Spring Break Madness + March Recap With Things We Love
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Spring break! I think most parents have one of two reactions to those words- Sheer excitement or utter panic! I happen to love spring break, but this year my kids had almost two and a half weeks off school because of the addition of a Pro-D day and stat days for Easter. I’ll admit, as much as I love my kids and spending time with them, I was excited to have them return to school. It’s not that they aren’t well behaved while I’m trying to get my work done, it’s more the mama guilt that I want to be spending time with them, but have work obligations that I need to fulfill.
This year I was able to take one week off with my family and I worked for the second week.
During the first week, The Hub’s parents came to town to visit and we took a mini vacation to Victoria.
We stayed at an Air B&B right near this amazing little cove. We would start and end each day with a walk on the beach, taking in the fresh sea breeze and exploring the driftwood and tide pools.
We took Mochi with us to Victoria. Most of you know that Mochi is our dog who we adopted in October (you can read about that here). Mochi is the sweetest dog filled with personality at home, but when we are out and about he is definitely more cautious and shy. It was so much fun to see him playing and frolicking on the beach and to see him come out of his shell out in public. In the below photo top right, all four of his paws were completely off the ground as he came running to me on the beach, which is something I’ve never seen him do outside before.
My kids LOVE animals. So we spent an afternoon at Butterfly World, viewing butterflies, parrots and other birds, insects and animals up close! Bean and I both fell in love with a sweet green parrot named “Little E”. Apparently, Little E is quite the ladies man and often takes a fancy to female visitors. Little E flew over as soon as we walked in the doors and became my personal tour guide, escorting me around the premises, rubbing his face against my cheek and regurgitating seeds for me. LOL.
We also visited the aquarium where we got to see a Wolf Eel feed, discover the art of some incredible west coast artists and learn more about the wildlife that inhabits the Salish Sea.
During our trip we also got to tour the parliament building…
Explore the Royal BC Museum…
And spend a bit of time on the water in an aqua bus!
It was a fabulous trip! British Columbia is such an incredible place to live. We are so lucky that we have so many incredible destinations that are just a hop, skip and a jump away from our home!
Ready to learn hear about the Things I Loved in March? Read on!
[hr gap=”30″]Things I Loved In March
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Lego BrickHeadz Go Brick Me
My kids have been into Lego for a few years now, but their interest in Lego went to a whole new level at Christmas time when a friend suggested that I buy Lego BrickHeadz as stocking stuffers. Now my kids are OBSESSED with BrickHeadz. They want every single super hero BrickHeadz set that is out there. Bean, who is 9, can assemble the BrickHeadz herself. Turtle who is 5 needs help from Dad but is happy to sit at the table for hours handing him pieces as they assemble one BrickHeadz after another.
Lego was kind enough to send my Lego crazy kids a Lego BrickHeadz Go Brick Me Set. The set takes the term “selfie” to a whole new level! These things are seriously so cute. It comes with a ton of different colors of lego so you can customize the skin color, hair color and clothing. It also has extra pieces like skateboards, microphones, trophies and fairy wands so you can let your true lego personality shine through! The kit has enough pieces to make 2 lego BrickHeadz with lots of pieces left over so you can change their clothing and accessories. The kit kept my kids busy for hours and each day they’ve been pulling it out again to change what their BrickHead is wearing or give them a new “hobby”.
I think that this makes such a great gift idea for creative play and it’s fabulous for keeping your kids busy doing their own thing for a couple of hours of uninterupted Mommy time! You can find Lego BrickHeadz Go Brick Me here.
Guinness World Records Science & Stuff
I’m one of those mamas who is blessed with kids who love books. Bean usually reads chapter books and Turtle usually looks at picture books or “reads” Archie comics. When they are reading together they love looking at books with with interesting facts about animals, the world and science. When Guinness World Records Science & Stuff arrived in the mail for them I knew that it would be right up their alley. Full of enough “gross” facts to keep them giggling and thinking they are reading something naughty along with facts that will keep them fascinated and full of fun trivia that they can drop at a moment’s notice.
You can find Guinness World Records Science & Stuff here.
Slapzi
Our family loves playing games together. We have a travel card carrying case that we store all of our card games and Tenzi in so that we can take them with us whenever we go visit friends, family or on vacation. My family loves playing Tenzi, and only just recently discovered Slapzi which is made by the same company. The game is made up of two sets of cards, the green cards which have a saying on them and the white cards which have pictures on each side. Each person is dealt 5 white cards. During each round a green card is laid in the center of the table. It says something like “I can fit inside a purse”. The person who slaps a card down first that fits that category wins that round. The object of the game is to get rid of all of your picture cards first.
This game will keep you on your toes and thinking outside the box. Over spring break my kids played it by themselves, with friends, with us and with grandparents and no matter what the age, everyone had a great time playing it!
What I Read- (Follow me on GoodReads)
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult– Every time I read a book by Jodi Picoult it feels like sitting down for a cup of tea with a friend who has had a fascinating experience and hearing her story. This book was no exception. I always find Jodi’s Picoult’s books to be page turners that I can’t turn down. This book revolved around a female scientist who studies African Elephants and a daughter who is looking for her mother with the help of a former psychic. Intrigued? It’s worth a read! You can find the book here.
A Wind In The Door by Madeleine L’Engle. In February I gave Bean the challenge to read A Wrinkle In Time and told her that after she read it we would go and see the movie. She read it and we went to see the movie during spring break! I re-read A Wrinkle In Time too and realized that I had never read the other books in the quintet. After seeing the movie I decided to read A Wind In The Door. I’m excited to explore the other books in the quintet during 2018 too! You can find A Wind In The Door here.
