Spring Beak Days 6, 7, and 8

We fled the city.

But first we cleaned the family room.  And we scrubbed every. single. bathroom.  We have 4.  This is the first time in...ever...that all the bathrooms were clean at once.  Really.  It wasn't pretty.  And I still need to get down on my hands and knees to do all the bathroom floors.  But all the fixtures are washed and the floors were swept.  They just need a little more.

We headed out to my sister Kris's house in the woods.

Where my children ran free for 2 1/2 days.  Even the 4 year old.  And I didn't worry once because her whole acre is fenced to keep dogs and small children in.  I can't even tell you how much my kids liked being in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do.  They did things like whisper in the ear of the deaf dog (in an attempt to make her hear him), cross country croquet (inventive!), play with wooden swords, take rides with Uncle Fun on dirt bikes, eat good food, play video games, play Phase 10- wait, that was me.  

We also went to some second hand stores.  Because they had new junk that I had never seen because they were out of my area.  No, wait, scratch that.  there was something I had seen before.  And I found it quite humorous.  I was looking through the picture frames and I saw a piece of art my sister made.  I had to laugh because, really, what are the chances?

Anyway, we had a good visit and we got home late Saturday night.  I planned that because the drive is quiet that way, and I don't have to stop for potty!

My Own Private Version Of Hell.

Alternately titled; Spring Break, Day 5
I have 2 of my own versions of Hell. One is to take 5 children into Costco. The other is Chuck E. Cheese. However, the second is tempered by the fact that it is mid-week, mid-day, and all our neighboring school districts are already done with spring break.












This mornings jobs were to clean the pigsty school/craft room, living room, front entry hall, dining room, kitchen, and back entry/ mud room. We hadn't cleaned the kitchen since we came home from camping on Monday night. Yuck.

So, after a morning of slave laborcleaning the downstairs portion of our gi-huge-ic house, we were off. My sister in law is a store manager for a certain national chain that has a red bird for it's mascot. She gave my dad a stack of coupons for free kids meals that he could give to the kids who come to his office. Or his grand kids. Whatever. We got the hook up on 5 free kids meals. I wish I could still order off the kid's menu.

After lunch we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Which I call Chuck E. Hell. And my four year old corrects me every time, "It's Chuck E. Jesus!" Wow, talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.

I should have been gambling today because I hit the jackpot on 3 different games. My kids got some cheap crap made in China nice prizes.

So, I spent $0 on my kids' lunches (Somewhat more on mine), and $20 for 200 tokens in Hell. That works out to $4 per child. Nice!

Just wait until you hear what tomorrow's jobs are...

Spring Break, Day 4

Today we had a repeat of last year's trip to Karen's hot tub.
I didn't take any pictures today, so just look at last year's pictures. All the kids look the same, they're just a little taller.

Karen proceded to tromp me at Phase 10. I don't lose well. So, after pizza I had a chance to redeem myself when Both Karen and her husband wanted to play a round. I lost. Again. I'm glad I didn't buy any Lotto tickets today.

Before we left the house I made the kids help me clean all 3 bedrooms which included stripping, washing, and remaking the beds- among other gross jobs.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure.

Spring Break, Days 1, 2, and 3

Ah, Spring Break is upon us once again.
Remember the rules? Free or Cheap. It's like a mantra.

So, the kids and I washed the cars on Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday we went Camping in Leavenworth, WA.

The real work came when they had to unpack on Monday night.

Enjoy seeing what we did for cheap.

Spring Break, Day 7

Today, Jesse and Sebastian went skiing for the last time of the season.
The littler kids and I went to church and then out to lunch at our local Mexican restaurant, where kids eat for 99 cents on Sundays. I think we'll just kick back today, finish the laundry, and get ready for tomorrow.
Sigh, I guess Spring Break is over.
Actually, I must confess that I was dreading this week. It's not so much that I don't like having everyone home as it is that things tend to fall apart when we have a break in routine. The first week of summer is always super hard for us, too. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that with a plan in place things went smoothly.
Well, back to routine tomorrow. That's good because I have a lot of things to do that I brushed aside so I could play with my kiddos.

Spring Break, Day 6

Today I had an appointment with my accountant. I know, there's nothing like the last minute filer for you. Actually, I am the client that always has everything together at the end of January- but that trip to Romania really threw me for a loop. I spent about 20 days trying to catch back up with my life, and I am still tucking in loose ends.
Then it was off to the drive in Movies.
We like to make the drive out to Oak Harbor to watch the Drive in Movies. We always go to the Blue Fox Drive In. Tonight's features are Nim's Island and 27 Dresses. We get in for $13 because the kids under 11 are free- Oh yeah, that's ALL of them!
Oak Harbor is a Navy town so the drive in plays the National Anthem every night and when it is done you honk and flash your lights- for a long time.
We only stayed for the first feature tonight because it starts at 8:30 pm (actually, 9:00 by the time you get through all the previews and adds for the concession stand- and our kids won't go to sleep for the second feature- bummer. With the hour drive to get back home, we pulled into the driveway at 12:00am. The kids even remembered to bring their pillows and blankies for the ride home.
Nim's Island was cute- all the kids liked it. I liked Jodie Foster's character way better than the Nim role. Jodie Foster was TOTALLY neurotic. There were some really funny parts with her character.

