Fun Spring Traditions

 Every year, the Martian Marathon marks the beginning of running season for me.  This year it was just Christian that competed, though.  He ran the kids' marathon which means he ran 25 miles on his own at home and school over the course of a few weeks and then completed the 1.2 final miles with his friends from school.  It was a lot of fun and thank goodness it was such nice weather.  We've run it in pouring rain, covered in mud, in past years.

With spring comes all the baby animals.  So we went to the farm with Peter's preschool to see some.  He loved feeding the animals and getting to pet them.  However, he was quite timid.  A few seconds with each and he was done and a couple squeezes on the cow and he'd had enough.  He was very brave on the horse, though.  Despite its height, he did very well and had a great time all day.

With warmer weather comes water play outside.  We got the water table out and Christian couldn't resist playing on the trampoline with the hose.  I love the Peter is now old enough to help out!  He took his job very seriously.  Clenched teeth and serious face.  He had a great time alternatingly playing the game and squirting his big brother.

My favorite part of spring is when Greenfield Village opens up again.  Riding the trains, the model T, the carousel, the horse carriages, etc. makes Peter so happy and I love it too.  This particular driver was so knowledgeable on all things Henry Ford that he was able to answer every question that came to my mind as we drove. I love the people I meet at the village.  

Final funny moment.  Benjamin was standing in the living room like this for the longest time and suddenly Kelly came in, purposely dressed identically, and proceeded to play on his phone just like Benjamin.  Benjamin didn't notice at first, but when he did, he didn't seem to find it nearly as funny as I did! He was a good sport, though.  He willingly stayed in that place long enough for me to get a picture.

Happy Easter

 This year we made sure that we consciously kept Christ at the center of our Easter worship.  For example, we read the scriptures together every night during the week about what Christ did on that day and discussed it as a family.  We also invited people to come to church with us and worship together.  One of my friends accepted and it was wonderful to share that with her.  

However, we also had a great traditional Easter celebration with eggs, etc.  We like to paint eggs rather than dye them.  It allows for more fun creativity, in our opinion.  When Bella got bored of painting eggs, she started painting Peter.  She claimed, "You have something on your forehead, Peter.  Let me get that for you."  Proceeds to smear her paint covered fingers on his face.  Benjamin loved the idea.  "Oh yeah, I see it.  Here, let me get it."  Smears more.  Peter figured out the ruse right away.  "Mom, did I really have paint on me?"  He was not amused, but the other two sure were.

Christian always has wonderful ideas in his head of how the eggs will turn out and sadly almost never successfully achieves his ideal.  This year was no exception.  He got so upset and "left them to dry so I can apply another coat later" but never returned.  I'm so glad he keeps trying again, though, year after year.  Peter painted every egg yellow and blue - his favorite colors at the moment.

We hunted easter eggs this year according to a new pattern.  I found a paper online with a plan for an adult easter egg hunt where the winners get money.  I thought that would appeal to my teenagers.  Here's the paper:

So, you collect eggs that are numbered and according to which number you get, you add/subtract/double/give away money.  Benjamin was the grand winner with $15.  Which is funny because he's the worst egg finder.  Bella had 20 eggs by the time Benjamin had 2.  I knew that and placed several at his eye level so he'd find them, but everyone else would pass by.  Worked like a charm.  Everyone was running around so fast, I could barely get any pictures.  I filled 10 eggs (all blue) for Peter and hid them in easier to find spots.  He was thrilled and ate his loot while we played the money game at the table with the others.

After church Christian wanted all of us to play football down at the high school.  Bella refused to come but everyone else came.  It was a lot of fun to play together.  Benjamin is, of course, the best, but Christian is a really hard one to catch as he bolts down the field, cutting and weaving.  Kelly could only run very carefully with his knee brace thanks to his ACL tear, but he came up with clever plays that still got him a touchdown.  I won't comment on my plays.  I'm just happy when I catch the ball.  Although, I have to say that I'm getting better now that Christian is begging me to play with him every day.

Peter had fun riding his bike around on the smooth field and running up and down the bleachers.

Bella gets asked a lot to babysit for members of the ward, but I always tell them, "She really doesn't like kids very much but she'd love to watch your pets." Understatement - she seems to really hate little kids, but cats have her heart every time. Easter week, she got two cat sitting jobs.  One came to our house.  This is Violet.

On the second day Violet designated Christian as her favorite human and spent the whole week on his bed.  At night she would snuggle with him and wake him up for pets.  Violet was a sweet (but kind of sassy) cat and fun to have around after being without a cat for so long now.  However, it was also great proof that I am truly done with fur babies.  I can't handle the fur, the litter, and the work.  I was happy to give Violet back. I've got enough work with my human babies.

