Finally, after a few busy days, I’m finally able to post.

Our Easter started earlier than usual. I decided to go to first service at our church, so that we’d have more family time during the day. Even in the early morning, the kids still had their Easter bags.

Kevin had been up late the night before, so he was sleeping in a bit while the kids got up and checked to see what kind of candy they got (Reeses, Hershey’s eggs and Twix. Their dentist will probably have issues with me). After that, we quickly finished getting ready and hurried off to church (in which there were a lot of other folks who also decided to come early)

Since our kids no longer hunt for eggs, we had no real plan for the rest of the day. My only “plan” for the afternoon was to go outside to a park and take a family picture. I’m trying to get more practice taking pictures of people, as well as scenery. I don’t always have the time to do either. When we came home from church, Kevin had some ideas as to how we could spend the day. Bowling, and mini-golf were brought up, however, our son really isn’t one for games. I think that he expects too much from himself and if he can’t do well or win in that first round, he doesn’t want to play anymore. Another idea that came up was to go to Salt Creek Falls, which is probably about an hour’s drive East of town. Kylin loved that idea because he’s been wanting to get out of the house and out of town for weeks. So that is what we decided to do.

On the way to the falls, we stopped in a small town called Westfir, as there was a covered bridge that Kevin wanted to see. Our county is full of covered bridges, and I’ve managed to take pictures of most of them. This one is called The Office Covered Bridge.

As we were walking across, there was a nice breeze coming through the windows, and the sound of pigeons in the rafters (and we were hoping that they weren’t directly ABOVE us) Once across, we discovered a parking lot with a picnic area and several of these flowers.

After checking out the bridge, we drove on to Salt Creek Falls. When we arrived, the road to the falls and the parking area was closed, so we did have to walk a bit. Heather wasn’t expecting a little hike, so she wasn’t wearing hiking shoes. I think that after this, the rule of thumb should be, that, if you plan a trip to any location with the word “Falls” in it, you should probably bring hiking shoes and a jacket. Anyway, a walk to see a waterfall is always time well spent. I have never been disappointed.

I think that if we had been better prepared, we could have stayed longer and hiked around a bit. By the way, while at the falls, we did try to take some family pictures, however, either we didn’t like the way we looked, or one person wasn’t smiling or the wind was whipping someone’s hair around. So, no, I’m not posting them here.

The ride home included a stop in Oakridge at one of the few A&Ws still around. My husband and I have many childhood memories of eating at the ones in the towns we lived in. Anymore, most of the old ones are empty or housing another business (the one where Kevin went to as a kid is now an Asian restaurant). So when we stopped in this one, Kevin ordered us root beers, and not the kind in the plastic or paper cup. He wanted it in a frosty glass, like we had when we were kids.

After enjoying our little bit of nostalgia, we drove back home, and then left to see “The Lego Movie”. It was a good movie, however I was so tired that several times, I nearly dozed off. I’m sure that a well rested person would have enjoyed it more! I’ll have to rent it when it comes out on DVD, and after I’ve had a good nap.

I hope that you had a Happy Easter and enjoyed your day with those you love!
Elizabeth

It’s been a few weeks since Spring Break was happening, and I’m finally getting back to this page.  Between then and now, we’ve been getting back into the routine of involving school back into our day.

Thanks to Facebook, we’ve been able to see how several of our friends spent their week off.  Some of them used the time for family vacations.  Some took day trips, and some stayed close to home.  At our house, we were in that last category.  We stayed home and tried to find things to do in our area.  I also had some extra kids spending the week with us.  So I tried to give them something to remember as well.   It was also a rainy week, so anything we did, needed to be done indoors.

So here are a few things that we did.

1. Thrift stores: A great place for a kid to make those few dollars they earn, or get as a gift, go further!

2. Baking cookies!  I had 4 kids on this day, so I had the oldest (my daughter) lead and direct how the recipe was assembled.  They were very good cookies!

3. Museums!  On the day where I had 5 kids, we went to our local pioneer museum to see a bit of history.   As it turned out, we were the only visitors there and out of the 6 of us visiting, the 3 youngest  qualified for free admission!  After our half hour there, I took them through the Wendy’s drive-thru for  $1 fries.  I think that little outing only cost about $14 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture for this one. I will say though that there was some fun. There was a quilt with a spiral pattern on each block, and after seeing it, the toddler exclaimed, “Lollipops!” The museum also had pioneer era clothes and props that the kids could try on and have their picture taken. I took one in black and white, posted it on Facebook and labeled it, “Mumford & Daughters?”

These are just a few of the things that can be done, on a small budget, for Spring Break.

Elizabeth