Spring Break 2022 - Part 1

In the past, we have not taken very many "Spring Break" vacations as a family.  The kids were small (lots of things to pack, naps to work around) and my teaching Spring Break never lines up with the kids' school Spring Break.  Last year, we attempted to make some plans but the weather was questionable and a lot of places were closed or had limited occupancy due to COVID.  

This year, because I was still teaching online courses, I had more flexibility to travel and the kids are all old enough to enjoy traveling (and walking!) more.  Steve suggested a trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky and we started making plans this last Winter.  

We headed out on Sunday morning for our 7-hour drive knowing that we would be stopping partway for lunch.  We packed games and movies for the ride and the kids did very well!  Really, the ride down there didn't seem to take too long and we checked into our hotel room right on time.

It was amazing to see how much greener the grass was already down there, compared to up in Michigan.  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town and showing the kids the damage that a tornado had done back in December.  

We also stopped by the Aviation Heritage Park to see real flight vehicles on display:

The sun was bright, but we weren't complaining one bit because it was actually snowing when we left Michigan ...

The next day was our official day to explore Mammoth Caves.  I bought the tickets ahead of time online and I am sure glad that I did!  Most of the tours were sold out and it would have been disappointing to find that out once we arrived.  

The entrance sign made a great photo opportunity for us before we spent time walking down trails in the National Park:

Part of the trails had hand railings and ramps because it was pretty steep:

Spring vegetation, just starting to come to life:

Kind of a precarious situation, but check out that view!

That is a sink hole in the background, where the earth opened up and sunk many, many years ago.

We walked down the stairs in the background and the walk BACK UP was intense.  

Such a fun picture!

Take note of Samantha's Michigan State sweatshirt, as it will be important soon.

I would love to go back in the summer and see how green the foliage is in the background.

A couple in their travel trailer pulled in right where we were taking pictures and got out to walk around.  The man was wearing an MSU hat and immediately noticed that Sam was wearing an MSU sweatshirt.  We struck up a conversation with them (they are from East Lansing, but were traveling for the summer) and they offered to take a family picture for us.  

St. Patrick's Day - 2022

 Ahhhh ... St. Patrick's Day -- the kickoff to Spring, the promise of little leprechauns and hopefully some rainbow candy!  I mix the holiday up a little each year to keep it interesting for the kids (and depending on how much free time I have to plan, ha!), but one things that remains the same is the infamous Leprechaun Trap.  

The boys are still determined to try and catch one of those little green guys ... They compile ideas, gather boxes, use all tools imaginable and then embellish with stickers/gold/shamrocks.

The box of choice this year was a large one that our humidifier came in.  We bought a humidifier this winter to combat the dryness in the air -- our wood-burning stove is a nice heat source but is definitely dirty and dries out the air more than we would like.  Unbeknownst to me, Jack had scurried that box away way back in January and saved it in his closet, just for this project.

They added a ramp with designated arrows and fake gold coins to encourage the leprechaun to climb up to the top ... and eventually fall through a trap door.

Jimmy added some shamrocks for decoration (thanks to Aunt Chris who always sends us holiday goody bags!):

I also drew and cut out a large shamrock to tape on the side for a little extra bling:

Early the next morning, the boys came flying up the stairs (their bedrooms are in the basement) to see if they were (finally) successful in trapping a leprechaun:

It turns out that this little guy carried a KNIFE with him and escaped by cutting a hole in the side of the box.  He escaped without his socks (!!!) and kindly asked the boys if they thought that he "didn't have a knife?"

Jack has now threatened to make the trap out of STEEL next year!  Regardless, the leprechaun still left a little something special behind for the boys' effort.

A balloon rainbow and pots filled with rainbow candy:

Green shirts and smiles to start out the day!

Happy 11th Birthday, Sophia!

Sophia celebrated her birthday (again) on the 26th with the honorary cinnamon rolls in the morning for breakfast.  Of course, I love a nice theme, so I carried through with another safari/jungle animal candle stuck inside.

Making a wish!

All of her gifts from us were wrapped in coordinating paper and bags (Sophia appreciates this just as much as I do) and she had a hard time deciding exactly which one she wanted to open first.  So many choices!

Her favorite gift?  A stuffed sloth pillow for her bed!

Later that day, we took the kids (including Ainsley from next door) to Relli's for pizza and breadsticks.  The birthday girl got to choose and everyone was definitely happy with that choice!

