First day of season pass

On my last vacation day, we took the kids to our first visit of the season to Great America.

This place is great, really occupying the kids. Abigail and Gabe both love the thrill rides while Ben and Collette would prefer to stick to the slow car rides.

Toy blocks mean science

Along with family friends, we went to Lawrence Hall of Science, which was great fun for the kids and Dads.
The place is one big playroom for kids. They have paper plane making, fans that blow balls and paper into the air, sound machines, friction testing games, and building blocks.
I think we had the most fun with the blocks. All the kids made towers of some sort, while I focused on trying to get the structure grow horizontally.
By the way, the view of the bay area is superb from the Berkeley hills is amazing.
Friday night was movie night (lots of movies!) and we saw Hop which was so- so.

It's a little "green"

Laura, as a certification counselor for girl's camp this year did backyard camping in the thundering rain this week. An unnecessary "practice" for girl's camp. She was a little annoyed that everyone got up, except Laura, to run inside when the rain was its worst. She also took the girls on a hike through mud the next morning.
When she got back, we went to the Lorax. One of the girls that went on the hike commented on how it was alright, except that it was a "green" movie. We are both a little confused why some think there's a political agenda when it comes to being the caretakers of the earth.
The kids loved the movie and going out to lunch afterwards.

Bringing down the deck

While the kids went with Beth, Alex and Nate to Chuck E Cheese, I stayed home and removed the rotted deck that sits outside our master bedroom. Hopefully, we'll get it replaced in a few weeks.
Unfortunately, the work kinda wiped me out. But I'm glad it is finally done. The wood was totally rotted. It was the first thing we were supposed to do after moving in. We're finally getting around to fixing some of this stuff.
My biggest fear in taking down the deck was having it fall into the house and breaking our sliding glass door. Abigail, watching from afar just told me to wack it with a sledge hammer. That worked without issue (after I removed most of the attachment to the house). Abigail was pretty proud of telling me what to do, predicting the outcome. 
I had to finish some of this on Thursday with the last trip to the dump Friday morning.

Jelly Bellies

There was a girl scout trip to the Jelly Belly factory. We took the trip back to Laura's hometown and waited in a long line for the tour. Apparently, we weren't the only ones that thought we should go to the factory on our spring break.
We also had a visit with Laura's friend, Jeannette and her two kids. The kids all agreed to getting pizza. We got home later and exhausted.

Easter Sunday

To take a break with the kids, I took spring break off from work.
Saturday, we all gathered at Golfland for an Easter egg hunt.
That afternoon we all went swimming at a local pool. We then got dinner and were off to a friends house to play games. It was a busy day, but we all had a lot of fun.
On Sunday, after church, we gathered at the Easter celebration at my parents. They hid baskets and eggs for the kids. And, as usual, had an egg hunt for the adults (the treat is $$, not candy).
Monday, Laura and I went out to lunch with my parents. I took them to Big Table, a work cafe, and we had a nice visit and walk around the campus.
Great start to vacation!