Spring Break 2016

This past week has been Spring Break and though our little Nutts are not technically in the school system yet, with preschool we have found our time to do whatever we want whenever we want to somewhat limited so we took advantage of our spring break and went on a Nutt-y adventure.  At first, our spring break was going to be spent in here in town; attending some crafting classes, taking advantage of memberships, and lounging around home.  That isn’t what happened though, oh no.  Instead I felt we should head up to sunny St. George so that is what we did, by way of a surprise mini-vacation for the little Nutts. 

To help pull off the surprise Monday night Brent took the kiddos to a movie so I could get our packing all done.  With that complete Tuesday after getting ready to start our day I explained to our little Nutts that I wanted to take them someplace fun that we hadn’t been to in a while and to hop into the car.  Fortunately, both Kara and Kaden are very trusting of their mom and obeyed without hesitation.  With the luggage securely stored away in the back and out of view we were on our way.  As we left the Phoenix valley area Kara quizzed me on where we were going and as she saw us pass location after location that she could think to guess her inquisitiveness became more insistent as to where we were going.  Once we hit the Sunset Point Rest Stop, our fist bathroom break location while on a road trip headed north, I asked Kaden to come see me.  As Kara continued asking where we were going I whispered to Kaden, “tell your sister we are going to go see grandpa”.  Kaden repeated the words without giving them thought, then, once thought processes kicked in he turned to me with big eyes to confirm what he heard as Kara excitedly asked if it was true.  Once I validated their curiosities Kara very matter-of-factly stated we couldn’t we didn’t have any suitcases.  After encouraging her to view the back of the car her short lived concern was put to rest and both she and Kaden vowed to hurry quickly at each stop so we could get to grandpa’s house as fast as possible. 

After arriving in good ole’ Washington Kaden and Kara both took to playing with Grandpa with full enthusiasm.  Kaden laughed and giggled the night away.  Now, when I say he laughed and giggled I mean eyes were beaming, dimple showing, belly jiggling giggles that haven’t been heard in such a repeated quantity for quite some time.  Based on how elated Kaden was just that first night of playing solidified how worthwhile this small trip was going to be. 

Tablets and movies make long car rides so much easier!

Kaibab stop with a little play in the snow

The fun lasted maybe 2 minutes then it was toooooo cold!

Now, we only had two days in St. George, and Grandpa was able to take off the second of our two days so Wednesday we took to explore a few of our favorite St. George places that we gambled wouldn’t be too overcrowded since it was also spring break for the St. George area.  Fortunately, our gambling paid off with a little improvising and we were able to enjoy each location with minimal crowding issues.  The first requested stop from Kara was to the Red Hills Desert Garden where she enjoys crossing the stream on the stone path.  While at the garden Kaden sought out each swing to relax in for a few moments while Kara hunted down each of the stream crossing areas so she could repeatedly leap and dance across the stream.  While at the garden, we paid more attention this visit to what the different types of plants were and Kaden enjoyed seeing the dinosaur tracks that were discovered in the garden area while Kara chose to seek out tadpoles in the stream.  Thankfully, we did see some a small school of polliwogs shortly before leaving or I think Kara would have camped out in the garden for the remainder of the day. 

Happy little Nutts

Off he goes

Dinosaur tracks!

Hunting down tadpoles

My little "Handsome Harry"

Leap

My little goofball

After our garden adventure we headed to Grandma Tobler’s for a snack followed by some park time.  We were trying to kill some time before we met grandpa at work so the kiddos were given an option – we could go to the wildlife museum or to a park to play.  There was no hesitation from either of them as they excitedly shouted out, “park! Park! Park!”  Can you tell these little Nutt’s enjoy parks?  And the chance to play at a new park was something they weren’t going to give up.  So, off to find a fun park to play at we went.  Our first park idea was scratched as we saw how crowded they were so off we went to find a second one.  What a much better park we found!  The playground area was small, but perfect and at most, there was one other family there playing while we were there so the kiddos enjoyed their free reign on the park. 

Kaden didn't want to stop eating to let me take a decent picture

Once we were done at the park it was time to meet up with Grandpa at his work, and this meant Kaden and Kara relished in some time driving the fork lift at Grandpa’s work and pretend driving the tractors there too.  As soon as we pulled into Dixie Lumber Kaden started beaming from ear to ear as he did a slight happy dance of delight that he was going to drive the fork lift again.  For Kaden, riding on coupled with driving the fork lift is a highlight and a must do on his “things to do while in St. George” list. 

Off he goes

So not ready... never ready to be done

She was so happy to be up with Grandpa
and found that if  she held the wheel in one direction they did
donuts, over and over again...

