I have a few words to say

about Spring Break.

It was, pretty much, awesome.

I just looked over the pictures we captured during the past week, and it made me want to turn around and go right back to Grandma & Grandpa's house (affectionately known as "Casa L.").

Does this not look like paradise?



Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out of juice early in the week, and I realized I left the charger at home. (I always forget something!) But really, it was mostly just more of the same. Two words: perfectly relaxing.

See that fruit? They grow it in their backyard. I picked it. I ate it. It was juicy. Yum. Peeling an orange for myself was the most culinary thing I did last week. Grandma treated us royally, as always.


The girls loved playing with their Grandma and Grandpa...And their animals.

Emily especially loved spending time with the dogs, cats, and chickens.
As if that wasn't enough, we saw lots more animals at Sea World, and Grandma arranged for the girls to ride a friend's horse.
Speaking of animals,

There was a visit from the Easter Bunny. He (she?) left loads of candy there, which we all gladly consumed. I also celebrated my birthday in California. We spent the day at the beach, where I watched Doug and the older girls use boogie boards to catch some waves, Hannah collected shells and sand dollars ("Are Sea Dollars for Sea World?" she asked. When I said no, she scrunched her eyebrows and wondered, "Then what are they for?"), and Olivia had her first taste of sand. Then Doug and I did a little shopping and he took me to dinner. Really, when you're my age, doesn't that sound just about perfect?


The best part of Spring Break was spending the entire week as a family, away from the cares of our normal life. No work, no school, no worries.
Now that we're back, we're still enjoying a couple more days of family time, just not without the work (we bought our new home this month, and we're really getting into our home improvement projects--hopefully we'll finish in time to move in by June) or the worries (such as--uh oh--apparently one of our basement window wells flooded while we were gone, leaving us a welcome home gift of soggy carpet in Olivia's room. In this case, I'm glad to be a renter!).