The White White House: Spring Break....Woohoo!

Spring break started for us last week which meant days off from school and baseball which also meant a beach trip together as a family. This year, we had five days of no baseball practice or games. I don't know how it happened, but when I found out that we had a long break, I wanted to hug the coach, who I don't even know and who probably had absolutely nothing to do with the scheduling! I really consider the break a huge blessing from above. I mean it! Read on and you'll see why.

We left for the beach last Wednesday. Nothing went as planned that day and originally, we were supposed to leave during Sawyer's nap. Well, as I said, nothing went as planned and he decided to take a nap at 11:00 that day instead of 1:00. That was just one of many unusual things that happened prior to us leaving. The good news is that we did finally get on the road by 4:00 and managed to get there before dark.

We all had such a wonderful time together as a family. We bought a zoo/aquarium pass just last month so we took advantage of the free admittance to the aquarium. Sawyer loved it and Jackson is always up for going. Sawyer's favorite things were the fish. Yeah, that probably sounds redundant but he really was mostly interested in the fish in the aquariums that were on his level, not the shark, turtles, etc.. You can see how happy he is in the pictures. We didn't stay too long because the place began to fill up quickly with people due to the rain. We finished the visit with a trip inside the gift shop. Sawyer has not learned to beg for things yet but he is in the "if I see it, it's mine" stage, typical of a 22-month-old. He made his way around the gift shop with a crab stuffed animal. It was cute and inexpensive and Jackson told him that he'd buy it for him with his own money. It wasn't but about ten minutes before Sawyer dropped the crab and picked up a more expensive stuffed animal, an otter. Needless to say, Jackson gladly kept his word and bought the otter for Sawyer. It was a sweet and proud moment for us all.

We spent some time on the beach and some time at the parks around there. Webb and Jackson played frisbee golf one morning while Sawyer and I tagged along. The boys are pretty content at the condo but we like to burn as much of their energy as we can in the mornings and evenings. It wasn't the best weather for swimming or getting wet but we were able to spend some time on the beach. We couldn't keep the boys out of the water completely, especially Sawyer. Jackson did a little skim boarding while Sawyer explored the wave pools.

I mentioned that we took a break from baseball but that's not completely true. We took a break from practicing, I guess, but Jackson and a few other of his friends played with an 11U travel team from West Raleigh. The good news was that it was a one day tournament right down the road from the condo. It's a great facility which includes a playground so Sawyer was well entertained. Oh, and the team finished first in the tournament. Not a bad way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon by the coast, huh? Everybody left the ballpark happy that evening, including Sawyer and mom.

On Sunday, we didn't make it out to the Easter sunrise service. It's on my bucket list but the boys may be in college before I can check that one off. Instead, we got Sawyer down for a nap and watched The Passion of The Christ on Netflix. I wanted to document this because I feel like it's something that I want to look back and remember. Jackson has never seen the movie but Webb and I both felt that he was at an age that we could view it as a family. He knows the story but seeing the movie can be life-changing. I felt honored to be able to experience this with him. I first watched the movie when Jackson was little so watching it this time around impacted me differently. I kept thinking about how Mary must have felt seeing the child that she raised, being undeservedly mistreated by so many. I wondered how it would feel to watch your child suffer and knowing that there is absolutely nothing that you can do to change the outcome. Of course I cried a lot and the boys kept looking at me almost as if they were surprised. It's the third or fourth time I've seen the movie but each time, I am impacted by something different. I'm hoping that we can make watching the movie an Easter tradition.

The best part of the trip for me was the time that we got to spend together as family which goes without saying. The next best thing was that I got to sleep until 8:00 on most mornings and still got to take a nap with Sawyer almost every afternoon. I can't tell you how wonderful I feel, almost like I've caught up on the sleep deficit that incurred over the past two years.

As usual, I'm including a lot of pictures. I'm including a few pictures from our field trip to NC State Farm Days. Laura and I took our kids again this year. Everybody had fun, as usual. It was very crowded which meant we all learned a few lessons in taking turns and some of us learned how all adults should be kind to other people's children (Laura and I thought that some of our Cary neighbors were in attendance). It was worth making the trip out, as it is every year.

Well, now that the vacation is over, I must get to work and unpack these suitcases.