Week 34: Let's Pack Our Bags and Settle Down Where Palm Tree's Grow

Whooooo- yeaaaaa.. We've got Waterstraut Spring Break in full swing, and it's crazy up in here!

Ok, well, not really- but we sure are having a whole lot of fun. I know this because I've been told what an awesome mom I am for planning such a sweet spring break by my kids repeatedly this week. And not just the usual overly grateful kid of Calib, but in a huge turn of events, Peyton has joined in as well. I even had the boys friend telling me what a good cook I was (and all I did was make quesadillas!). He's requested I call him when Peyton is refusing to eat whatever it is that I cooked.

However, Despite how awesome my week has been, I'm just going to give you the short version of the week, and a week in pictures. This is because of two reasons. 1. I went to the beach without Asa today which meant nobody to sunscreen my back (and it is ON FIRE, people). And 2. I've been asked to sit and watch transformers while I type this. Transformers on a 1080p TV with four boys in the room = SUPER LOUD. (Making it slightly difficult.t to keep my train of thought)

Friday started out with a Welcome Reception. Like, the boys were on a conference or something. They came home to a sign they got to run through (a la high school football), koolade slushies, and a colorful lei to get in the spirit. I then presented them with our Spring Break Itinerary and the rules for the week. It went over well.

Later we went to Grand Prix to spend our groupons I've been holding onto for a good six months. Funny Putt Putt story: Calib wanted to keep score, nobody else did. I told him he could keep score if he wanted to. By hole six he'd asked me to take over. By hole 11 I was bored and started filling in numbers for the rest of the game. I could only keep the secret until hole 13 when I had to spill to Asa. Nobody even asked to see the score card till the next day, when they added it up and found out I won (I swear I had no idea). It wasn't till the next night at dinner that I caved and told everyone what I had done. I can't believe I got away with it, even recording several hole's in one- which nobody got.

We also went go-karting, and the boys got to jump on one of those funny trampoline bungee things. Note to self: Pick up that groupon if it comes around again. For $25 it was a GREAT deal.

Saturday we had to dodge the rain, we went out to pick strawberries, and had I been in Ohio I would have been certain the tornado sirens were about to go off. Fortunately there were still tons of strawberries, so we quickly picked 12 quarts, and got out of there just as a huge gust of cold air made it's way through the field.

Then it poured- but we figured it's Florida, and it almost never rains for long. So we headed over to Adventure Island. Good news: the rain had cleared out most of the crowd. Bad News: slides were closed, so there were a lot of people in the pools. At the exact moment Asa was stating "I don't think they're going to re-open the slides anytime...." he was cut off my an announcement that the slides were opening. It was a mass exodus of the pools, so we enjoyed that for awhile and headed home.

Everyone picked a bored game, and we turned in to see the final four playing in the NCAA tournament. Asa had long ago predicted Kansas vs. Kentucky, however, he had picked Kansas to win. (fast forward to Monday)- I did not pick Kansas to even be there, but I did pick Kentucky to win it all. Which made me the Waterstraut family winner. Ah-ha!

Sunday was April Fools Day. Justin had come over late Saturday night to play Munchkin and collect some strawberries, so he helped with the shenanigans. We TPed Calibs room, put clothespins on Hayden's pajama pants, papered Peyton and Hayden's bedroom door, switched the cereal around in the cereal boxes, safety pinned all Calib's boxers together, stacked Hayden's toys up, and changed Hayden's passwords to ridiculous mumbo jumbo. Needless to say they were not amused. But we sure were. Hayden's response in the morning after he opened his door: "How can this be? Peyton wake up. I have clips all over me!'

I even told them they were having mashed potatoes for lunch. (Thats actually a cupcake, caramel syrup and a starburst though)

That afternoon, we took a trip up to Weeki Wachee State Park. The Springs there have some water slides, and a lazy river. Pretty awesome way to spend a Sunday if you ask me.

The rest of the week we've gone on outings, had tutorials (learning how to do laundry, cook various things, tie shoes, spell Waterstraut, learn our new address and cell phone numbers- I guess most of them were Hayden tutorials, but I'm still pretty happy with the results )

We've also made various arts and crafts. We can now attack a tiny world with our Q-tip Bow and Arrows.

The birds outside Peyton and Hayden's window have been pleased with the peanut butter toilet paper roll bird feeders.

And everyone is sporting their own original designs with their bleach pen t-shirts.

We've made the best use of the lovely weather outdoors with chalk squares (Peyton was the winner)

Donut Eating Contests

Sponge Bombs (that got caught in the strangest places)

And the biggest hit of them all- excavating dollar store bugs out of giants blocks of ice!

We had some interesting meals and snacks this week. One day was 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' day- and it 'rained' food (aka Asa throws food over the wall in the dining room)

Plus we made campfire cones (way easier than smores), jello aquariums, and watermelon popsicles (in shape of what else? A moose!)

And my very first go around with the ice cream maker (we had strawberry of course)

We've made a lot of trips outside out and about as well. My favorite? The awesome playground in Lakeland (after another stop to pick some more strawberries). Best Playground I've ever been to.

Another stop at Aquatica was in order.

Plus a trip to Busch Gardens with Kevin, Katie, and Angela meeting us. Hayden was so brave and finally got on the Grover coaster, too!

We had our very first trip to our new pool.

Today we went out to the beach at Honeymoon Island, and the boys had a good time playing in the sand.

Except for this part, they avoided the water due to the 'purple flag' which was up to signify 'dangerous marine life'

Then a quick stop at the sprayground to get all that salt water off of us.

Things I learned this week:

Hayden has watched the Lion King too much: he's now convinced when we die we become the grass (thanks a lot Mufasa)

Asa makes water balloon tosses a little too intense.

The boys think letting them sleep on the floor in sleeping bags is the best thing ever.

Funny story:

Me to Asa: (while the boys are out of the room) We could just let them sleep in their sleeping bags again.

Calib: (from the other room) Can we sleep in our sleeping bags again?

Asa to Me: I got this.

Asa to Calib: Depends what are you going to do for us?

Calib: We'll each do an extra two chores tomorrow.

Asa: Deal.

Also in case you were wondering, just what to do with 22 quarts of strawberries:

Jam, Syrup, Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Ice Cream, Strawberry Banana Bread, and handing some out to all your neighbors.

Interesting fact: To let you know you can hard boil eggs in the slow cooker. Works pretty well when you want to do 3 dozen at a time.

Oh, and as an added bonus: Peyton's fish had babies AGAIN!

Next Up: Easter Mania! The fresh market, and Lutz's very first food truck rally. I can taste the deviled crab now!