Spring Break 2019

Before the school year began in September I went through the calendar and marked off every day there was no school. Spring break being the longest stretch (besides summer, of course) and it certainly seemed far, far away.

Well, it came and went very quickly. We started off the break with a trip up to NJ for a family celebration on Saturday. Matt's cousin Sarah is getting married June 1st (I'll be about 37 weeks pregnant so I am unfortunately missing the wedding) and her and her fiance had a "stock the bar" party. It was in lieu of a bridal shower and everyone brought alcohol or bar related items for the happy couple. A shame I couldn't partake in any drinking but it was still a fun time! My niece Bridget came along and her and Natalie had a blast just being in a new surrounding and mingling with family. We stayed in NJ until Monday since our plan was to go from there to O.C., MD.

Our second day in NJ was a bit rough for me since I have a cold and was feeling really lousy. My head was so stuffy and achey and I won't even take Tylenol while pregnant so I just suffered. We hung out with family before everyone parted ways and then Matt and the girls and I went to lunch. We originally talked about going on a little hike/nature walk before I felt like my head was going to implode, and the kids still really wanted to so after lunch we went to a reservoir and met up with Matt's uncle and his dog Dewey. The walk didn't last long because all the paths lead down to the water and the closer we got the thicker the swarm of mosquitoes were so we had to turn around. It was insane how many bugs there were and even though my whole body was covered in clothing I still managed to be the only one to get several bites on me.

The third day was spent driving to the beach and then heading to the indoor pool, ordering pizza, having hot cocoa and popcorn and playing Clue and cards the rest of the evening. Day four was more pool, a nice lunch at a restaurant with a playground and then a trip to Candy Kitchen where the girls got 36 inch gummy snakes as a treat. We then went to the beach for about an hour where the girls collected seashells and built sand fortresses. The evening was followed up with more pool, take out and games. The following day was...you guessed it: more pool, lunch, and then we went to a playground despite the wind and chill. We went back to the restaurant with a playground for dinner, then did a quick pool trip before ending the night per usual with family game playing. The last day (today) I requested a later check out time so we had a fairly lazy morning of lounging around before packing up and heading to the beach shortly. Since it was now past noon we decided to go to lunch before hitting the road so we went to a new restaurant with a playground before we headed back home.

Whew. I can say I am glad to be back home! This was not one of my favorite vacations by a long shot. I was sick, then Natalie got sick and became very sensitive/emotional and grumpy. It was a challenge to keep her in a good mood and she often complained and cried over the simplest things, which was obviously not fun. Still, I hope the kids look back on this and all the things Matt and I do to try and make life enjoyable and feel loved and like life is awesome, because it really is. My list of problems and complaints is very small and insignificant. I have my family (even when they drive me nuts) and that is the most important thing.