and I have to thank BeBe for shipping them every year from Texas where they are in abundance and easily found during the Easter season. Our neighbors came out to see the kids throwing the eggs and smashing them on their heads and their siblings heads. Forget the candy in eggs, my kids prefer the cascarones.

Happy Easter!

Staycation 2016

After last year's Spring Break Staycation was a hit, I promised the kids we would repeat it again this year. We made plans to go to the same resort as last year, but a different hotel--the one with the biosphere pool. We chose not to stay at this hotel last year because it has a slide and Oliver was not tall enough for it last year. To avoid drama and to ensure all had a good time we skipped it. This year, Oliver was tall enough for the slide. The hotel and the biosphere was a hit. It was a brief 24 hour stay-over but just long enough.

The kids loved the pool and especially the water slide. It takes a while for Emma Claire to come around to the idea of swimming a splashing and getting water in her eyes, but when she did, she enjoyed it. 

We spent the majority of our time at the pool and I think the kids would have opened and closed the waterslide if we let them. Matt enjoyed a massage at the spa for his birthday present and we all had a nice family dinner at a hotel restaurant with a game of pool and ping pong afterwards.

Inside the biosphere pool. Nice, warm and lush. It's like a tropical paradise in NJ!

Chloe and Oliver "hanging" at the waterfall.

Emma Claire gave the pool a thumbs up. 

Dinner out. Oliver is looking at the creepy family next to us that stared at us the entire meal. Chloe got up and asked me quietly, "What are they looking at?" I replied, "Us. Apparently this is a people aquarium and they've never seen a multi-racial family." It was awkward, enough to make us be like "eat up and lets go", I almost said something, but I thought I would take the higher ground--I told Oliver and Chloe it was their problem, not ours. 

Boston

We took an impromptu road trip with Matt to Boston during the kid's Spring Break. Matt had a meeting and we decided to tag along for fun.

What's that about the best laid plans?

It wasn't the fun day we had hoped. Car problems, getting out of the house late with three kids, and unseasonably cold weather put a BIG damper on the trip.

Not as fun as we had anticipated.

But, we did get to visit the New England Aquarium and stop on the way home at a friends house in Connecticut. The day may not have started out best, but it ended well.

The kids enjoyed the aquarium, for the most part. Oliver and Chloe loved the touch pools, Emma Claire did not want to touch anything.

Chloe and Oliver at the touch pool with the rays.

A very large sea turtle.

A grouper? that really followed us all over the tank. Emma Claire declared she didn't like it. 

Visitors to the City

It's always nice to see visitors. My aunt and her granddaughter (my 2nd cousin), Abigail, came to NYC to sightsee. It was a high school graduation present for Abigail. Chloe and Matt were in Florida racing, but Oliver, Emma Claire and I went into the city to "visit". It was a great day. We had such nice weather and it was fun to go into Central Park and enjoy it. Little did we know that the weather was going to get much colder on Monday and would stay that way for a while. It was nice to enjoy spring with family before winter re-emerged.

Oliver, Abigail and Emma Claire in the park.

The world to Oliver is just one big parkour course.

Emma Claire really liked playing with Abigail. 

My Aunt Laura and me.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

We celebrated Matt's birthday this weekend and today, his actual birthday, he flew to Palm Beach with Chloe for the final round of the Florida Winter Tour. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, racing in Florida, but he also got a pretty nice birthday present, a Triumph America motorcycle.