License to...

Someone has not been very excited about getting their drivers license (Kelsey).  It's not uncommon for kids to not get their license until much later than 16 out here, I'm still not sure why.  After driving her all summer last year I told her it was time.  Friday she took her driving test.  A quick check in at the DMV and she was off  with the driving instructor (yes, I was taking pictures from the parking lot)

I wasn't sure if walking back in this face was pure relief or the feeling of success...

 This is proof they will give anyone a license....

just kidding, they said she earned it.   BUT, watch your car with this one if she's parallel parking...just saying.

Day at the Museum

Friday was our last official day of spring break.  Matt went back to work and I decided to take the kids to the Nevada State Museum.  I figured a little education might be fun, and the kids surprised me by how excited they were to go.  It is a beautiful building in down town Carson City. 

We started out in the basement touring the underground mine.  It was pretty realistic, and a little too scary for someone.

The Mammoth exhibit was pretty cool, especially since we had just watched Night at the Museum the night before.

My favorite room I think was the Natural History room...we found some stinky fellas in there.  Sadi thought our state animal was the big horned goat...good thing we were able to educate her a bit while we were there although she was adamant sheep DON'T have horns.

She thought the Nevada History wing had some inappropriate things for kids to see.  Gambling and drinking is ok but she was drawing the line at the naked golden lady.

There were some big guns in the firearms room..."You'll shoot your eye out!"

Chase was scared of the ghost town so he made sure he was "looking" at something conveniently close to the EXIT the whole time.  

This baby doll would give anyone nightmares I think but some of you know that Sadi hates babies so this was especially disturbing to her.  A doll that you can change her mood by twisting her head.  She had 3 faces!

 She was much more in her element in the war room.

Chase liked the wheels on this hot rod....

It was surprisingly big and very educational and as much as I am not a Museum person, it was really enjoyable for all of us.  I think I need to make more of an effort to take the kids to some of these gems so close to home...especially since they thought the replica of the state capital was the White house.  Time for some more education!

Spring Break Vacay

We got a pretty early start on the road Easter morning.  Our first stop was in Hawthorne for breakfast.  The kids thought it was pretty cool that the McDonald's had missiles in their parking lot.  We had to stop for an "explosive" picture.

We made it to Vegas before our Condo was quite ready so we walked around and checked things out and just enjoyed the warm weather.

Once our room was ready we checked in and went and picked up a "gourmet" meal...Panda express. We were within walking distance of about 20 different restaurants which was very convenient.  Although our condo had a kitchen the kids preferred to eat in the living area.

They were too excited to sleep so we decided to take them for a late dip in the pool.  This pool was perfect for them, no deeper than 4 ft. in any area of the pool, and lots of play areas.

The next day we got up early and hit the pool which was really fun but we then took them to the other side of the condo to the lazy river....soo fun!  It was fun and relaxing to just float away.

It was a winding loop with all kinds of waterfalls.  I think Chase liked this better than the pool.

We enjoyed every minute of that sunshine!

One area of the pool was a sandy beach that went into the pool which had all kinds of sand toys.

Surprisingly they didn't spend as much time playing here as I thought they would.  I think Sadi would have spent more time here if Chase would have cooperated (done what she said). 

Apparently our sandcastle building skills need some work....

We spent all 3 days from sun up to sun down at the pools, and then walked the 30 feet to our condo and spent the night relaxing and eating more "gourmet' meals that the kids loved!  Matt and I had our own room, and the kids actually fought us over this pull out bed(we teased them we wanted it).  I think this might have been one of their favorite parts of the room, maybe even the vacation.

They liked having their own t.v. to watch movies and cartoons on.  They had plenty of Easter treats within an arms reach of them with the kitchen so close.  Ever seen anyone eat an entire package of peeps in less than 30 seconds?  Pretty sure this kid set the record.  She asked if she could open them, next thing I knew they were gone!

 The last day we spent at the pool Chase made some new friends and had fun playing with the boys.

Sadi was a little lost and not sure what to do with herself.  She did make a friend of her own for a little bit but then she had to leave.  She made the comment that "Chase must have forgot about us".  Poor girl drowned her sorrows with Cheetos.

