We are a few days in to spring break this year. While I wanted to travel this year, our plans just didn't work out. So we are having a staycation in good old Tacoma, Washington! Monday started out with each of the kids have a friend over. Six kids for the bulk of the day ended up being less chaotic than I thought it would be. The kids all had a good time with their friends and day one was checked off the spring break week.

Day two started with a trip to Kent Valley ice skating rink. Where with a 50% off coupon, we still didn't make it out of there for less than $45! The kids had a great time though. Here are some pictures of the day.


Isabella spent a fair amount of time on the ice!
Owen attempted to skate around by himself but only wanted to go fast, so he did much better when he would hold on to mom's hand.

Aidan seemed to have a smile on his face the whole time!
Isabella attempted some figure skating moves. She's quite graceful!
Aidan did some speed skating and some jumps.
Look closely and you can see that he actually got a fair amount of air on this one!
Owen would skate and then get tired so he spent some time in the penalty box!
Mom and her biggies!
After skating, we stopped at the discount bread store. Our local store was shut down and I have been missing it. The bread store happened to be across the street from Target and the kids think it's fun to see themselves in various stors. Aidan hadn't seen the new merchandise, so he got a kick out of seeing himself on the new packages.

There are some new Kelty products at Target with our pictures on them. And they have some prime real-estate as an end cap on the aisles! So exciting it's worth a trip to your local Target to check it out!

Owen finished out his basketball season this past week and we capped it off with a celebration at the local pizzeria. He was so excited to attend a sports party that was FOR him! And even more exciting was getting a medal that had his name on it!

Here the coaches are chatting with the boys before handing out their awards. Owen was mentioned for having lots of improvement in dribbling and also aggressiveness in getting the ball from a rebound...even if he was trying to steal it away from his own teammate!

Coach Dave and Coach John were amazing coaches and expected a lot out of these little guys.

Check this post out on my other blog. http://holy-craft.blogspot.com/2010/03/paulas-pillowcase-project.html I had an amazing experience getting to take part in my friend Paula's pillowcase project for the Seattle Children's hospital.

We were flocked! Check it out at holymischief.com and find out why!

Mike and I were like an old married couple on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The kids were busy playing and we were flipping through the newspaper when we both ended up crashing out and taking a little nap. The kids were very sweet and let us sleep, they even snapped this picture (mostly because Bella thought it was sort of gross, sort of sweet that we were almost kissing while we were napping!). I'm definitly getting more and more thankful everyday that our kids are growing older and are much more independant and enjoyable...we've come a long way in the parent world in the past 11 years!

More skiing pictures from our recent trip to Whistler. Here are the four of us skiing after lunch on the second day. Owen stayed back at the condo with the other ladies.

The Teodoro boys. Mike's decided to take up snowboarding so he can keep up with his brothers and dad next time!
It's so gorgeous on the mountain!
The boys again
Mike and I during the snowfall on the first day. There was 9 new inches of snow the first night and then it kept snowing throughout the whole day. I love snow covered trees!
Isabella and Aidan getting ready to head down Whiskey Jack.
The big "kids" on the first day. We had the opportunity to all ski together without the kids.
Bella the snowgloo
I think the thing about skiing I like the most is watching my kids do it. Really, I couldn't get over how good Bella has gotten in the past year, and how darn cute she is heading down those hills!
The big brother and little brother taking a sled down the hill having their best time.
Aidan loves skiing! He's pretty impressive on the slopes too and really started trying to do jumps and tricks this time. Aidan's decided that was his last time on ski's as well. He's ready to make the switch to the snowboard.

We joined Mike's family in Whistler for the second time this year. The WHOLE family was able to be there this time, so it made it that much more fun! We drove up on Thursday and came home on Sunday fitting in two days of skiing.

Here we are crossing into Canada at the border.

Our first signs of the Olympics. The Olympics had been over for a few weeks, but the Paralympics were just starting.

