spring broke

Spring break happened a week or so later for us this year.  Instead of the last week of February, when things always seem cold, we enjoyed a warmish week in March with a range of temperatures between 29 degrees and 75 degrees.  And except for one day of rain, it was a beautiful week.  

We started at the beach with a quick trip without the kids.  Blue and Violet absolutely love the beach....almost as much as we do.  One of the parents may have tried to keep our destination a secret from the kids.  The other parent may have forgotten to mention this secret to his mother, the babysitter.  When we called to check on the kids we got an earful from one angry 7 year old boy.

I don't remember what this thing is called but I made it.  We have some wild scuppernongs (or scupperdines) growing at the edge of the yard and we needed something for them to climb.  Yes, I realize it's blue.  I know I have a problem with color and I'm working on it.  I really tried to make it brown but I just couldn't do it.  

I spent a lot of time outside this week.  I ran the chainsaw for a while one day and then couldn't hold my hands still enough to draw for the next two.  Since I couldn't draw, I found things to do outside.  The flowers were starting to hang out too.

And so were the lizards.  There were tons of them hanging out in the warm afternoon sun.

I took a few walks in the woods and found this cool half hollow tree.  It's diameter at the base is 7 or 8 feet and you can stand inside the middle of the tree.

When you do, and you look up, this is what you see.  Beautiful.  

I picked up student artwork from an exhibit in Spartanburg and delivered it back to school.  I stopped in the studios long enough to clean up the ridiculous mess my students left trying to meet a deadline before spring break.  I also left this nice note to my 3D design students who have a project due the Monday morning after spring break.  I know, how terrible of a person am I, right?  

I fixed my fire pit and christened it with a nice little camp fire.  The kids thought they were camping because there was a fire and they roasted marshmallows.  As long as I don't have to sleep outside on the ground, that's perfectly fine with me.  There you see Violet demonstrating how patient she can be while waiting on a marshmallow to cook properly.  It got cold again that night so the fire was perfect.

Blue was out of school on Friday so we decided to head to Riverbanks Zoo.  The day Violet was born a gorilla escaped from there.  I don't know why I think that's funny, but I do.  I remember hearing it on the news while we were in the hospital room and I wrote it in my sketchbook.  Oddly enough the gorillas were no where to be found on Friday.  All the other animals were very well behaved and completely civil, which is much more than I can say for the humans who were there.  

We stayed all afternoon in Columbia so we could try to attend an art event I was a part of.  We killed some time at the mall, had some food, and then headed to Main Street.  The kids were exhausted and we didn't last at the event very long before heading out.  

The kids spent a lot of time outside this week too, which makes me happy.  They can entertain themselves for hours with a stick and a swing set.  I'm not sure why they'd ever need an iPad game.  The days were longer after the time change and more sunlight meant more play time.  This excited Zeke as much as it did Blue and Violet.  

Zeke would spend a few minutes between naps allowing us the privilege of scratching his head.  Sometimes he would even follow us around the house to a new location so he could sleep near where we were hanging out.  He's so thoughtful.

Oh, and it's still the season of Lent and I'm still not watching TV.  This week I've been so busy that I haven't really had time to even think about TV.  I'm sure it's no coincidence that I've also completed 5 new drawings over the last few weeks.  Which reminds me, we should talk about coincidences sometime.  I don't know why people say I have ADD.

So the break is over and now comes the downhill race to graduation.  We have tons of events and activities scheduled over the next few weeks.  It's going to be a busy time but it should also be a lot of fun.