Spring Break, Day 5

Today no one had to do any slaving away except me. I had to pay my household bills and enter all that stuff that I did at The Children's Museum into Quick Books.
We met Grandma and then we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. Grandma brought our cousins Olivia and Baby Darius. By the time we got to the zoo we had to feed the wild animals- not the ones in the cages. After lunch we had about 3 hours to see the zoo. I never feel like I have enough time since I only go once or twice a year, but 3 hours is about all the littler ones can manage.
I let the kids ride the carousel for the first time. It really wasn't worth the $2/head, but since I only laid out $10 for the entire day, I figured it was OK.
My mom and I got together with my sisters last May and went to the zoo. For the cost of getting all of us into the zoo on that one day, my mom and I bought a membership. It paid for itself on the first trip. Also, because the zoo is still operating on winter hours, the parking was free. It was a perfect day at the zoo.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Now it's almost like you were there!

Spring Break, Day 4

So, yesterday was a little bit of a downer. We spent the afternoon slaving away in the yard. We filled the back of our great big 1977 Ford, the one I call The Beast, with all sorts of broken toys and other yard junk. I actually got rid of our porch swing and our fire pit. Yucky. I tried to mow the lawn, but a whole tank of gas and an hour later I had only made 3 swipes around the yard. It is a big yard, but that was ridiculous.
At 6:30 we went to the gym to go swimming. I don't know what I was thinking. I should have gotten there at 5:45! Our pool has a capacity of 15 people. My girlfriend had just showed up with her kids and some friends- which meant that 14 people would have to get out of the pool before we could get in. I didn't really see that happening.
Oh, poor broken hearts!
What we ended up doing was staying up all night watching Alvin and The Chipmunks and The Waterhorse. I guess it was all in the name of family time. Still, it wasn't swimming....

Spring Break, Day 3

After the kids picked up the junk in the main living areas, they headed up to the Family room. If you remember, in an earlier post I did mention I had trouble spots. Well , this is the major one! The kids play and watch movies up there and the only time I ever venture up there is late in the evening, once in a while, to watch a movie. And then I'm too tired to clean it or to make them clean it.
It really didn't take that long to clean the family room. About 30 minutes.
At 1:30 we headed for Red Robin, Yum, to eat lunch. The kids all had a free kid's meal coupon from my dad's chiropractic office, so we ate for the cost of my meal.
When we were done eating lunch we went to Chuck E Cheese. For those of you east of the Mississippi, I think it's called Showbiz Pizza. It's kinda like the whole Best Foods/Hellman's thing. My mom had given us 40 tokens that she had for some reason, and we used some super coupons. We got 200 tokens for $25. The meant for the whole day I spent just $5 on each kid! Our friends Karen and kids came down and played too. By the time we got to Chuck E Cheese they were out of school for the day. We had a great time playing!

Mom, can I have another penny?

Libby was pretty good at this one- she made it in the cup a couple of times and got "this close" to getting a jackpot.

Abby liked the virtual jump rope. Of course she likes the real jump rope, too.

I'm not sure what Caleb's favorite game was. I managed to get a picture of him holding still here.

I never got a shot of Jesse because he was off hanging out with his friend Allyson.

Spring Break, Day 2

First thing today (technically yesterday), I helped the kids clean their rooms and they helped me clean mine. With 3 boys in one room and 2 girls in the other they tend to get pretty funky between cleanings. Actually, I call what we did today "tossing" the rooms. I don't know where that comes from, but it involves changing all the bedding, cleaning out drawers, crawling under beds, reaching deep into closets, and, of course, tossing A LOT of stuff.

Then we went to the Children's Museum. I had actually wanted to do this yesterday, but silly me, we got all the way there just to find it closed. I KNEW that. So we went today.

While I did this:

Payed my business bills

My kids did this:

Played Store

Drove The Semi

Played In The Sand Box

Fished In The River

Directed Movies

Loaded And Operated The Crane

And Played Dress-up

Actually it was at this point that another mother commented

how nice it was to see older kids like my son who weren't

too cool to play.She said he was being a very nice boy

and was impressed with the way he played with his sister.

Yeah, he has his moments.

On our way out we paused for a picture on the semi which

actually sticks out of the store front window.

I had intended to use our family pass to get into the children's museum today,

but as it turns out it was Community Free Day today, so even though

it was free either way, we came away with our family pass

to use a different time. Total Cost for the Children's museum: $0.

After the museum we went and played a game of mini golf.

The course is in a storefront in the outlet mall.

Nothing spectacular, but it was fun none the less.

A little friendly competition is good now and then.

They played. I kept score.

A friend told me that Tuesdays were only $2 per game.

Actually JoJo was only $1, so that brought our golf total to $9.

Thanks Mom!


*** Caleb wants you to know that he won the mini golf tournament***

Spring Break, Day 1

I decided to take a cue from my sister, Trish, and do a Spring Break Adventure every day of the week. Each adventure being free or cheap. And only after the kiddos finish a project around the house.

Yesterday it was to clean out, vacuum, and wash the car. Admittedly, we drove through the carwash- but the weather was way too crummy to stand outside and get wet! Besides, the car wash is a treat in it's own right. we pulled out of the carwash and Jonah hollered from the back seat, "Let's do that again!"

Then we went and had pizza, buy one, get one free. After pizza we bought all the stuff to make ice cream sundaes and took the jaunt to my friend Karen's to play in their hot tub and eat way too much sugar. We also got some hair maintenance done- since we were there and all....