Spring Break 2016

Spring Break 2016 is well underway for my Tate and me!!  

We spent the weekend at  The Woodlands Resort...a first time for Tate and me.  It was just lovely!  Our friends joined us...we love traveling and hanging out with them.  I love that Tate has friends that he considers family, and even better they're black as well!  It's so important to me that we spend time with people who look like us and have the same values we do.

So I picked Tate up from school an hour early, and we made our way north to the resort.  This place is gorgeous!  It's amazing how far removed from home we have felt, and only about 30 miles away from home!  It's just lovely.  I convinced Tate to take a nap on the drive up, and he grudgingly did.

I knew the other kids would be up late, and I wanted Tate to have an opportunity to stay up as well.  But he had to get some rest in preparation!

It's been a tad cool, temperature wise, but that hasn't stopped the kids!  As soon as we got checked in yesterday we made our way to the pool!  Luckily there was a heated one and an awesome hot tub!  Plus this super relaxing and fun lazy river!!

 We got the kiddos changed and enjoyed s'mores by the pool!

After s'mores we made our way to dinner at the main building!  I love watching these kids together!

Once back in the room, they convened a meeting to discuss how to track down the Loch Ness Monster...

Tate made it to 8:25pm!  He was so excited to be staying up late.  I thought he would make it to 9 at least!  Nope!  He came and told me he was tired and that his stomach and throat hurt.  After being so very sick last week with those exact same symptoms I was worried.  I got some advil in tummy along with his regular meds and he was on his way to la-la land by 8:40;  I'm pretty sure he was asleep by 8:50!  :)

The little guy made it to 6:50 this morning!  He woke up minus the tummy and throat ache, so even better.  I really think that was his body's way of saying he was extremely tired last night!   He got his 45 minutes of screen time then ate his breakfast while watching the movie 'Home.'  G joined him once he got up, and they danced, finished the movie and played Legos.

All four kids and N and R headed down to breakfast while I headed to the pool area to snag seats under umbrellas and in prime position!  I got an entire HOUR to myself to read and just enjoy the view.  Absolutely lovely!!  Lovely!

Then everyone was there and though the quiet was gone I had the most amazing day.  I did absolutely nothing.  Just nothing.  We watched the kids play in the pool, we rode the lazy river, we ate outside and just chatted.  There was no laundry to do, no basketball game to race off to, no groceries to be bought.  A day of just nothing.  Lovely!!!!  

The requisite picture of relaxing by the pool.
Mine is photo-bombed by two 6 year olds!

4 1/2 hours later we brought the kids back inside to relax and just hang out.  Tate needed some alone time and watching a little on my phone.  Then we showered and joined everyone else in their room (right next to ours) then headed down for s'mores by the pool again.  Dinner was had, and Tate was exhausted.  With the time changing (and not in our favor :( ) I had him in bed asleep by 7:45!  A Hallmark cheesey movie on the tv for me and my day was complete!!!

I was asleep Saturday night by 10pm!  I watched my Hallmark movie then snuggled under the covers with my boy!  Even better, he slept 11 hours and I got 9 hours of sleep!  We both tossed and turned ALOT, but it was good, long sleep.

We leisurely got up and he ate his breakfast while I packed up the rest of our stuff.  The other kiddos joined him for some 'Inside Out'!

N and I checked out of our rooms, and moved our stuff down to R's room who got a late check-out.  Everyone headed out for brunch, Tate included again,  while I went down to the pool to gather spots and enjoy some alone time!!  It was ten times busier this morning!  Everyone was ready to start their Spring Break!

The kids joined me along with N, and we enjoyed another gorgeous afternoon!  The kiddos were exhausted after a couple of hours though, so we headed back up to get changed and head back home around 3!

Huge slide into FREEZING water!! 

On the way home I surprised Tate, and we got sno-balls at our favorite place!!  My new Spider-man fan got a Spider-man sno-ball!!

My favorite pic from the weekend..

This is why I spent more money than I needed to at this time in our lives,
why I stayed up later than I should have,
why I sat out in the hot sun for hours.
This.
Friendship that is Family.  These four call themselves brothers and sisters.
More than I could have ever wished for.