Abbie's Easter egg party

Anna and Abbie enjoying their lunch from Chick-Fil-A

Abbie's having fun at the party!

Abbie's daddy stopped in for the party.

Here's Abbie with her Mama.

(Yes, I know these posts are out of order.  I'm sorry about that.   I thought that this posted last night but it didn't.)  A week or two before Easter (which was in March this year), we had a really cold spell again.   The Easter egg hunts had to be held inside this year at Abbie's school because it was just too rainy and cold.  The kids enjoyed their lunch from Chick-Fil-A alongwith some Easter treats and goodies for dessert.  Then, they went into the gym for an egg hunt.  Abbie still has a great fear of people who are dressed up in costume (if their face is covered) so she was worried about the Easter bunny coming to visit her at the party.  (Last year, she started crying and carrying on so I had to take her out of the room).  This year, I told her that it was just Madden's dad who dressed up and that she didn't need to worry but she was definitely worried.  Before the party, I found the dad who usually dresses up as the Easter party and I asked him if he could let me know before he was coming to Abbie's class because I told him how frightened she was.  Abbie's teacher told me just to tell him not to come by her class because she had several kids who were scared of the Easter bunny.

Clearwater Beach-Spring Break 2013 part 1

our crazy girls-Nope, we can't have a "normal" beach picture like most folks!

 

Aww..sweet girls looking out of our hotel window.

The girls are all smiles!

Paula and the girls with the Lego statue at the Science museum.

Abbie's got the beat!

 

The girls posing at the science center.

 

Yes, it was very windy and chilly while we were at the beach.  We had some seafood at Frenchy's.

Matt and the girls with Little Toot, a boat we rode a couple of years ago.

If you ask me and the girls, the Seabird Sanctuary was a little stinky.   =)

Beautiful sunset at the beach.

Our funny girls

Sophie's riding on the trolley.

 We were able to return to Clearwater Beach this year for Spring Break but this time we flew!  It was a little bit warm when we first arrived and then they had a cold spell for a few days.  It wasn't really ideal beach weather.  After we arrived on Saturday, the girls swam in our hotel's heated pool for a little bit and we briefly went down to the beach (the girls just put their feet in ).  On Sunday, we got up and went to church and then had lunch.  It looked like a storm was going to move in and it got really WINDY.  We had brought some kites so Matt took the girls to try to fly them.  Well, I think Abbie got scared because it was so incredibly windy so I said that I would just come down to get her and then bring her back to our hotel room.  Well, some idiot had pulled the fire alarms on various floors so Abbie was so UPSET by the wind (frightened too, I guess) but then we couldn't use the elevators for a while because of the fire alarms being pulled.  I knew where some steps were right outside of the hotel so that we could go up to our room but Abbie wouldn't go because she didn't want to step outside at all into the wind.  Oh well!  After a little bit, we were able to go back to our room.  We ended up going to the science museum in Tampa for a while.  Abbie loved the play restaurant and grocery.  She played in there for a long time!  Sophie loved this quiz show type exhibit where different kids could try to answer questions.  That night, we tried out a local Italian restaurant and had some delicious pizza. 

On Monday, Matt had hoped that we might could go on a dolphin cruise but all of the caution flags were out on the beach.  Most of the dolphin cruises were not running because the water was too choppy and they thought it was too dangerous.  We took a walk and the kids were able to play on the playground by the pier.  Then, we went to a seafood restaurant for lunch.  Both of the girls tried my shrimp.  We didn't end up doing too much on Monday.  That night though, we headed down to the pier and enjoyed the entertainment there and then watched the sunset.  It was pretty cool during the day but really cold at night while we were there.  

Abbie's Easter egg hunt

Here's Abbie and Anna with buckets on their heads!

Abbie's hunting for eggs!

One thing that I recalled as I was thinking about Abbie's Easter party and egg hunt last month was that due to Abbie's fear of the Easter bunny, she was constantly afraid to put her back to the Easter bunny as she hunted for eggs.  They had their Easter egg hunt in the gym at Crieve Hall due to the cold weather.  She wanted to know where the Easter bunny was at all times (poor girl).  Abbie got lots of candy though and had a good time.  One of the girls in her class even brought a pinata so after their egg hunt, they got to knock the pinata down and get some more treats!  =)

Kindergarten Sneak a peek

Yesterday was Kindergarten Sneak a peek at the school Abbie will attend in the fall with Sophie.  The kids got to ride the school bus from the front to the back of the school and go into a classroom with the current kindergarteners present.  (they split our soon to be kindergarteners into small groups and put them in different classes).  The parents had a meeting with a couple of the kindergarten teachers during this time.  Abbie really seemed to enjoy herself.   The teacher that she was with read them all a story.  They were supposed to pair up with a partner and Abbie paired up with one of our neighbors who is in kindergarten this year.  They cut out a picture of a school bus and were supposed to color it.  They also let the kids play with letter stamps which Abbie loved!  Today, Abbie was cute because she said that her favorite part about riding the school bus yesterday was going up the big steps.  She said, the seats are warm.  "You don't have blankets or anything but they are warm."  She was also talking about how they didn't have seat belts.  She said that it was kind of a bumpy ride and that the driver was telling the kids that they needed to stay seated.  I made sure to tell her that you have to stay seated so you don't fall down and get hurt or something.  (I don't want her to get any ideas about standing up since she doesn't have a seat belt).  =)