Christmas Break Part 3

So once we got past New Years the kids and I had one week left to hang out and have fun. Tuesday I knew we needed to get out the house we I brought them to the Monkey Room to play. Its sad that we no longer really have a group of friends to call up and meet us places. I feel like everyone is either working or busy. Anyway so it was just the kids and I, but we still had fun. I was at first doubting my decision when we got there and there were no parking places but we found street parking. The place was busy and crowded but not so bad especially since my kids are older and I don't have to follow them around. I was able to find a chair and read and just people watch. We stayed about 2 hours which was long enough for them. I think had we had a friend there they could have stayed longer though. I picked up lunch for us and then we came home to rest/relax. Its been so cold this week...but I am treasuring these cold afternoons to just relax. 
Wednesday was another day I knew we needed to leave the house, but its been so cold in the mornings. We decided to take our time getting ready. I told the kids if it got to be 40 degrees we would go to the park. So about 11 it hit that and I took them to the park down the street to run and play. I just love taking my kids out like that. I think kids need outdoor time. They climbed and ran around. I was also happy to see them playing so well together. Its just sad to me that we were the only people out there. They still had a blast though! After the park I promised them lunch out. I think we were all burnt out on Chickfila so we opted to go to 5 Guys. They loved this! It was quite yummy. Afterwards we dropped Colby off at my parent's house to spend the afternoon and night. It was nice coming home with just Lindsay. She and I had a quiet afternoon around the house. We watched Beauty and the Beast that night while we ate dinner. I enjoyed my time with just her. 
Thursday morning again was quiet and easy only dealing with 1 kid. I stopped at the Donut Shop with her as a treat though. I usually try to make mornings special when the other one is spending the night out. Afterwards we picked up Colby and came home. It was nice having a majority of the day home. I had them work on school work. We did good and did that 4 days of that week. I felt good getting them to review...especially Colby working on math. That's pretty much his weakest subject. I wish I had more time to "teach" them from home. I wouldn't want to homeschool but I do enjoy working with them like this. Lindsay mostly worked on phonics. That afternoon my parents came to pick her up. Then it was really quiet again just having Colby. I made him mac n cheese for dinner per his request then he had Cubscouts. It was nice going to SCOUTS on a non-school night. Made it fun and not stressful. It felt good to be back and see all our friends again. I am so thankful for the group of boys that Colby has been able to grow up with. They talked about internet safety. It was also nice to just focus on him. That evening we let him stay up a bit later. 
Friday was nice once again waking up with just one child. We got out and picked Lindsay up by about 9:30. We then went to Target for a few things before going to the movies. I can't believe we made the movies twice during this break, but with cold weather and so many good movies out it was a must! We saw "The Greatest Showman". It was SO GOOD! I think the kids enjoyed it, they might have been bored a couple times, but I think it was a movie that kept their attention as well. After that we came home and had lunch and just hung around the house. That night we did an abbreviated movie night. With seeing a movie that day and the late nights they had had at grandparents we knew they needed to go to bed on time. 
Saturday it felt great to have a family day! We slept in a bit then had a nice breakfast before getting ready to head out. We decided to have a City Park adventure. The kids had been talking about going out there. We never did make it to Christmas in the Oaks this year sadly. They also really wanted to ride the roller coasters but I knew all that was closed for the month of January. We ended up bringing their bikes out there and we found the bike/walking trail and just let them go. They had the best time! It was just a lovely day of simplicity. The weather was gorgeous and it was nice just letting them BE KIDS and be unplugged. We made the loop once with us walking and them riding. Well then we decided to rent a Surrey. They had been asking so Austin went ahead and bit the bullet. It was hilarious. We had to rent a big 4 person one b/c Colby was too big to fit in a basket. So Austin and I pedaled up front and Colby tried to pedal in the back and Lindsay sat in the very front basket perch thing. It was SO hard! It was so funny I am sure we were quite the sight. It was a memory and also a bucket list thing! I am so glad we did it despite how crazy we might have looked. ;) After that we let the kids play on the playground. They ran around and had a blast! I loved soaking up the outdoors. We left there and went to lunch at this new place called Crabby Jack's. Well its not new, but it was new to us. The food was delicious! It was just a little hole in the wall, but those are usually the best. We then went to go pick up a kingcake. We had to wait about 30 min in line since it was King's Day after all. Gotta love NOLA! After we got the king cake our last stop was to drop the king cake off at Randall and Elizabeth's house. We then came home and just enjoyed the rest of the day at the house. 
Sunday was ofcourse church. We went to first service. After church we stopped and ate at Olive Branch Cafe. It was nice finishing up early and getting home. We rested and watched the SAINTS game. That afternoon/evening was mostly about getting the house together and preparing for reality again. 
It was a great break! I feel like we truly had time to slow down. We got to do some fun things, but with the cold weather I feel like we spent more time around the house too. We also really didn't get to do much with friends, but I have learned to be thankful for the season. Right now we seem to be in this weird season of friends being so busy with life that we have a hard time getting together with people. I just tried to soak up the slowness and enjoying the time off though before the crazy starts back up!