Staycation Part 1

We stayed home this Spring Break.  The decision was really quite simple considering Jerry was gone this week to TX.  I did torture myself by looking up the weather forecasts in Tampa, but oh well, spring will be here soon, right?  I was a little worried as to how we would fill up our time, but in true Claire fashion she made up a chart listing our activities for the week.  I told her to fill it in with one fun activity out of the house each day, one fun activity at home, and one fun chore.  Now, here it is already Friday and I'm wishing Staycation 2011 didn't have to end.  Here's a bit of what we've done so far.

Craig's Cruisers. Last week Friday we took the kids to Craig's Cruisers for their wristband deal.  From 10-3 the kids could do as many activities as they wanted, and we had 3 hours of buffet access.  I love the buffet there.  It's a lot of different types of  pizza, but they have salad and soup too, and lots of other things.  The best part is that you can go in and out of the buffet as many times as you want in a span of 3 hours.  I love that my kids can eat one piece of pizza at a sitting and I don't have to feel guilty that I'm not getting my money's worth b/c their stomach is the size of a walnut and they'll be hungry again in 20 minutes.  We played laser tag as a whole family for the first time ever.  I think I could get into this...maybe a little too much.  I do know who I'm taking with me if I ever have to go into hand to hand combat.  Jerry.  He comes out in 1st place every time.

School.  This wasn't on the calendar, but early Monday morning Claire asked Erin and Ben if they wanted to play school downstairs.   For the next 3 days they played school for hours on end.  Claire was the teacher, and I'm pretty convinced that her school is even slightly more rigorous than actual school.  She made up worksheets for Erin and Ben, planned her lessons and checked out books at the library to go along with it, gave them homework to complete for the next day (find out what sea turtles eat), and wrote out Bible verses for them to memorize.  Ben's Bible verse was "Don't be a grumbler."  Um, I'm not exactly sure what book of the Bible that's in..... I was part of school too.  I was the lunch lady and bus driver rolled into one.  I made and served lunch, and drove them on their field trips which were to the library and the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 

Organize and purge.  I love to purge and organize, and school in session in the basement gave me just the opportunity to do that.  I organized my junk drawer which has sort of turned into a junk drawer and junk cupboards.  I organized my back hall closet, basement storage room (Jerry did most of this), bedroom closet, kids' toys...Pretty much everything.  I have a few things yet to do and then a carload of stuff will be brought to Goodwill.  Ahhh, it's so freeing. 

Flat Stanley.  Erin has been reading the Flat Stanley books in school, and for spring break they have a small cut-out Flat Stanley that they're supposed to bring along to all the things they do and then keep a journal of it all.  Flat Stanley has been with us to most places.  He came with us to Chuckee Cheese earlier in the week.  We almost lost him because Erin "accidentally" slid him in between two very small spaces.  I had 3 Chuckee Cheese people trying to get out "the very important thing my daughter just shoved between your counter and cash register."  Flay Stanley was rescued.

Java Gym.  Our afternoon at the zoo was canceled due to rain.  My friend Betsy came over with her kids to play, and somewhat spontaneously we decided to take the kids to Java Gym to run off some steam.  We've been there a few times now, and I like it, although I like it better when I'm bringing one kid and paying $7 rather than taking all three for $21.   It was a good choice though on a rainy day.

Today (Friday) Jerry is finally home and we're going to try the Kids Expo down at the Deltaplex.  Not quite sure what to expect.  If anything, I'm sure it will make for some good people watching.  Stay tuned for Staycation Part 2.  Oh, and I couldn't forget Ben's head.  He fell on the coffee table...again.  There was blood, but no need for stitches. He wore his winter hat the rest of the night with an ice pack tucked underneath.