Spring to the Briz-eak: Other Fun

While the zoo was certainly the highlight, it wasn't the end of our fun.

We saw Grandma as we were walking through the parking lot to Berry Bear. She was able to come in with us and eat some yummy frozen yogurt. What a neat surprise! It made a fun outing even more fun and special.

Anna Claire and I have done quite a bit of gardening together over break. Although harvest is definitely her favorite part of the cycle, she also likes digging in the dirt and helping me plant seeds and bulbs. We planted a border of garlic on Wednesday, all along the perimeter of the vegetable garden to help keep the rabbits away. I've read they don't like the smell. We'll see if it works.  :)

Sweet smile for waitress at IHOP

Thursday I took AC in to the RB for a few hours to go to music, but did not realize there was not music class this week due to break. She handled this pretty well. I picked her up early and took her to IHOP for brunch.

She absolutely loved IHOP, altough I was disappointed that the strawberry pancakes looked nothing like the picture on the menu. They were served to her plain, with the two tiniest strawberries you ever did see and a teensy dollop of whip cream. So I gave her my berries and whipped cream too, and she was a happy camper.

After IHOP we went to the mall to go to Old Navy and to see the Easter Bunny.






Anna Claire loves going to Old Navy. She especially loves the light display on the floor back in the little girls' department. Normally there are big kids playing back there that intimidate her, but there wasn't anyone this time, so she had a ball.

Next was the Easter Bunny. She was excited once she spotted him. She waved and shouted, "Hi, Easter Bunny!" Then all of a sudden she did a 180 - clung to my leg like velcro and said she didn't want the Easter Bunny and asked to go home.

I didn't force the issue and headed back to the van at which point Anna Claire announced she wanted to go to the bookstore. Two places I will never turn AC down upon asking: library and bookstore. So we headed to Books a Million. She loves looking at all of the children's books and to plop down in the floor and have me read her book after book. I enjoy it too. Great opportunity to get some ideas for Easter.

Yesterday Anna Claire and I made brownies, and she rode her tricycle by herself for the first time. At almost 3 years old, some may think "it's about time," but we are thrilled each time she reaches a milestone physically speaking and again seems to be catching up with her peers. She has simply not shown much interest in such things until recently, and we haven't pushed her. Now she is running, jumping, climbing all over the place. I love that she is doing things on her own time.

Speaking of climbing, we decided to part with climber in the backyard. With the mud that collects back there, it has been more of an attractive nuisance than we ever could have anticipated. Since it's gone pretty much unused, yesterday we passed it along to a family who would use it. Anna Claire loved playing with the little boy, Jaden, while Larry and the boy's daddy loaded it onto their trailer.  We will look at getting her something to play on that's more functional for her. Not sure what yet. She wants a playhouse, I know that much.

Oh, and the wagon and water table are now back in full operation. We use these daily and spent tons of time outside. We have been so blessed to have a spring break with the most beautiful weather ever.

Two new bouncy balls have also been favorite play things. Anna Claire tells me she wants to play soccer and do gymnastics. I think she's been having some conversations about this with her little friends!

I'm sure I've left off details but this is a pretty accurate representation of our week. It's been fun!