Spring Break - Kentucky & Tennessee

What an amazing vacation.  Back in 2019, we'd given Benjamin a trip to mammoth cave as a Christmas present.  Then covid happened and all tours were cancelled.  We finally managed to make it happen.  It's not easy to find something that appeals to teens and preschoolers, but this was it.  Everyone loved the cave and all its fascinating sights.  It really didn't lend itself well to photography, but trust me, it's fantastic.

We stayed in an AirBnb that was right on the Cumberland river.  The river curves along for miles cutting through the high, straight ridges on either side.  The whole valley is gorgeous, and I imagine even more so when everything is in full summer bloom.  The valley was just starting to green up, but still had a lot of bare trees.  The warmer weather felt great.  The water was too cold for swimming, but our paddleboard made it perfect.  Peter loved just throwing rocks into the water everywhere we went.

Kelly brought his drone and took aerial footage as we paddled.  Then everyone joined him and decided to have fun with pictures too.

One day the younger three and I visited an organic farm and got a tour from the farmer.  Chickens, pigs, peacocks, cats, and two large white dogs.  Everyone had a great time.  I loved learning from her as we toured her green houses and she answered all my questions.  It was a wonderful tour, ending with a lunch of fresh veggies from her garden.  It was a perfect day.

While I was touring the farm, Kelly and Benjamin went motorcycling.  

Other days he went with other kids.  Everyone had a wonderful time exploring the natural beauty of Kentucky.  Such a gorgeous state with so many fun hidden gems.....and lots of mud.

Two days I took kids city exploring - Bella and Peter to Nashville; Christian and Peter to Knoxville.  Both cities were a ton of fun and so very different.  Nashville was all crazy honky-tonk bars and restaurants, each featuring live music nearly 24/7.  Lots of action and packed streets.  I loved hearing all the talented singers and feeling all the energy of the place. We took a hop-on-hop-off tour bus around the city and had a great time exploring and seeing the famous sites - recording studios, the grand ole opry, state capital building, Nashville's parthenon, etc.   I appreciated them a lot more than Bella did, but she was a great sport.  As long as I made sure she got sushi and ice cream, she was happy to indulge me in my desire to see Elvis historical sites and other notable places.  If only Memphis (and Graceland) weren't so much farther SW.

Where Elvis did nearly all his recording from 1955 onward:

Knoxville was a much more peaceful, laid back place.  Lots of natural beauty and much more of an artsy vibe.  Here we downloaded a walking tour which worked off gps.  Christian and I shared a set of air pods and whenever the gps noticed we were near a notable thing, it told us about it.  It made for a great day of strolling and exploring civil wars sites, historic homes, and other fun gems, like the bar that was half bar and half glassblower shop, so you could drink from a glass made right there on site.  So many gorgeous ones to choose from!

At one point, we all needed a bathroom and the closest thing was the Women's basketball Hall of Fame.  We decided to try our luck there, even though it wasn't on our walking tour's itinerary.  So glad we did. Although we had to pay admission to use the bathroom, it was worth it.  The place was so cool and we spent a long time exploring the exhibits and playing basketball in the basement on their really cool historical style court.

Peter was so intrigued by the wax replicas.  He kept wanting to feel their hands.  Luckily it was allowed.

The house we stayed in was a wonderful 3 bedroom airBnB on a huge private property right on the river.  We went out the backyard and explored, but it was a very steep drop into the water.  It was easier to get to the river using the road to the dock. 

So quiet and peaceful, though.  We brought a few video games to play as a family and everyone had a great time playing together in the evenings.

Peter was our alarm clock every morning.  He'd wake me and Kelly and then proceed into Christian's bed.  Christian was always a good sport about it even if he was too tired to get up right away.

Kentucky has a ton of waterfalls, so I took Bella and Peter to explore a few near our house.  This one was especially fun.  It was the site of a civil war battle - Battle of Mill Springs.  10,000+ soldiers fought here in 1862.  Now it's a beautiful picnic and hiking site, among the historical markers and cannons. We had a wonderful, slightly rainy afternoon there.

Sadly, the site could really have been better maintained.  The waterfall was littered with trash and the spot from which you could photograph the largest part of the waterfall had partially sunk so access was impossible.  It didn't spoil our fun, though, just our photography. 

There is still so much unexplored beauty in that area.  I'd love to go back.  We were always having so much fun that the kids basically never fought which is unheard of in our family.  It was a perfect week.