Here I am SO behind again. I don't spend much time sitting at my computer these days so it just doesn't get done very often. Here is my best attempt at remembering March.
The daffodils bloomed right at the beginning of the month. Mason and I took a nice walk in the rain to enjoy the happy flowers at the cemetery near our house. We also had some really warm weather and enjoyed playing in our back yard for the first time since fall.
Anyway, we had gorgeous weather and Teri did an amazing job with the decorations and the rest of the lunch (chicken salad on croissants and fruit salad). The sisters could just come grab a lunch if they wanted or they could bring a chair and enjoy the company in the church parking lot. We had a great turnout and I think everyone really enjoyed it. It had been SO long since we had been able to have an activity like this and it felt SO good!
St. Patrick's Day is always the highlight of March for us (well for Mason anyway. Spencer is outgrowing the fun.). Since Spencer didn't want to help with the leprechaun trap, I convinced Mason to make a simple one inside a tall boot. He was so excited to catch a leprechaun! Sadly, Freckle's O'Gold escaped again and left naughty green footprints all over the house. He also left fun socks, gold chocolates, and Lucky Charms cereal for the boys' breakfast. They usually only get sugar cereals when we're on vacation, so that was a big deal!
Mason and I made some cool shamrocks with shaving cream for art and we had our traditional St. Patty's dinner of Irish beef stew (minus the beer!), mashed potatoes, and Irish soda bread. It was a fun day.
What I get when Mason gets ahold of my phone first thing in the morning!
I think I made Spencer take this picture because it was his last day zoom class before a week of Spring Break and another week of teacher prep for a hybrid model of school! (More on that in April.) Spencer did well with zoom class just like he always does in school, but he was super tired of it after SEVEN MONTHS! The last day definitely deserved a picture.
After the park, we went back to our hotel for swimming. (That was probably the boys' favorite part of the whole trip!) Because of covid, you had a reserve an hour time-slot for your family in order to use the pool. It was a little less convenient, but also super awesome to have the whole pool to ourselves. We swam three times while we were there.
After the boys wore themselves out jumping, we ate our picnic lunch in the car. It was way too rainy and cold for a real picnic. Then we walked across the parking lot to the Blue Zoo Aquarium. We paid way more than it was worth and I didn't take many pictures. We thought it would entertain us for a couple of hours, but we were ready to go after one. Petting the sting rays was definitely the highlight.
Alan's meet started first thing the next morning so the boys and I were on our own. It was dry so we explored a few parks.
Mason found a duck egg just sitting on the ground next to this pond!
Adding to the cairn collection on top of this small hill.
The last eventful thing that happened in March was that Spencer got contact lenses! He had had prescription eye glasses for at least 3 years, but refused to wear them except to quickly put them on to see what the teacher had written on the board. And he hadn't worn them at all while doing online school for over a year. Obviously his eyes weren't that bad, but they had gotten a little worse since his last eye appointment so we decided to give contact a try. I got my first contacts when I was 12 and I knew Spencer was mature enough to take care of them properly. Putting them in took some time and was a frustrating for a week or so, but he's a pro now. And he likes being able to see well all the time!
Track season started about half way through the month. There were lots of restrictions and most meets were much smaller than usual, but it was such a relief to have Alan's company's services needed again. This was Alan's first track season with Athletic Timing and I was surprised by how much traveling he did. In addition to timing all around the Portland Metro area, he traveled to Spokane four weekends in a row and down to Eugene several times. He happened to be going to Spokane over our Spring Break so we decided to go a couple of days early and have a mini vacation. We had driven through Spokane several times, but had never spent any time exploring the city.
We drove two vehicles since Alan needed his truck and trailer for timing and I wanted to come home before his two-day meet was finished. I was a little nervous to drive for six hours because I hadn't done that since Mason was born, but it was just fine.
Our first stop after checking into our hotel was Riverfront Park. We checked out the giant red wagon, a fun playground, and walked across bridges over the falls. The pictures don't do them justice. Spencer was nice enough to ride the carousel with Mason at the end. Mason was way too scared to ride one last time he had a chance, so his excitement about it this time was a big improvement.
Day two was cold and rainy (we were surprised that it was still winter in Spokane while Portland was starting to feel like spring) so we chose indoor activities.
First up was Get Air Trampoline Park. The boys LOVE these kind of places, but hadn't been able to go for long time due to the pandemic. We decided to pay for two hours and were so glad we did because they didn't stop jumping and running around the entire time. Since Spokane wasn't on spring break yet, we had the place almost all to ourselves for the first hour.
The boys had lots of time to relax and watch cartoons in our room in the mornings. This only happens when we stay in a hotel. Mason doesn't know that our tv has cartoons too and I'll keep it that way as long as possible! Haha!
Restaurants were open for in-person dining in Washington so we actually ate INSIDE a restaurant for the first time since last summer. We haven't ever gone out to eat a lot so it really wasn't that big of a deal for our family, but it was a good sign of things returning to normal somewhere. The yummiest place we ate on this trip was an Italian restaurant called Tomato Street. Every thing was delicious! I should have taken a picture of the giant pizza Alan ordered just for himself. He didn't realize just how big it was going to be and I think it fed him for three meals!
We had to head back to our room mid-afternoon so Spencer could participate in a Character Strong zoom meeting for an hour.
Alan's meet continued for the full day on Friday. The boys and I were ready to get home and back to warmer weather so we made a quick stop back at Riverside park to try to find a souvenir (it was too early and most of the shops were closed) and to see the Garbage Goat (I couldn't get it to work) and then hit the road. It was a nice, little vacation away from our house and fun to explore a new city.