We made a pit stop in Squammish at a Native American shop. You too could be the proud owner of this totem pole for a mere $4400!

Or this scary mask...how would you like to wake up with that above your bed each morning?! It does have a striking resemblance to Mike however it has more hair!

All three kids did Whistler ski school the first day. They ski from 9-3. Can you see how pooped they are? Owen's teacher actually told me that after lunch he literally layed down in the snow and took a 15 minute nap!

The base of the village. It was busy!

Our nightly soak in the hot tub. Getting in was chilly, but getting out was toasty warm!

Check out Isabella sitting on a snow covered chair with a snowball in her hands! She had just gotten out of the hot tub to get some snow. See how much steam she has coming off of her!

And Owen swimming in the hot tub.

Here's Bella heading to the creekside gondola to pick up Aidan. The green and blue fence is there because of the Olympics. This is the site of the downhill for both the paralypics and the Olympics.

Aidan happened to be downloading at the same time as all of the Olympian's so we were in the thick of the action. Here is the Canadian team coming down. The events were cancelled due to harsh weather conditions, so everyone was disappointed and calling it a day.

Since it was the Paralympics this time, they had a tent set up to hold all of the wheelchairs.

The bottom of the peak to creek run that Mike, his brothers and dad rode down to end the day. It's a 5000 foot elevation change and a 4 mile run to the bottom.

A look at all of the chair lifts that were open. We skied Whistler both days which is pictured on the right.

Isabella at the bottom of the creekside gondola.

I saw this German Olympian (the guy seated in his adapted ski in the green goggles) a few times on the hill. He later took gold in the male seated downhill.

Isabella happy as a clam in the middle of all the action. It was so fun to watch each Olympic team come off the Gondola. We saw Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Slovakia, Japan and China all while waiting for Aidan to download.

More of the German team downloading

Isabella looks like she's looking in awe at the one legged skier from Italy (I wonder if he's the one who stole my ski?!), but really she's checking out the paparrazi interviewing the Japanese team.

One of the USA Olympians checking out a sign that some fans made for her.

These are the skis that the paralympians use. Right now they are clipped into wheels so they can manuever around, but on the mountain, they are hooked into a ski. Once they downloaded off the gondola, they quickly switched back to their wheelchairs.

Aidan rode down the gondola with the Slovakian team (in red). The 19 year old visually impared olympian he rode down with took gold the next day.

Here's Owen recreating his nap in the snow at ski school!

After a long day of skiing, the kids had a blast heading out with Grandpa to go sledding and have snowball fights. If you ask them, it was the highlight of the trip!

And of course, we have to have Uncle Steve's helmet cam to capture the action!

We were all thankful that the kids had enough energy to pull their own sled up the hill!

Sofia and Uncle Mark joined us in the snow.

Heading down the hill...without Bella!

The boys at the bottom.

Aidan and Bella having their best time!

All three kids nothing but smiles!

The snowball gang!

Owen climbing stuff again.

Grandpa pile driving Owen!

At the top of the hill the kids were sledding down. This is a view into Creekside. You can see the blue and green fence at the base where the Olympics were routed through.

The fog rolling in

Sofia and Uncle Mark

Not sure who has the advantage here...Owen on the hillside or Grandpa down below? You can see the snow chunk that had just gotten tossed by Owen.

And the chunk by Grandpa.

And more chunks by Grandpa!

The snow was perfect snowman making snow.

Owen checking out his masterpiece, thinking about where to put the rocks for eyes in.

Grandpa helping make holes for the buttons

The finishing touches

And the snowman masterpiece!

The lifts close mid afternoon, and the snowcats come out shortly after. I knew Owen would love watching this guy work, but when I told him to look up the hill to see the snowcat, he was totally confused. He was definitly looking for an animal and not a machine! Once he figured out it was a machine, he decided to take a new career path.

Taking a lunch break on the 6 hour drive home. The kids ran up and down this sidewalk a few times before they found this broken office chair that they rolled each other in for awhile.