Our room was in such a great location that we could see the pool/and restaurant area from our room.  Matt and I took advantage of that the last night and went to dinner without the kids (although they could see us from the window) it actually felt like a dinner date alone.

We were sad to leave the last day, and took our time getting up.  The drive home was just as boring as going.  We passed through many old towns, and also by many  "Area 51" and speculated where the REAL one is.

 But the top of the creepy towns was this place in Tonopah....

Fully decked out in clowns...seriously who would sleep here?!  What makes this place even more creepy is it is right next to an old cemetery!  That clown is literally pointing to the graves...aaah!

BUT...on the upside I think I may have found the perfect place to stay next April fools day...yup, that would totally be worth the drive. 

Hoppy Easter

Easter weekend was a busy one for us, it was the beginning of spring break for the kids and we were getting ready for vacation!  We were all excited to get that last day of school out of the way so we could have fun.  The kids made a little gift for their some bunny special (teacher's). 

Matt and I went up to UNR and had lunch with Kelsey and we dropped off an Easter basket I had made for her.  Matt thought she was a little too old for an Easter basket.  Are you ever too old?  I used a storage box for the basket (multi use in college is a bonus right), and I filled it with things like shampoo, shave gel, razors, screen cleaners, and some cute spring page markers, etc.  I know I would have loved to get this in college, and I think she did too.

The night before Easter the kids put out some carrots and left a note for the bunny to let him know they were going to Las Vegas in the morning and to not hide the eggs too hard since we would be leaving early.

He didn't hide them too hard...in fact he didn't hide them at all!  Surprisingly the kids weren't even upset, in fact they were just too excited to get them packed in the car.

He made a big drop for both of them.  Their baskets were filled with all kinds of thing they could use on vacation. 

They got a new beach towel, sandals, sunglasses, sunscreen, and a new book to read at the pool.  They also both got some pool toys.

Sadi was testing out all her new treasures, and I was rethinking these squirt guns....pretty sure I was going to regret those.

We packed it all up, and were off to soak up some sun!

Tricky

So April 1st crept up really fast this year.  I had every intention of playing some really good tricks on the kids this year....BUT this last month has been very busy.  With Matt out of town with work I was pulling double duty every night, and working at the school a lot.  The night before Chase said "I'm so excited for tomorrow!'.  To that I went O crap (in my head).  I was too tired to even think about it but did have one thing in my pocket I hadn't told them about yet.  Maybe the best trick was to not trick them at all?  The morning began early with Chase asking and wondering what was for breakfast...I had no tricks.  Then he was completely convinced that I had changed all the clocks in the house and he was adamant he was not falling for that trick...he was sure I made him get up early...nope.  Before school I told them that we were going to do something exciting after school.  Uncle David was going to come take us to dinner (which we had previously arranged a few nights before since he was going to be in town).  Ahhhh...finally Chase thought I was trying to fool him.  "Yeah right Mom, David is going to drive 7 hours to take us to dinner!  Sure!  I'm not falling for that one".  As I told them goodbye I heard him tell Sadi "I bet she's gonna hire someone to drive a blue mustang and park it at our house and have someone pretend to be Uncle David".  Apparently sometimes the best trick is no trick.  Uncle David was here after school and as soon as Chase saw Uncle David's new blue mustang he believed I really had hired a decoy.  But when they saw it was real they were thrilled!

Uncle David treated us to a very nice dinner.  We went to my favorite (Olive Garden).  The kids tried something new for the first time..Calamari.  Of course we waited until they tried it to tell then what it was.  Sadi said "Wait!  What?  This is Squid?  I love Squid!"

And of course, there was dessert.  We ordered a few things to share.  Sadi took care of the chocolate mousse cheesecake pretty much by herself, and Chase was all about these powdered sugar donuts that you dip in chocolate.  Chocolate overload!

Dinner was great, but the company was even better.  I couldn't actually let the kids go to bed without any tricks, that would just end in a lot of paranoia I think.  Someone needed help wiping themselves in the bathroom....

There was some bad doggy business happening in Sadi's room.....

and some of you may know about Chase's weird phobia of napkins well, I told him I made him a special quilt....

too far?  I think not.  That would be putting them on him in his sleep(don't think I didn't think about it).