Wii, Sand, and Snow

I don't expect anyone out there to remember our spring break last year so I'll refresh your memory. I enforced a computer/TV ban that week and had Boo Radley moments a-plenty thanks to Raycito. We took a day trip to U-Dig in Delta and dug up a lot of Trilobites (Little D later went door-to-door to his friends and sold his for a nice wad of cash). Originally last spring I had planned to go to Little Sahara to play in the sand dunes, but to appease Boo, who loves prehistoric creatures, I followed my map further out of town in search of fossils at U-Dig.

This year's spring break was an absolute reverse of last year's. Literally. Although we still enforce a computer ban, (going strong since last November) it is a limited ban. When I started working at The Scooter Lounge last fall, I needed some leverage so that the kids would want to come to the shop (and keep themselves busy) so I could work if needs be. I made a rule that the only place they can play on the computer is at the shop. We also bought a Wii and installed it at the shop in the kids' playroom. Now, as planned, I have Raycito begging to go to the shop everyday. It works out pretty good...except I got a glimpse this spring break of what our summer will be like.

Spring break went like this:

Monday: Kids were at the shop from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and played Wii the whole time. Ray-Ray declared "This is the best spring break ever!" Guilt kicked in and Dave and I decided to do "one thing fun" each day. So after 10 hours of Wii babysitter, we took the kids to Pirate Island (a glorified Chucky Cheese) where they got to eat pizza and rot their brains out even more on token games.

Tuesday: Kids were at the shop playing Wii and watching movies for 7 hours. To appease our guilt, we played board games that night and had homemade cookies.

Wednesday: Kids were at the shop a mere 5 hours. We went and got ice cream at 10 p.m. for our one thing fun.

Thursday: Again...5 hours of Wiing and brain rotting. We went bowling to make up for it. (Does it really make up for it?)

Friday: I worked at the hospital all day so the kids had an all-day-Cartoon-networkathon, followed by pizza and a movie. I feel sick thinking about it.

Saturday: After yet another 5 hours of Wii at the shop, we went on a road trip and got out of town. This year we made it to Little Sahara. Raycito, ever voicing his opinion, said it was "the worst Saturday ever!" because we forced him away from his addictions.

Little Sahara was a blast even though we didn't come equipped with off-road vehicles. We had never been there before and wanted to check it out even if it meant footing it (or bare-footing it). We have a dune buggy that needs a few hours of David's mechanic expertise so we can bring it next time.

We were busy

Sifting

Smiling

Raking

Digging

Jumping

Tossing

Sliding

Shoveling

Flirting

Meowing

Climbing

and
Observing

Beautiful

Sand!

The weather was gorgeous which was so nice after having a bipolar weather week of hail-sun-rain-snow-snow-wind-rain-hail (imagine all that weather in one afternoon).

After leaving Little Sahara we had an adventure. We looked at the map and took a different route home. Many of you may not know that David doesn't like to backtrack. No he doesn't like it. Whenever we take a road trip, he has to take a new and unusual way home (usually adding to the drive by several hours). I actually like it. I think it is fun to abandon I-15 and go through small towns we've never been through. This trip took us to a pit stop in Vernon were we had great burgers and rootbeer floats and then we went on to a small mining town called Ophir. I had never heard of it before. It was getting late when we rolled through. Quickly the paved road turned to a rutted dirt-road and then to a rutted muddy wet dirt-road. Looking at my map I suggested Dave turn around because I couldn't see that the road went through. Dave, (who doesn't like to backtrack) soon came to a stop when the road turned into a rutted 2-foot deep snow covered road in which we became firmly stuck. (The third time we've been stuck in our Ford Crapstar. The next car we get WILL have 4-wheel drive.) After digging us out for an hour, me getting us stuck again, Dave having IBS in the bushes, and Dave using a log as leverage to literally lift the van up from behind while I handled the wheel, we got out. All in the dark.

That was fun. Really. When Ray-cito complained again about it being the worst Saturday ever, David and I had to disagree. Getting stuck in the snow in Ophir makes for great stories and great memories. I'm glad we did it.


But I don't look forward to summer break when I have to figure out something for the kids to do while I work that won't make me feel incredible guilt. Wii Babysitter everyday doesn't seem right.