The look of a city farmer

Once we were done with the fork lifts we journeyed over to Paula’s for dinner, which is a must for any Lang visiting St. George.  After enjoying the obligatory 2 Cheese Enchilada dinner we celebrated our grandpa time with some fried ice cream before heading back to his house for the night.  Back at grandpa’s the little Nutt’s were excited to gather the chicken eggs and pet a chicken before settling in for some serious car playing and some bonding with grandpa time over Pepsi. 

I enjoy observing how on each visit
they become less and less timid

Chillin' in the backyard swing

Pepsi... nectar of the Gods and
Cure for all ailments (or so I've been told)

Thursday came with Grandpa off work and for these city Nutts we delighted in as much country living activities as we could.  This meant visiting the farm to check out how our pig is growing and feeding the goats.  Afterwards we headed to another farm to discover how little the pigs start off and to check out the cows before heading to a couple farming stores to see the baby chicks and bunnies where boots were calling to us like sirens calling out to sailors.  Just like the sailors, we were compelled to answer the call of the sirens…err in this case the boots and now our little Nutts each have a pair of boots to call their own. 

Kaden had no fear and would put half his arm through the fence
to feed all the animals he could

The pigs found his pants appetizing

Check out these boots!

While all of this was fun, the highlight of the day came in the evening when we headed to our favorite fishing hole.  For Kara and Kaden, it is not possible to come to St. George without going fishing and luckily, fishing poles were packed so these two little Nutts did not see their fishing hopes squashed.  The fishing pong was busier than normal, but fortunately, after a few minutes we hit our groove and the fish were biting the kiddos poles in the water.  Sadly, an overly enthusiastic Kaden had damaged the fishing line for his pole and his pole wasn’t able to remain in the water for long.  So, we improvised and the kiddos took turns fishing with Kara’s pole.  After grandpa found the sweet spot in the pond it didn’t take long before the bites turned into catches.  As the first fish was wound in we were pleasantly surprised to see a Rainbow Trout on the end of the pole versus the Blue Gill we are accustomed to catching.  After the first was caught Kara eagerly put her pole back in the water and it wasn’t 5 minutes before her pole was bending under the weight of another fish.  As she wound this fish in, to the amazement of each of us and all other fisher people around us, Kara caught a 12-inch Trout with her smaller Tinkerbell fishing pole.  After the fish was secure under a net (we had just taken a quart sized bag as we thought we’d be catching Blue Gill and did not plan on the larger Trout) it was Kaden’s turn to fish as Kara had reached her two fish limit.  Again, within 5 minutes Kaden was winding in a fish, but a drink spilled and that was all she wrote as his focused was on his soda instead of the fish, allowing that fish to swim back out to safety.  It did not take long though, for another, or maybe it was the same fish to bite again and Kaden wound in a fish of his own.  As Kaden’s interest was starting to diminish we decided to call it a night and traveled back to Grandpa’s for some “special” homemade fish sticks. 

Learning from the best

The best of times

Fish number one!

The twelve incher

Kaden strives to emulate his grandpa

Kaden's big catch!

Our soon to be dinner (sorta speak)

One proud fisher girl

With the major items we’d want to accomplish while in St. George checked off, with tears in our eyes we bid adieu to sunny St. George and to Grandpa and headed back down to Phoenix.  We were sad to leave Grandpa as two days isn’t enough and it hurt knowing that Grandma who had been up in Salt Lake at Aunt Alicia’s was coming back the very next day, but commitments and plans we’d already made prevented us from staying in St. George any longer, so off we traveled back to home and back to our big Nutt.  While tears wetted our faces as we left St. George, fortunately, by the time we reached back home the tears were long since dried and anticipation of seeing daddy took precedence. 

Making a tiny snowman

Snow play at the top of Kaibab on the way home lasted
longer with boots keeping toes warm (a whole 5 minutes this time)

Saturday brought us an Easter party and egg hunt for the mom’s group I’m a part of where we put a twist on the traditional party and held it at a Senior Living Center.  I was in charge of the party which meant that Saturday morning was spent in party planning mode and the afternoon was spent at the party.  We completed a craft with the Seniors, then they watched on as the kiddos hunted down eggs then together we wrapped up with a snack.  It definitely wasn’t traditional, but so much fun and so rewarding to interact with and provide some fun and enjoyment for the seniors. 

With all of our major activities completed our week wrapped up with some scooter and bike riding time and some family game time this fabulous Sunday evening. 

We are loving our ever increasing family game times

It has been a whirlwind of a week and one that has been very full and very rewarding.  We cannot wait to see what adventures this next week will bring this Nutt-y family!