March means Spring Break and warmer weather, and we enjoyed it all. My brother, Steve, is a college professor, and he spent his Spring Break in early March visiting my parents. We loved seeing him several days that week!
Steve and my mom.
My amazing parents.
Just before our Spring Break, Hallie was selected to recite Psalm 119:1-8 at StoneBridge's Speech Meet. She did a wonderful job!
StoneBridge's Spring Break was in mid-March, and we flew to Orlando for 5 days of fun.
We visited Disney Springs our first day and ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe.
This friendly crocodile greeted guests outside the restaurant.
There's a T-Rex Restaurant in Disney Springs, also, and the girls wanted to stop by to dig up dinosaur bones in their archaeological play area.
Our first amusement park day was at Universal Islands of Adventure.
We were all dressed up in green for St. Patrick's Day
We rode the Velocicoaster first thing!
And then took a family photo with a baby velociraptor
The Pteranodon Flyer ride was open this time, and Emma is almost too tall to ride it, so the girls had to try it out.
The long line for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride has interesting waiting areas, like this room with dragon eggs.
We watched the Hogwarts frog choir perform, and the girls got to pet the frogs and take pictures with the choir.
We stopped at Honeydukes candy shop and bought chocolate frogs.
There was a cute Dr. Seuss-themed splashpad and play area that we visited for the first time.
Marmaduke ran off with both girls at the end of the day!
We recently learned that if you stay at a Disney Resort (including the lower-priced resorts that are in our budget), you can visit Disney's water park for free on the first day you check in! We reserved a couple of nights at Disney's All Star Music Resort, and spent that first day at Blizzard Beach water park. We only had to show them our resort reservation details, and they let us walk right in!
It was the chilliest day of the week, with temperatures in the 60s. Thankfully, Disney heats all their water to 80 degrees, so the water felt fantastic, but we froze every time we stepped out!
We stayed in the wave pool and lazy river that morning, then ventured on some of the rides in the afternoon when it was slightly warmer. Because of the cool breeze and cloud coverage, I wasn't very diligent in applying sunscreen and the girls and I had pretty fierce sunburns by the end of the day. Major mom fail...
We enjoy visiting the fancier Disney resorts when we have down-time, so we ate dinner at the Polynesian Resort that evening and strolled around to see the pretty landscaping and buildings there.
On our third day, we visited Disney's Magic Kingdom. Staying at a Disney resort allows you to enter the parks 1/2 hour earlier than opening time.
We walked straight to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, since it always has a super long line.
The girls drove us around the Tomorrowland Speedway.
We went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and Dan made it in the show. He was the guy they chose who "feels the urge to get up and dance." He busted a move for the crowd, and it was awesome!
Near the Dumbo ride, there were "Scentsy" themed elephant statues that you could hunt for and smell. The scents ranged from sweet (Cotton Candy) to savory (Buttered Popcorn).
We rode lots more rides:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tiana's Bayou Adventure
Space Mountain (Dan was in the car in front of us)
We caught a glimpse of the fireworks at the end of the night.
Before we left Orlando on our last day, we had time to souvenir shop at Disney Springs. We love shopping at the Lego store and the Disney store.
Then we flew back home for one more Spring Break adventure.
We picked up Dan's parents in Williamsburg and drove to the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. to see "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." Hallie's 3rd grade class had read the novel this year and had a special day to celebrate Narnia Day. Emma had done the same in 3rd grade, so they both knew the story and its biblical symbolism well.
The play was beautifully done, and they did an amazing job using a small stage and cast to portray the story.
Aslan the Lion was an enormous puppet, and it was so cool to watch it walk across the stage.
The girls also loved their intermission snack: Turkish Delight!
The last weekend of Spring Break, Hallie and her friend, Sophia, had a play date at Chick-Fil-A and a playground.
Emma had her last "literature day" at StoneBridge. Her 6th grade class read Ivanhoe this year and they had a special day of activities to celebrate the completion of the novel and their projects. Emma chose a beautiful dress online that only needed some slight alterations to fit her. She's almost as tall as I am and is mostly wearing adult sizes now.
Each student presented their personal shield that they designed and decorated for Ivanhoe Day.
The kids made crafts based on Medieval times, like a homemade catapult.
And they spent time outdoors playing games and learning to walk on stilts!
Emma with her friends, Mary Ruth (left) and Dasia (right)
The 6th graders with their coat of arms
When Ivanhoe Day was over, I took the girls out of school early and drove them to the beach where Dan's parents were staying at their timeshare. We got to play outside for a while, swim at their indoor pool, and eat dinner with Grandpa and Grandma.
That weekend, we gathered with the Jester family to celebrate our nephews, Aaron and Josiah's, birthdays.
Aaron (left) and Josiah (right), blowing out their candles on homemade ice cream cakes.
I have to brag every now and then about how helpful Emma and Hallie are in the church nursery. We're normally placed in the one-year-old class, which sometimes has up to 14 kids! The girls are so good at playing, reading books, serving snacks, and entertaining the little ones.
Emma's Sunday School teacher at church loves ducks and plans an annual Day of the Duck. This year, he brought several ducklings for the kids to pet and hold. As soon as her class ended, Emma ran to find Hallie at church. I heard Emma shout across the hall, "HALLIE!! REAL LIVE BABY DUCKS!!" and then I saw a blur of red hair disappear around the corner as they raced to get to them as fast as they could.
Ducks are Hallie's favorite animal, so she was in heaven! I was showing Hallie the pictures that I took of the ducklings, and the duck she was holding started poking at my camera with his beak. He was able to enlarge the photo and get a good look at himself, and then he snapped (what we assume was) his very first photo using his beak.
I present to you...Duckling's First Photo.
