Day two: Our Spring Break Trip

Saturday, March 22nd, we spent the day immersed in History in Williamsburg, VA. We especially enjoyed tours of the Governor's palace and the Capitol Building. It made history come alive to think that we were walking where Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Patrick Henry had walked! Ashley is currently studying the American Revolution in school, so it was very interesting for her. I had checked out a lot of books from the library about the Revolution and the prominent individuals involved so the rest of us could also review the history. It made our visit a lot more meaningful.
We really loved the interactive show that took place, called "Revolutionary City", near the Capitol. Here we are posing with Patrick Henry's character. The kids had a great time booing when "Long live the King" was shouted and giving their best "Huzzah!" for the Patriots.
We ate lunch at the King's Arm Tavern and were served by waiters and waitresses in period costume. The dishes we were served on were beautiful. We loved watching the fife and drum core march by after we ate. Elise had more fun going up and down the steps than paying any attention to history!:)
The kids were fascinated to see a sheep sheared with scissors, a very long process! We finished up the day eating dinner at "Huzzah!", a pizza restaurant right next to our new hotel, which was more centrally located next to the Williamsburg Visitor's Center.

Our Spring Break Trip

Thursday, March 20th, we packed up the car and drove about five hours and stayed the night outside Pittsburgh. The next morning we got up fairly early, ate breakfast and then drove another six hours to Richmond, Virginia, where it was SPRING (unlike the snow we had in Michigan!) and stopped at St. John's Church where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech.
We then drove on to Williamsburg, VA and walked around Williamsburg for a little while and then walked around the College of William and Mary. There were blossoms on the trees and the weather was beautiful! It was so wonderful to enjoy fresh air after a long, snowy winter! We found an old tree that the kids loved to climb on and the campus was very cool with so much history. In the portico of one old building, there was a very good, all male, a Capella group singing for a couple who were all dressed up and the girl was holding a rose. We just had such a pleasant time together. It was very relaxing. Afterwards, we went to our hotel, a Marriot in Newport News, and ordered pizza for dinner. It was somewhat of a fiasco and we ended up changing our hotel the next night.

Zach's 3rd Grade Music Program

We loved watching Zach perform for his 3rd grade music program. He really got into the songs and had such a good time performing. He also had a small speaking part to introduce the program. Below is a little clip from one of the songs.

Natalie Turns 5!!

After much anticipation, our sweet little Natalie turned 5 on March 16th! She was so excited to have Nana and Pa Bryan and Grandma and Grandpa Slack come and visit her for the weekend and celebrate with her. She loves her grandparents. They are all very special to her. She was also looking forward to her "High School Musical" birthday party!






She invited all of her little friends and they played High School Musical Chairs, Pin the Hat on Ryan, Dressed up like Sharpay and danced to "Fabulous", made cute pink "fabulous" bags and had a picnic in the basement (to be like Gabriella and Troy who had a picnic on the golf course). They loved every minute of it!! She had a birthday cake that looked like a star for the party.On Sunday, her actual birthday, we went to church with grandparents and then came home to eat and celebrate. As you can see from this picture, Natalie was thrilled with her presents, especially a Disney princess art set.
We finished off the celebration with a lavender heart shaped birthday cake. Isn't just about every five year old girl's favorite colors pink and purple!? We love our Natalie. She spices up our life and brings a lot of fun and love to all of us. We're glad she's part of our family!!

Great Wolf Lodge

March 9-11, 2008, we went to Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, OH. We met Sarah and Jeremy and their kids there and had so much fun! The best part of Great Wolf Lodge is the giant indoor waterpark with an amazing rollercoaster water slide! The cousins all had a fantastic time together!! Here they are in their pajamas waiting for story time in the lobby.


We took Rachel and Natalie to the kids spa, "Scoops" for a kids manicure to celebrate Natalie's birthday. They felt like little princesses! Natalie, Rachel and Elise hung out a lot while thier bigger siblings had a great time doing big kid things like playing "Magic Quest". We all had a great time in the water park. Here is Ashley with a great big smile. There is nothing quite so fun as spending time with cousins!

My sweet little girls

Natalie loves her little sister, Elise, and while Ashley and Zach are at school, she really enjoys taking good care of her. They are so cute together as Natalie "reads" books to her. They will sit together for an hour in this activity!

In memory of Grandma

We miss our dear Grandma Bryan, or as the kids affectionately called her, GGB (for great grandma Bryan). She passed away on February 24, 2008, two days after her 101st birthday. We will remember her as a beautiful, kind and genteel woman. My first meeting with her was when I was engaged to Will and he took me to see his grandma. She sent Will out to get food so she could have some girl talk just with me. She asked me how we got engaged and then told me about how Grandpa Bryan asked her. She said that they were sitting at the end of a dock with their feet swinging over the water. She said that in later years, she wondered why he would give her the ring at such a precarious place, since the ring could have easily fallen into the water and been lost forever!
Tonight, Natalie (age 5) was saying her prayer and she said, "Please bless President Hinckley in heaven so that he will have a nice day with Heavenly Father and Jesus, and please bless him so that he will teach GGB." Out of the mouth of babes...