Sophia and Jimmy's Combined Family Jungle Party

The very next day, we celebrated our 6-year old and 11-year old with family.  I left a lot of the decorations up -- making a few modifications -- and added a special birthday cake onto the dessert table.  The menu consisted of burgers/hot dogs, mac & cheese, fruit, veggies and punch.  It was a definite success!

Sophia now has the painted "11" in her room:

And Jimmy has the "6" displayed in his room:

To be honest, I had a general idea in my mind on what I was going to design the cake to look like ... but I wasn't 100% decided.  In the end, I really like how it turned out.  The birthday kids chose the specific animals to put on it/around it and I embellished with homemade fondant leaves and grass to give it a jungle vibe.  The animal candles completed the look.

I know that one day these kiddos will ask to celebrate their birthdays separately, but I love how willing they are to share them now.  Happy birthday to my February, blue-eyed babies!

Sophia's Jungle/Safari Party with Friends

We celebrated our 'February birthday kids' (Sophia and James) with a combined jungle/safari theme at our house this year.  Scheduling is becoming a tad more complicated as the kids get older because we are finding that we need to work around not only our schedules but also the schedules of any friends that we would like to invite.  For that reason, we settled on a friend party for three of Sophia's closest friends on a Friday night -- bonus that it was on Presidents' Day Weekend and the kids were off school that Friday -- and then had a family party on Saturday.

All four of the Lapinski kids joined in on the fun of putting together the balloon arch.  Blowing up the balloons with the air compressor from the garage, assembling them together, taping others in ... they did it all.  I think that its safe to safe that we have perfect this particular technique now in our household.  

I love how this table turned out.  The leaves are dried (fake) and the pot was on clearance at the store.  It had a small dent in it and some chipped paint, but I added more gold paint and no one was the wiser.  In fact, Sam loved the centerpiece so much that she "stole" it for her bedroom afterwards.  The elephant was a cheap paper machete find that I painted grey and the zebra was actually a 'horse' that I painted to look like an African zebra.

I covered our usual painting in the dining room to match the theme, pulled in a fake plant from elsewhere in my house, painted some cheap "1s" in giraffe print for Sophia's friend party and put together party favors in animal print gift bags.

The party favors were the softest cheetah socks ever, a cheetah face mask (what girl doesn't love a nice face mask these days?!) and a leopard-print key chain with the first letter of each of the girl's names for their backpacks.

But the real highlight of Sophia's party was the chocolate fountain! The plastic leaf bowls were left over from Sam's 9th birthday party and I filled them with items that would be great with melted chocolate (rice krispie treats, marshmallows, Nilla wafers, pretzels, strawberries, bananas, apples and pretzels).  It was a hit!

The birthday girl and her closest 5th grade friends:

I had a craft set up in the dining room where the girls (including Sam) painted a sunset picture and then we added a safari silhouette to the paper and framed them.

 

They turned out even better than I had imagined!  Look how different they ended up being too.  The girls then got to take them home to (hopefully) hang up in their bedrooms to remember the party by.

A funny picture on the couch:

And a frame-worthy one:

The girls enjoyed pizza and breadsticks and then afterwards -- instead of cake or cupcakes -- I served 'zebra cakes' and mini cups of ice cream.

Happy 11th birthday, Sophia Marie!

Jimmy's 6th Birthday

Jimmy's birthday fell on a Friday this year and we made sure to make his day as special as possible.  We began the day with our traditional cinnamons rolls with a candle and all of us singing "happy birthday" to the special guy.  As you can see, he was all smiles -- even though it was early in the morning.

Making a wish!

He headed to school with a skip in his step and boxes of cosmic brownies to share with all of his classmates.  We are still not allowed to send in homemade treats but the store-bought and packaged brownies were certainly an easy request.  Spoiler alert: Sophia chose the exact same treat to take into school for her birthday later in the month.

After school, I had the table set with a bunch of gifts from us and he asked to open them immediately.

He ended up with a lot of different things and loved the pizza wrapping paper.

While I wish that time would stand still and I could bottle his personality at this age and keep it forever, I love seeing the little person that he is becoming.

For dinner, we had homemade mac and cheese and hotdogs -- the birthday boy's request.  Then we finished our meal with homemade brownies and more candles!

Later that night, Jimmy tested out his new smelling markers -- a gift from Jack -- and made the nicest picture for his teacher, Mrs. Wilson.  He even wrote both her name and his name on it.