Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Spring Break!!!!

April got off to a great start.  We celebrated Great Grandma Jean's 87th birthday.  Can you believe how fantastic she looks?  Needless to say, we are crossing our fingers that those genes all passed down to us!!!


At home we were busy at school with projects, tests, etc., but had a hard time focusing since we were eager for spring break to arrive.  Mom was grateful that some of us were able to put on our game face each morning...




Nixon still insists on taking a picture, but does his absolute best to avoid looking at the camera- ugh.






Presley's preschool class did Easter related activities all week, so Mom took advantage of the situation and made sure that she was dressed in spring attire.




On her last day of school before Spring Break Presley's class had an Easter party.  Mom was super excited to dress Presley in her bunny shirt.  Unfortunately it also made her sad when she realized that there are no more little Frankwick girls to pass the shirt down to.



She had a blast at school that day and really enjoyed their Easter egg hunt!  



After some play time in the back yard Mom let Presley open all of her goodies.  As you can see, she wasn't excited at all...




The next day Macie and I had our last day of school before break.  Despite our lack of interest, we wore "Easter" attire to appease Mom.





While we were at school Mom, Presley, and Nixon spent some time at the museum in the morning and then made some crafts at the house.  Nixon was really excited about the monster Mom made him. He named him Lincoln and drove him around the house on his Monster truck.




To celebrate the start of Spring Break (and because all our activities were cancelled), we spent Saturday at the Children's Museum.  Macie made Mom an exceptional Deadpool mask and earned some brownie points for sure.



We enjoyed a nice, relaxing Saturday and spent the afternoon at home while Mom packed for our trip to San Diego.   Months ago Mom started experiencing severe tailbone pain.  The doctors thought she broke it and suggested she buy a donut so that she could sit without pain.  When it do anything to ease the pain, the "butt donut" as we affectionately called it was thrown in the closet.  While making dinner Mom heard incoherent shrieks (silenced only by boughts of hysteric tears) coming from the hallway.  When she walked over to find out what was wrong she discovered that Nixon had taken the "butt donut" and gotten it stuck on his head.  Once she calmed him down a little she informed him that the only way she would help him take it off was if he stopped crying and let her take some pictures first.  She is hoping to use them as blackmail down the road...



Late the following night (the Sunday before Spring Break- probably one of the dumbest days to make the Vegas to San Diego drive) we loaded the car and made the trek down to Pa's house.  Thanks to lots of traffic and some accidents the drive took FOREVER.  We were glad to be back with Dad and couldn't wait to spend time with all our family.

Despite being tired and groggy the next morning, Presley woke up to a room filled with birthday fun. Glitter, balloons, a crown- she couldn't have been happier!


For her 4th birthday Presley had asked to go to Sea World, so after a short early morning cat nap the family loaded the car to fulfill her request.  Once inside we went straight to Elmo's World.



Presley told anyone that would listen that it was her 4th birthday.


She was one HAPPY birthday girl!



After a ride on Elmo's Flying Fish we made our way to the large climber.  The nets are still a little too advanced for Nixon, so Mom climbed up and down helping him along the way.  Sometime between our ride on the flying fish and the end of our time on the climber someone stole Mom's phone out of the side pocket of her backpack.  Once Mom discovered it was missing we called it multiple times only to be sent to voicemail by whomever had the phone.  At that point it was obvious that she wasn't going to be getting her phone back, so she wrote off the loss and focused on the remainder of Presley's birthday at Sea World.

For dinner that night we went to the Corvette Diner to celebrate and Pa joined us for the fun!  The restaurant was one of Mom's favorites when she was a kid and she was glad to share the experience with us.







Not only did we get to be loud and obnoxious while waiting for our food, we also had entertainment all around us.  From silly straws to balloon animals the fun was non stop.




Macie was in HEAVEN!





After getting a birthday cheer, song, and dance Presley got her very own ice cream.


Unfortunately she was so tired from the days events that she could barely enjoy the moment.


 The next day we lounged around the house. Nixon and Presley both love the rainbow room as much as I do (although neither of them have stated that its "everything they ever wanted in their whole lives" like I did the first time I saw it).  Pa has promised not to paint over it until her absolutely has to.


Dad and Pa are in the middle of all sorts of construction on the house, but we don't need much to have a good time...


In the late morning we drove down to Grandma Judy's house for a day at the beach.

While the rest of us played in the ocean Johnny Football played catch in the sand.


They say that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", but in this case I think the apple is still rooted on the tree.  Nixon couldn't be more like Dad if he tried.



After a fun beach day we snuggled up with Pa before getting ready for bed.



Our week was filled with fun and family despite the frustration surrounding Mom's stolen phone.  After the initial shock I think she enjoyed being disconnected from the world for the 10 days were we traveling.

On Good Friday we were able to watch Aunt Connie, Uncle Randy, and Cousin Brandon get baptized at Pa's house.  Afterwards everyone stayed to eat and play.  It was great seeing our cousins, Lawson and Avery, and having time to play with them.




At 5am on Easter Sunday Mom woke us up to get ready for Church.  Since Pa lives on Mt.Helix Mom made the call that we would be attending the sunrise service at the cross.  Despite the whining and complaining that comes with waking everyone before the sun comes up we all enjoyed the views from the top of the mountain.




The service left a little to be desired and all of us kids lost interest early (even Mom and Dad weren't amused with his use of the Easter message to drum up tithings).  Once it was over we enjoyed some time at the top of Mt.Helix overlooking all of San Diego.






By 9am we were all exhausted.  Presley and Nixon took naps while Macie and I played around outdoors.  Mid day we went out to Jamul to see Grandma Jean and the Umbarger Family.  As usual we enjoyed our time at the house playing, laughing, and eating!




Monday morning we kept ourselves occupied at Pa's house while Mom and Dad packed up the cars for the long drive home.


Before leaving we ate lunch while watching an episode of Bunk'd (Pa's new favorite show).



We always enjoy the time we spend in San Diego with family.  As hard as it is to go back home we only have 8 more weeks of school to get through before we can kick the summer off with another trip to California.  Check back soon to hear all about our crazy month of May.