Oh how Spring Break has changed

Gone are the days of sharing hotel rooms with 4 girls and running around the beach hijacking those giant water bikes.

Even tough times have changed, it was a good one. The perfect mix of laziness + pure chaos.  Just the way I like it. There is way too much to tell and I'm already a week behind, so I'll keep it short on words. Maybe.

We began the week with cupcakes and Kate of course. Our Cupcakery in Dublin, serving up my favorite cupcakes in town. We will excuse this once their snotty reaction to my toddler's excited behavior. Happens again and Mama Bear comes out.

Making Easter eggs! I am sentimental about the old $2 Paas kit, so that is what we used. Still just as confused by this "copper" wire contraption. 3 seconds after these shots, it broke and she said "Happened?"

She really could have cared less about dyeing the eggs. It was all about the water painting and the magical clear crayon.

Besides having a terrible record for guessing the correct color bowl for each color tablet (the blue tablet turned pink, the yellow was orange, the pink was orange!?) and using scalding hot eggs that don't take color, they turned out pretty great!

Time for 2 year old pictures!  In an effort to save a little money and have immediate gratification, we went with Portrait Innovations this time. It might have been the most stressful hour of my life. Except for this one time. Anyway, the pictures we came home with were adorable, but we will definitely go back to the kid-whispering Heather's peaceful studio next time.

Ann and Heidi gave me a gift certificate to bare s.k.i.n. day spa, where I got a fabulous massage and airbrush tan for our big weekend. If you ever need a local gift for anyone, this is it! 

Boo for dead camera batteries and no time for makeup!!  Doesn't she look excited to be at the Grandview egg hunt? Just kidding, she hated every minute of it until she could swing. The man who did the countdown said "let's add some suspense and count down from 10!" I about crashed the whole thing by asking "Can my screaming child please just go swing? We won't even take any eggs"...

As soon as they said "Go!", she was off and running....past all the eggs and to the playground. My mom picked up 2 things so she would have something. No more playground egg hunts for us. 

That night was Matt's brother's wedding. Again, phone pictures are blah, but you get the gist. It gave us a chance to dress up and see old friends. And it gave Larkyn the chance to show her dancing skills on the patio. Doesn't the bride look amazing?

After the wedding, Larkyn had her first overnight with Nana & Paw Paw! Thank goodness for grandparents. They brought her home on Easter morning for another egg hunt and her 3 Easter baskets from everyone. I only put in ONE candy item because I knew our house was about to be overrun with Reese's eggs and Cadburys. We love Easter candy 'round here. That's a flashing ring on the top that she likes to put right up to her nose. I see a theme. And the book? It was one of my favorites, given to me when I was two. My students love it and Larkyn picks it out every night. Old books are the best!

At this point, one would think I had had my fill of excitement during my 7 day break. Nope...

We left around noon on Easter to head up to Great Wolf Lodge. It is ridiculously overpriced, but I would take Larkyn back in a minute with a day pass (and stay at another hotel!) This was Matt's birthday getaway for his girls. He knows I love nothing more than a little travel! She slept the whole way up and fell in love with this tree slide.

I couldn't stand back and take pictures for long. With a toddler, this is definitely a two-person activity! Extracting her from the kiddie play area to go back to the room proved to be the downfall of the trip. But, she found some playground equipment of her own in the room. We went to Cracker Barrel for the birthday dinner of my freaking dreams: Sunday buttermilk oven fried chicken and hashbrown casserole. After a morning swim, we were on the road and headed back home!

It went too fast and got me thinking about how much I...well...love time off! Even the days spent running errands and cleaning the house. It was just what I needed.