Spring Break

 Kelly decided to take the older three up north for spring break.  He planned to stay in a motel and motorcycle for several days.  I was excited to spend the time alone with Peter at home because that meant no cooking, early bedtimes, and lots of time in the evening to relax.  Then Benjamin decided he didn't want to go.  He wanted to stay home and play on his phone and laptop all week.  We made it clear that this trip was to be an escape from the screen and that he could choose not to go, but he would still have to be screen free at home.  We hoped that would convince him to go, but it didn't.  So, there went my spring break plans. Then Kelly decided that a motel up north wasn't quite what he wanted and at the very last minute he booked the same house we stayed in last year for spring break in West Virginia - the gorgeous farm house on dozens of acres high on the mountain!!  So now he was having the trip of the year and I was home with a surly, screen-deprived teenager.  I had made several commitments that I didn't want to cancel and it was really short notice to get everything together for us all to go, so spring break definitely looked bleak for me.

Kelly, Bella, and Christian had a blast.  

They even found a Dalton cemetery -nearly every headstone in the whole place was a Dalton!  How cool is that?

My spring break wasn't nearly so fun, but I must say that Benjamin handled his screen prohibition better than I thought he would.  The beauty of being prohibited from his screen was that he sought out time with friends for the first time all school year.  He went to track practice each day and then stayed after with friends. He went to their houses or everyone went walking in the woods around the school or down to local fast food places to eat together. It was really nice.  He has never done that because he'd always rather come home and sit in his room.  He had a lot of fun. Maybe he'll do it once in a while again after the phone comes back.

After everyone came back, Christian had his final indoor soccer game.  They lost, sadly, but this has been his favorite team to play on.  The coach, Tito, was a wonderful, kind man and Christian really liked him. I'm so thankful for good people like that who are wiling to give their time to kids and be a great example to them.  Aren't those uniforms just the worst?!  So ugly.  The team sponsor chose the colors and I just absolutely hate them.

This weekend it's all about General Conference - when we listen to talks by church leaders all weekend.  How do you make the talks more interesting?  Give the speakers horns and mustaches.  Bella's idea, of course.  So funny.  Give everyone in the family a different color mustache and we all place them on the screen.  Whenever your mustache lines up with someone in the choir or a speaker, you get a point. Love it.