I LOVE SPRING BREAK!!

I love spring break now even more than I did as a kid! School days are long, busy, and most of the time I get with Lily is spent reminding her of what she needs to do to get ready for school, do homework, or get ready for bed. Needless to say, I LOVE when she has time off of school.

Spring break was awesome!!! My dad came to visit us for the first time. It was great having him here. We learned that Grandpa Clark loves Oreos and Froot Loops. He loves Oreos so much that we kept our pantry stocked! I won't say how many packages of Oreos we went through that week. We sure enjoyed helping him chow them down. We'll just say the kids call Grandpa "Oreo head." Unfortunately for me, I'm a close second for that title! I remember eating Oreos with him when I was a very little girl. I still love them!

The Excavator Park

Carter rocks the excavator!

Grandpa Clark and Hazel

Mustaches. Carter got a Dorito mustache. I asked him if he was turning into a teenager. He didn't like that at all, he kept telling me it was from the Doritos. When he tried to lick it off, it just smeared around.

Horse Back Riding

Lily was going to do a short ride around the coral with Carter. But by amazing chance, her dear little friend showed up at the same time as us! She was going to go on an hour long ride by herself, so Lily and I joined her. Lily loved the ride. She listened closely to the instructions at the beginning and I was pleasantly surprised to see how proactive and confident she was on the horse.

(Yes, we did cut Lily's hair! 12 inches!!)

My cute cowboy. He loved the cowboy garb. His only disappointment was that he didn't get to wear spurs. Carter waited an hour and a half to ride his horse. He was so patient and good.

I was also surprised to see how much Carter enjoyed the ride. I thought he'd be a little afraid, but he wasn't!

Look at that face!

Hazel found this little shopping cart at our friends' house and she adores it. She pushes it all around our house. The funny thing is that she doesn't crawl, she does a very funny scoot/shuffle. She gets around fast and it allows her to have a hand free to push her cart. It's the cutest thing!

Desert Botanical Gardens

The weather was lovely this week. We all enjoyed the gardens.

We learned on our horse excursion that this is a hedgehog cholla. We had fun identifying them all through the gardens and on a subsequent hike.

I thought this was such a pretty shot with the rock and plants behind.
(Gotta love Carter's shades. When the sun's bright he forms these cool shades with his hands which block the light but still allow him to see. Ingenious.)

Absolute cuteness.

The butterfly exhibit was the unanimous favorite part of the gardens. All three kids got so excited seeing the butterflies flit about the exhibit. I loved seeing their excitement.

The Train Park

Uhh, cuteness again. Don't you want to reach out and touch her squishy little arms and legs?!

My little loves.

Hooray for carousels! Hazel loved the bright colors, horses, and the music on the carousel. She was excited to sit on a horse. She was surprised and a little unsure when the horse started going up and down. It was cute to see her response to something new.

Hazel got so excited seeing the model trains move on their own! She couldn't get enough of them.

She watched this one go around and around. Grandpa was a good sport to hold her so she could watch for a long time!

Pure enjoyment! Grandpa got the kids these train suckers, and as you can see, Lily and Carter loved them. Aaah, how pleasant and carefree is childhood.