Ahhh, it's that time of year again. The robins are getting their worms, the daffodils and tulips are in full bloom and the kids are off for a whopping 12 days! I get so excited when the kids are off from school. I love having my ducks in their nest. It gets a bit frantic at times but it's worth it. Plus Spring Break means that the last day of school is right around the corner. So we started our break last Thursday with the big kids going to Preschool with Brayden. They LOVE this. If they are out of school and he has school they are allowed to go with him for the day. It was Brayden's Easter party so they all got to make Easter baskets and find eggs. Teacher Jen and Teacher Kim do such a great job with the little ones and their older siblings. There are only six kids in the class and all but one have older siblings that my kids are friends with so it is such a fun day. I sent them off at 9 am with a box of munchkins to add to their Easter treats. I pulled in at 11:30 am to pick them up and they were busting out of the door of the little school. Teacher Kim and Teacher Jen looked a bit exasperated and I had wished that I sent a bottle of wine with the kids instead of the munchkins, the teachers looked like they needed it! My best friend, Kristin, and I carpool so I had to pick up her huge brood as well. My car was like a clown car with the never ending stream of kids piling into it. It was me, Gray, Brayden, Zac and Kaitlyn and then 3 out of her 6 kids- Luke, Patrick and Shane. I brought them all back to our house and they played outside and had lunch together. What a great way to start their break. That night I made a quick and easy dinner. We invited Gramy over at the last minute too. I made Honey Dijon Chicken, mini pierogies and asparagus. For the chicken, you put about 1/4 cup of dijon mustard, 1 TBSP honey, 2 TBSP soy sauce, some mustard seeds, salt and pepper into a bowl and mix that up. Then you dunk 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pounded a bit) in the mixture. Cook them up in a pan that is coated with a little olive oil until they are done. I really don't measure the ingredients out for this dinner so I estimated on what I think the measurements are. Along with the chicken, I boiled up 2 boxes (1 is no longer enough for this family) of Mrs. T's mini pierogies. Once they were done boiling, I fried them in a pan with about a TBSP of butter. I then served them with sour cream. I also had steamed asparagus that after steaming I sauteed with a little olive oil, fresh grated garlic and some lemon juice. Gramy brought ingredients to make rice crispy treats. She made them with Kaitlyn and Zac and was so fast that I didn't even get to snap any action shots of the treats being made!
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| Gray, Flash Gramy (cuz she is such a fast treat maker) and Zac |
On Friday we headed out for our much anticipated trip to Penn State! The kids were so excited (and so were Jason and I, it had been 6 years since we have been there). We arrived in State College at around 4 on Friday evening. It was beautiful out and the patios to the bars were packed. We headed downtown for some Penn State clothing shopping and then ate at Baby's. Baby's is a 50's diner that I worked at for nearly 3 years while attending college. We had to wear these cute 50's dresses, red scarves in our hair, saddle shoes and bright red lipstick. We were encouraged to chew bubble gum and sit down and chat with our customers. It really changed and it is under new management. The girls didn't have the same cute little dresses, there weren't any scarves or red lipstick. And to be honest, our waitress was not very friendly. I decided that their was no way that she would have been hired to work there when I worked there because she had a lousy attitude! The pinball machine was gone and we couldn't hear the music from the juke box. The food wasn't nearly as good either. My favorites were still on the menu- Grilled Cajun Chicken salad (with fries on top!) and a side of mac and cheese. Kaitlyn and Brayden got Wimpy Baskets which has 2 little "wimpy" burgers and fries. It was a bit disappointing after looking forward to going back there for so long. Jason and I had great memories there from when we were dating. He would come in all the time, play some pinball and I'd make him a chocolate chip cookie sundae and a real cherry coke. I also met my future in laws for the first time there as well. Jason brought them in (and his little sister, Kris, who was actually shorter than me at that time!) for a meal after one of his football games. My best friend, Kristin, worked there with me one summer as well. We only got to work one shift together and then we weren't ever scheduled together again. Something about us being loud and boisterous? Oh well! Many great memories were had at Baby's, and maybe I held it up on too high of a pedestal but it was a bit sad to see how it changed. After Baby's we drove around awhile showing the kids the sights. We then headed up to Beaver Stadium for the Blue and White weekend carnival. Jason despises carnivals, and this was a real one with all the fried foods, rides and real "carnies" working the rides. We rode some rides and played some games. We then headed back to our hotel for a good night rest.
After breakfast the next day we headed to the stadium. It was POURING. All day. And windy. Luckily we were able to hang out in the Letterman's Lounge for most of the morning. The Letterman's Lounge is only for past football players and it is so nice. It is located in the actual stadium. They have coffee, donuts, chips etc. The bathrooms are amazing! Beats the ones I had to use all those years tailgating and going to the games. We got to see lots of other football players from all different years. Jason ran into his old coach, Fran Gantor. He sat down and talked to me and the kids too. The kids were a bit rowdy and making quite a mess. So it was politely suggested to us that we go to the part of the lounge designated for children. There was a TV there with kids DVD's, coloring books and lots of snackies. Brayden must have had 20 miniature Hershey bars. Zac spilled a whole football helmet (they serve the chips in helmets!) of chips and I spilled coffee all over me and the couch. We were quite a disaster!
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| Gray enjoying a donut |
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| The Blue Band "playing" into the stadium |
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| Zac and Jason watching the beginning of the game |
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| Jason's picture was on the wall in the Lounge, he is in the first row #72 |
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| Brayden colored a picture of the Nittany Lion |
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| Kaitlyn and Brayden enjoying some chips from the helmet...I really want one of those |
We finally decided to brave the weather (and give the poor people in the Letterman's Lounge a break from our family!) and head to the bleachers to watch the game. Why did we have to leave the nice dry warm lounge??? They had TV's with the game on it everywhere? But we had to. It wouldn't be right not to go sit on the wet cold bleachers...it wouldn't be the real experience. So out we went. It was so cold, pouring and windy! But Gray actually managed to fall asleep. We stayed until half time and then had to go back to our hotel to get warm and dry. We napped a bit too. I love the Letterman's lounge and if anyone sees those helmet chip servers, please snag me one!
After napping and warming up, we headed out to Champs. This was a favorite restaurant of ours. They added onto it and it is huge now. We had to wait an hour for our table but it was so worth it. We got wings, nachos, pizza and lots of beers...Shirley temples for the kids. Champs lived up to how we remembered it. The kids loved it also. What a great day, despite the weather!
On Sunday we headed back to the stadium to the All Sports Museum. We had the whole place to ourselves. The kids were thrilled to see their Daddy's name in the computer that has all the football players in it. They loved this museum. Especially the football area.
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| Kaitlyn |
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| Brayden |
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| Zac |
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| Jason with his actual Rose Bowl ring, comparing it to the one in the display |
After the museum we went to the Nittany Lion Shrine for some pictures. Nearly 14 years ago, Jason and I had our wedding pictures taken there. It was surreal to be back here with our 4 kids. Who knew then how blessed our lives would be?
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