The Beginning of Spring Break - Gridley

Our school district does Spring Break during the odd week of March 21st. It's not near Easter, and it isn't even spring yet! I think Ridgecrest just likes to be the craziest place to live in all the world. :) Our Spring Break started a little early, though, because the boys had a dentist appointment in Bakersfield the Thursday before, so Helaman missed that day of school, too. We thought it was going to just be a fun day out of town. They LOVED the dentist we took them to (Helaman tells me he can't wait to get his teeth cleaned again!) and then we took them for some fun at our favorite John's Incredible Pizza. Delicious pizza, fun games (that all work!), go-carts, it was a blast!

Omar's mom's car had broken down a few days earlier, and as the day went on we kept feeling like we needed to go to Gridley and help her with it and getting a replacement. So, we ended up driving back to Ridgecrest, packing up the car, and the driving back through Bakersfield on our way to Gridley. It was a LOT of driving. We took the scenic route on the way back to Bakersfield, following the Kern River as it wound through the mountains. It made the drive a lot longer, but it was beautiful, and way less annoying than driving through Tehachapi three times in one day. :)

Friday morning, Omar went to work on his mom's car to fix it up for selling, and then spent the rest of the day with her looking for a new car that would be more reliable when we are so far away. Meanwhile, the boys and I had a blast.

My mom is teaching a life skills class, and they were doing a unit on taking care of kids, so she had the grandkids come to her class for the day. The boys and I got there early and made graham cracker/frosting sandwiches to serves as a snack. Helaman's job was to teach the class how to play the cookie monster game. We practiced using a loud voice and giving directions while we frosted, and he did a great job when the class came in. The boys drew pictures on little white boards to show the class and had them guess what they were, then Helaman taught the game and we took them outside to play. Then they played Simon says, and I was surprised how many of them didn't know how to play that game. Sad.

After the class time Tara and I took the kids to Subway for lunch, and then to park to play for a while. Isaiah and Ava were both ready for a nap, so I took the boys to my mom's house and let Isaiah sleep. The boys had a slumber-party at Grandma's that night, and Michael and Tara and Omar and I went on a date to some yummy Mexican food and frozen yogurt.

The boys love playing in my mom's yard and helping in her garden. She said Isaiah was being so funny with the oranges because he was so stubborn about carrying all five of these. He would drop one and spend forever figuring out how to pick them all up again. He really is such a determined guy. She also has this tractor bike he was determined to ride, even though he had to slide way down in the seat to reach the pedals. He spent a half hour riding from the front porch to the back steps, refusing to give up. He makes me laugh.

When I could get Helaman into the house, this is where he would inevitably be found, playing Wii with Greta (or anyone that he could get to play with him!) He loved playing the Wii, and really wants to buy one for home, but mom is still a hold out. I like that he's building things right now instead of being glued to the t.v. I may lose this battle eventually, but for now it still make Gridley even more exciting.

On Saturday Omar and his mom were still off car shopping. Llael took the boys to visit her dad and to the park for a bit while I took a shower and went flower shopping with my mom. Jelly said they really wanted to try the pruners and Isaiah insisted on trying to cut the biggest branch on the ground, and wouldn't give up. Silly stubborn kid again. They had a lot of fun with her and then we all just hung out while Omar finished car shopping with his mom.

That's quite a story in itself, he talked them down way under MSRP, and even then the guy ended up paying Omar money out of his pocket for his gas to drive the dealership. At one point he got so fed up with their games he pretended he was talking over the offer like they do for 15 minutes, and then told them no. Funny guy! He got her a great deal, though!

That night we had a BBQ with all of our family on both sides and laughed at these funny boys playing Wii. Helaman played this game until he was completely beat red, and then only stopped because the rest of us were too warn out and no one would race him any more.

The next day was Sunday. We had a delicious breakfast at Omar's mom's house and started for home. We stopped in Yuba City to say hello to Omar's Uncle and his family, and we had way too much fun and stayed way longer than we meant to. We finally got home late Sunday night. It was a fun trip, and a great start to Helaman's first ever spring break.