Spring Break

Spring Break is a busy time for parents. School is out and kids are home for a week, thus making the parents the ones who must fill the days with productive activities and projects for the kids.

Monday/March 23:

My wife went to lunch with a friend, so I had the kids for the entire day. Although tiring, I had a great time with the kids. We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) where the kids love playing in the ball room, making helicopters out of cups, and going onto the earthquake platform. Then it was off to grandma's house to visit grandma (on daddy's side). Next was seeing a kids movie at the local library. Then we went to the bowling alley where the kids had a great time rolling the bowling balls down lanes with bumper guards. After bowling, we picked up my wife and went to dinner at grandma's (on mommy's side) house.

Tuesday/March 24:

After waking up late (because Spring Break means no school for the kids) and eating breakfast, we headed for a short day-trip to Salem. We first visited the Mission Mill Museum to learn about Oregon's history of wool-making. It was wonderful learning about our history and seeing all the wool-making machinery involved. There was a kids-activity area where the kids could play with toys from the 1800s.

After lunch at the Mission Mill Cafe, we headed over to A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village where the kids had a lot of fun running around and within the huge outdoor wooden play structure that included several slides. The outdoor musical instruments were very popular, as was the outdoor dinosaur skeleton. Indoors, the kids loved playing in the soap bubble room and the "this is your body" room.

Then it was off to the Woodburn Outlet Mall to try to find some great deals on shoes for the kids. As all parents know, kids grow fast and it is a constant effort finding the next pair of proper-fitting shoes for the kids. My wife does a great job finding proper shoes for the kids.

Afterwards, we tried to do some bowling. But this was around 6:00 p.m., and we found out that there are bowling leagues that take up the entire bowling alley usually from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. This was not a major problem. We could always bowl another time. In any case, it was dinner time and so we headed home after another full Spring Break day.