An "Eggcellent" Weekend

On Saturday, Emily and I woke up especially early to make the drive to Zoo Boise for their egg hunt event.  Knowing from last year that it was crazy busy, parking was difficult, lines to get in were long... we were there thirty minutes before opening in order to catch a parking spot and stand in line that wasn't so long.  Once in, we had a little time to kill, so she hopped on the carousel first thing.

 It was a little chilly, unfortunately, but she didn't mind waiting for the flag to drop and the chance to gather as many eggs and pieces of candy as possible!

the loot

After the hunt, we took our time looking at the animals, feeding the goats, even feeding meal worms to the sloth bear.  By afternoon it had started to warm up and it turned out to be a great day!

Today we checked decorating Easter eggs of the list.

Notice the new haircut?  I finally talked her into it, which wasn't an easy task.  She didn't want the guy who cuts dad's hair any longer and got her first real salon cut.  The other big news of the weekend?  She finally mastered tying her own shoes!

So, we didn't get away to an island in the Atlantic this spring break (waiting sort of patiently for our turn in June), we did keep busy and Emily thought it was fun just to hang around here.

On Sunday, she had a daddy daughter day that meant a lot of time out at the gun range painting targets, cleaning up things, rolling around in the dirt... but no shooting.  They even built a bird house that day.  Swimming was Monday at the YMCA, where Emily easily passed the swim test and she did the water slide all by herself, once.  She preferred to go with Mom on the slide!

Tuesday we headed to Twin for some shopping and errands, but the highlight of her day was a stop at the bowling alley.  She scored an 87.  

The park was where we ended up on Wednesday.  And the afternoon was spent like so - 

Thursday she opted to stay home even though she was given some opportunities to get out of the house.  She was a scientist this morning, using her kits from Christmas to make fake snow and investigate how oil and water don't mix by making a sort of lava lamp in a test tube.  That occupied her for quite awhile.  

Not quite sure what today will bring yet.  She's happily coloring and half heartedly paying attention to a cartoon on TV.  It turned out to perfectly okay that we didn't rush off on a trip somewhere but opted for the lazy, do whatever we feel like this moment kind of spring break.  It's only a short 82 days until we are off on our vacation.  85 days till the girls will turn 6.  70 days until Emily graduates from Kindergarten.   I'm actually okay with the idea of time just slowing down for a bit.

Commence Our Spring Break Staycation

The past week went by quickly.  We celebrated St. Patrick's Day at the Catholic Church's dinner where Emily had two serving of corned beef and cabbage, and shunned the corn dog and tater tots the kids were getting offered.  She always has had sophisticated taste buds (case in point, skipping the chicken nuggets the shape of Mickey for multiple servings of escargot and crab legs while dining on a cruise ship).  There was a brief rain, which brought a rainbow that appeared as if it ended on the opposite end of the block.

Which led to Emily and I slipping on raincoats and boots and setting about the neighborhood for the "naughty leprechaun" that knocked over all the chairs, hid the kids' buckets, and made a mess of the Emily's kindergarten classroom.  Unfortunately, no leprechaun nor pot of gold was found.

This morning we got an early start to spring break.  We played Monopoly, rode our bikes to the river, practiced drawing zoo animals from a new how to draw book (a newly loved hobby of Emily's), and left for the library... all before 10 o'clock.  We had a lunch date at Big Belly Deli before heading to Ketchum for some ice skating time.  There were tears, however, when we returned her skis and boots since the season is over.  "Goodbye skis, I love you!" she whimpered as she left them behind.

It's the Final Countdown

I think we are almost out of possible ski days.  Emily and I made it to Dollar Mtn today, and there was definitely a lot of mountain poking through the snow.  The older kids were having fun skiing a river that developed down one of the runs, with water higher than the kids boots.  Craters held puddles that were like water hazards on a golf course!

But it really didn't bother Emily at all.  As promised, she finally got to ski with poles for the first time.

Trauma Drama, the Tooth Fairy, and a Ski Race

Last week Emily had one of those things that would only typically happen to a Hughston.  She was in my classroom and was trying to be helpful by sharpening pencils.  She went to empty the shavings into the trash, blew into the cup, and got a bunch of dust in her eye.  I gave her some visine and sent her on her way thinking it would wash out.  A couple hours later, Ms. Barsch brought her to me with a still very irritated eye.  Dad was summoned to take her to the eye doctor, where her eye was dyed and it revealed a piece of graphite stuck.  The doctor pulled it out, and her eye was flushed.  By this time she was really not a happy camper, but a cup of cocoa with extra whip cream was enough to get her back to school... but her eye still hurt and in the middle of a chaotic kindergarten class, Emily fell asleep on the teacher's couch.  After school I took her back to the eye doctor with a swollen red eye.  He didn't want to touch it again unless she was sedated, so we opted for a last minute trip to an opthamologist in Twin Falls, who agreed to stay late that night to see if he could help.  He was able to look at it and determined that he wouldn't mess with it any further and that her lens was scratched, but nothing that wouldn't heal in a couple days.  Phew.  Because I really wasn't up for sedating her!

The tooth fairy made it's second appearance on Saturday night.  Once again, Emily refused to have it pulled and it was dangling there, with the new tooth already grown in.  I was sure it would fall out on the mountain that day when she was skiing and there would be a lost tooth melt down.  But, the tooth survived a ski day and finally plopped out late that night.

On Sunday, Emily decided she wanted to participate in a fun Kindercup ski race.

Kennedy and Emily before the race.

Costumes were encouraged, so Emily raced in her poodle skirt.  Although she didn't place, she had a good time, completed the race and made all the gates.  We were at the mountain at 8:30 and left at 4.  It was a long day of skiing, with her spuds class in the afternoon and a few runs with mom!