Ozarks Spring Break!!!!!

We left the morning after conferences for a much needed break from work, school, etc., and headed to Missouri.  The five days we spent there were very busy and we fit a lot of stuff into them!  Our first stop was Tan-Tar-A Resort for one night.  The first thing we did was put our swimsuits on and enjoy the indoor waterpark.  While the weather was great (70 degrees) when we arrived, it wasn't quite warm enough to swim outside.  Gracie and Owen were so excited and spent 2 hours in the water.



 

 Owen at the bottom of one of the slides

 

 Gracie coming out of the BIG tube slide with Nick and Owen waiting at the bottom

 

 Floating in the lazy river

 

The water was great.  The resort had both a waterpark and a regular indoor pool, but they were in different buildings.  My mom joined to watch the kids swim for awhile and my dad and sister also showed up a little later to say hi.  We ended up eating pizza later and going bowling.  The kids loved it!  However, the bowling alley did not have electronic scoring, so we ended up having to keep score ourselves.  I hadn't planned on having to do math on our trip.  HA!



This is Owen waiting for his ball to get down to the pins.

 

The next morning I went for a run while Nick and the kids hit the breakfast buffet.  I joined them for more swimming a little later.  We went down the slide over and over again.  It was pretty fun.  After swimming, we found some lunch and then headed to Ha-Ha-Tonka State Park to go hiking, where Annie joined us.

 

 

 Family pic at the castle

 

 Annie, Owen, & Gracie at the castle

 

Our second day was also a beautiful one; 70 degrees again.  After finishing our hike, we headed to my parents' house and the kids when fishing and played at the park.  I'm not sure how they kept going, but by the end of the day, I was tired.  We finished the night with dinner with our family and watching ISU win the Big 12 Tournament.  My dad was pretty excited!

 



 Here are the kids down by the lake

 

The next day was not as nice and ended up snowing.  So we took the kids for the first time to a place called Miner Mike's, which had and indoor playground, arcade, roller coaster, bumper cars, and lots of fun stuff to do.  We spent a few hours there, which was great, considering the weather outside.  Amazing how it went from sunny and 70 to cold and snowing.  

 Gracie and Owen getting ready to ride the little roller coaster

 

 Gracie...

 Owen....

 and Nick!

 

 Chad helping Owen ride the motorcycle at the arcade

 

 Gracie on the race car with Nick

 

We spent that evening with Annie and Chad at their house.  They made dinner for us and we headed back to my parents'.  Gracie really wanted to spend the night with Annie, but she had to work the next day.  Hopefully it will work out next time!

The last day in the Ozarks was spent doing a little shopping and Nick took the kids fishing for a little bit again.  We went out with the family and met Reefers for St. Patrick's Day. 

Gracie and Owen enjoying St. Patty's Day

 

We headed out the next day for a LONG ride home.  It was a great getaway and we packed a lot of fun activities into a few short days.  I'm glad we got to do all that we did and spent the time with my family. 

 

The rest of our break was not so glamorous.  We spent a couple days moving furniture so we could clean our carpet and I had the kids go outside with me to try to clean up the yard a little bit.  We had a couple decent days, but this weekend has been cold again.  We all went to see Grandma Jeanne on Friday and then Grandma Deb's this afternoon.  The kids got to ride horses and spend time with their cousins, who also visited Deb's.

 

I guess it's back to reality tomorrow.  I head back to work and the kids go back to school.  I start a new class in two weeks and have to get my practicum and internship application submitted this week.  Hopefully spring will finally show up to make this last quarter pass quickly.  I can't believe Gracie is almost done being a kindergartner!  She is reading books, now, which is amazing.  It's like it happened overnight; something clicked and she is figuring things out.  So far this semester has been pretty good for her.  She still struggles a little bit with following rules and listening, but it's getting better.  Academically, I think she' doing great!  She will start t-ball in April, which Nick is going to coach.  She also has her dance recital coming up in June.  Gracie is able to ride her bike with me now, when I run.  I think she went almost 3 miles with me a couple days ago.

 

Owen has also grown so much this year.  We won't have his conference until the end of the year but they are learning letters and numbers already and he is getting better at not tackling and wrestling at school.  He is going to try freestyle wrestling practices with Nick this spring, so we'll see how that goes.  He still likes having Gracie around most of the time, but is becoming a lot more independent and doesn't always like it when she tells him what to do.  He still likes school and seeing his friends there.  He has some rough mornings, but most days are pretty good. 

 

I think that's about it for now.  I'll try to stay more on top of things this spring!