Our Spring Break

It's the first day after spring break. The older kids are back at school. The youngest has been falling apart all day. I didn't get enough sleep last night. And the other girls only had a very light day of schoolwork today (another nice benefit to homeschool!) But the fun of spring break and the memories made are worth it.
We made a plan this year to actually do something over the break. I made up a calendar with a list next to it of things we wanted to do, and then we plugged activities into the dates.
So it started with skating for one girl and her friends; and I took the other girls to the new movie "Cinderella". We all really really liked it!
There was the requisite trip to the library to stock up on books for free time.
And the cousins came for a three day visit - which included a fun time at the carousel.

After they went home we joined some friends for a trip to the Oregon Trail museum in Oregon City. It was interesting to see the size of the wagons pioneers used to travel.

Little K and her friend spent some time "packing" up their wagon.

The Boy and his buddies goofed around a bit ...

This buggy fascinated me. It is an actual one that came on the trail in the 19th century. The seats are so skinny - I don't think my husband and I could fit together on one bench.

After touring the museum we had lunch outside; the boys just couldn't get away from the technology. While the girls ate and ran around, the boys huddled over a device.

One of the cool activities the kids got to do at the museum is make their own candle by dipping a wick in to hot wax, then cool water; back and forth until a candle stick was formed.

A bit of shopping during the week, and then we were off to the beach. We happened to pick the day that was cold and windy. But it was the day the Mr. had off, so we went. It didn't rain on us until we were leaving to go home. My sister pointed us to a new-to-us beach, which was basically deserted. We had a fun time running and walking along the shore, finding treasures. We picked up numerous shells and even whole (!) sand dollars

There were rocks to climb and pools to wade in (even though the water was freezing!!)

Here are a few of the treasures we found:

We ended our week with a birthday party for a friend, and having some relatives over for supper.
And a nap.
It was a lovely break from school; and a fun time to spend with family.