Easter and Spring Break

Easter was super early this year, was it not?!? It was the last Sunday in March. The weather was typical spring weather where it's a mix of showers and sun. We caught a break for our Easter egg hunt. We even dyed minion eggs this year! Aren't they cute?

The first week of April was spring break. My sister Tarja and her family surprised us during Easter dinner as they arrived at Mummi and Papa Will's front door for their spring break! The weather was spectacular for their stay and for our spring break. It might have even been record-breaking temps near 90 degrees on one or two days! Paul was especially excited to take the Little's for some trail riding!

We spent a day at the Woodburn Tulip Festival. I was hoping to get some pretty pictures but the weather was just too nice for good pictures (cloud coverage is best for lighting), and the kids just wanted to play with their cousins.

On our way home, Mummi rode with us. (Paul was working). And the worst-case scenario happened. The car broke down! I knew it was the transmission. Yep, it had to be replaced. It took a few weeks to get it all fixed with parts being ordered and such. We had the timing belt done as well. The grand total was about $4300...it hurt. We had left the tulip festival early so that Reina could get back to school for the afternoon and I could get back to work. Plans changed dramatically as we were now stuck in Canby, Oregon at a Chevron station with only a small patch of grass for the kids to relax on. The plus was Mummi was with us thank goodness. While I was making phone calls, she was able to keep the kids safe and even grabbed some convenient store burritos for them to munch on. I'm not sure if it was inspiration, but I also felt I shouldn't take the freeway home. Had we gone that route, we would have been stuck on the freeway shoulder with no food, no bathroom, and no where to relax! Grandma and grandpa Guinn saved the day and picked all of us up and patiently drove home in Friday rush hour traffic with a car load of hot and tired people. The kids did really great though, no meltdowns!

We had no definite plans for spring break since Paul still had to work. The weather was fantastic though, so we enjoyed the outdoors. Paul even found a lawnmower for Baelor that not only "mows" but blows bubbles AS it mows! What an invention! My friend Jessica and her daughter Isabella (Reina's friend also) stayed the night at our house. Isabella was able to spend lots of time with us as Jessica headed back home while Isabella stayed in Vancouver for a few days during spring break. We had a campfire and took the kids to the skate park. The girls especially liked having a sleepover in Reina's big bed.

Baelor spent a lot of his spring break riding his bike. He hasn't really been "into" bike riding until he rediscovered how fast and fun it can be...especially on all the park trails we have around town! He was going so fast that I literally had to run while pushing Rowen in the stroller!

After visitors, and visiting friends, crafting, water park, marshmallow roasting, seeing an orthodontist and lots of outdoor playing, we had quite the overloaded spring break that lasted for more like two weeks! It was much appreciated with a wet winter though.