Spring Break!

For spring break, we did a staycation again this year (because, of course, tax season).  We started with going to see "The Hobbit" at Children's Theater Company.  They did an amazing job with only 5 cast members performing the whole show and all the various characters along the way.  The kids had just finished reading "The Hobbit" book with Daddy and really enjoyed seeing the story come to life on stage. 

On Monday, we spent the afternoon at the Chaska Community Center, swimming, diving, rock climbing, shooting hoops, and playing around.

Trevor jumped to the side a couple times to be closer to the ladder, but it looked like he was going to jump right onto the pavement and I made him stop doing that!

On Tuesday, we spent the day at the Mall of America.  We started at the Sea Life Aquarium.

Austin checking out the piranhas. 

 And Trevor pretending he is a piranha and is going to bite my finger off!

The crocodiles

 Poison dart frogs

The crocodile skull tried to take a bite out of Trevor.

Trevor was SO excited when 5 sharks swam right over his head in the ocean tunnel.

And Austin tried to feed his sister to a shark swimming right toward her. 

The sawfish is their longest animal in the aquarium

 We found Nemo and Dory

And some weird kids!

Sarah loved these chocolate chip starfish.

Jellyfish!

The petting pool, getting to feel some sea creatures

 Next up at Mall of America was the exhibit, "Candytopia."  It is an adventure/art exhibit all about candy. There are numerous sculptures and artwork pieces made of candy, as well as decor and activities reminiscent of Willy Wonka's factory.

The confetti room!  

We were blasted with confetti and found it in many nooks and crannies the rest of the day!

 Trevor decided he'd help clean up.

Then he decided that turnabout is fair play and got the staff that had been throwing confetti at us

A unicorn and flying pigs all made of candy.

Candy shark!  Trevor is in heaven!

He's been eaten by a hammerhead

Sarah getting kisses from a seahorse.

Trevor being crushed by a giant gum ball

Then to the marshmallow pit. The kids loved it and played there for a long time!

There were blowers that would shoot the marshmallows out if you put them in a chute on the side.

 Oh no!  The kids are being sucked into a candy vortex!

After Candytopia, the kids got unlimited ride wristbands for Nickelodeon Universe and rode rides until they were feeling a wee bit sick.  Trevor was very excited that he is now tall enough to ride the big rides that he couldn't ride last summer.

 Look how high Sarah is!

Sarah let Trevor control the flipping upside down on this ride.

And she let him drive the bumper car.  Brave girl!

We met up with Daddy at Benihana for dinner.  The kids were amazed at our chef's skills.  Here are their faces watching the onion volcano.

 Sarah was good at using the chopsticks and could even eat her rice with them.

On Wednesday, we laid low a bit, watched "World of Dance", dropped the car off for repair, went to an appointment for me, and swim lessons for Trevor, then the kids cooked dinner with a new recipe from their kids' cook book!  They made basil pesto turkey meatballs with marinara sauce.

On Thursday, we had the furniture inspector come look at our defective furniture, ran some errands, picked up Nanny from the airport, picked up the car at the dealership, and headed home for piano lessons.  On Friday, Nanny stayed with the kids while I attended a medical conference at the Science Museum of Minnesota.  My nephew Owen sent his Flat Stanley to Nanny, so I brought him with me on some adventures at the museum.  Here he is as a 3 story tall astronaut.

On Saturday, Austin competed in the regional science fair at Totino-Grace High School.  Here he is with the other two 6th graders from his school.

At the end of the day, they had a show of fun science with "Dr. Fun".  He asked the audience what the 4th state of matter is and Austin answered correctly (plasma), so Dr. Fun pulled him down out of the audience to help with one of his demonstrations.

Austin got to melt styrofoam packing peanuts in a beaker.

Dr. Fun declared, "Behold the power of Austin!"

Trevor got to go down to the front later and feel the crazy bubbles pouring out of the beaker with soap and dry ice in it.

Austin with his project.  He did a great job on it.

We had a fun week, but also had some off and on illness.  Austin was up throwing up overnight on Wednesday night, Sarah was throwing up Friday night, Austin again Sunday night, and Trevor's tummy was upset on the next Monday.  We're all back to feeling well, but the weather has not been cooperating.  A winter snow/ice/sleet/rain storm hit on Wednesday of this week, so the first week back at school after break, we ended up with a snow day today.  Next up is Sarah's first dance competition of the year.  She is competing 5 dances this year and we are excited to see her perform again!