What April Looks Like

I got to spend a beautiful Saturday morning with this cutie pie

while her parents were in the temple.

And her mom made me THIS in appreciation.

Wow. 

These dirty hands mean...

 it was time to plant the garden!

While Andrew is waiting for his back to be in tennis-playing shape,

our latest favorite date has been going on nature walks.

 We saw lots of reminders of the brutal winter.

 And tiny signs that spring was on its way.

It's not every day you see a boy just chillin

on top of a 10 foot wall. 

 

 Whit's friend was baptized and she asked Whitney to speak at the service.

So happy for her.

Linville Falls

And...our last spring break day trip: Linville Falls. We met Destinee and her kids up in the mountains for an awesome hike. We had never been there, but had a great time and would love to take Andrew back.

We had a picnic and visited. The big kids came up with tribes and were trying to recruit each other. The three little girls walked around singing songs from Frozen.

 Our hiking crew.

Both trails are short and very manageable for kids.

They were off! 

And after a quick .4 mile hike,

  a beautiful payoff.

Mason and Brandon are brotherless cousins

who always look forward to having another boy around. 

Poor Whitney assumed that since we were meeting up with Avery,

we would be doing a kid swap. Unfortunately, we were not.

They had to make the best of their half day together.

You can take a different trail and catch this view:

Gorgeous. 

But these little two-foot stone walls are the only things

keeping you from plunging to your death! Yikes!

After we were done hiking, Destinee showed us two fun places to stop on the way home.

The first was this cute cheese store where we were introduced

to the deliciousness of cheese curds. Yum.

 The girls tested out the rockers on the front porch.

The second was "Dots Dario" a very random and yummy ice cream shop.

After finishing off our yummy treats, we gave hugs and headed home.

It was not our usual big-trip spring break, but we still managed to create fun memories together.

Carowinds

Our next day trip for spring break was to Carowinds, an amusement park near Charlotte. This was a first for me and the girls. Brandon had gone once with a friend. Diane and I scored a great deal on tickets and decided to go down together I'm so glad we did. It worked out perfectly. Diane is not the biggest fan of roller-coasters, so she got to hang out with the younger kids. And, lucky me, got to ride all the big rides with Brandon and Lauren. Everyone was happy!

The park was busy, but not too crazy. I think 45 minutes was the longest we had to wait for a ride. The food prices were ridiculous: $15 for a chicken strip combo meal, or pizza combo meal. Thankfully, my kids don't eat a ton, so I got by with only buying two meals for all four of us and everyone was full. (Cheapskate mom!) Overall, we had a fabulous day and I would definitely go again...hopefully I can find another deal for affordable tickets.

The NC/SC border runs right through the middle of the park.

Straddling two states 

 B, Lauren, Me on the viking ship.

B LOVED this ride.

I think he rode it 8 times.

It left you hanging upside down too long for my taste.

I felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head.

Afterburn

Very fun. Almost made me pass out.

My favorite was Intimidator. Fast and Fun!! 

C's favorite ride: Peanuts Pirates 

Weeeeee!

Whit and Leann on Peanuts Pirates.

Despite her face, W says this was her fave, too. 

In line for Boo Blasters.

This was the line we waited the longest in.

It was the only one that all seven of us rode together.

Everyone except C liked it.

It was a little on the scary side for her.

Diane and Me 

 Boo blasters!

 Snoopy's Space Race, another of C's faves.

She loved the way you could push the button to make it honk.

(And honk it did--LOUDLY. Not so fun for waiting parents.)

Killing time while waiting in line 

Scrambler

 Carolina Cobra, another fun, fast coaster.

Takes you forward and then you do the whole ride backwards.

Woodstock Gliders

This one is cool, because you can use that handle to control how high you go.

It's a contest and the people waiting in line vote for a winner.

Brandon and C-Bear won!

The kids talked me in to letting them play some carnival games.

They found out how tricky they are.

But Whit won the piggy race. Yippee!

The kids with Snoopy

It was a fun, fun way to spend a spring break day.