We love visitors!! We were lucky enough to have the DuVall family come to visit us for their spring break. The first day we headed out to the Franklin Park Conservatory. Unfortunately, Scott missed a turn and tried to head into a small parking lot to turn around and found the most dangerous curb in all of Ohio! It put a huge gash in the tire of his rental car and he and Richard ended up waiting for a couple of hours for the rental agency to bring them a new car and missed a lot of the fun in the morning.
In the morning we stayed outside in the children's garden for hours, mostly over by the pond where Kai and McKenna sat watching and catching little frogs. They probably would have been fine to stay there all day! Then after lunch, we headed inside with everyone to check out the rest of the conservatory, including glass blowing which is one of my favorite things to watch.
The next day we went hyperbowling and to Petland. No matter what other cool things we take visitors to, the pet store ends up being everyone's favorite!
The plan for the next day was to go to the zoo in the morning and then they would head out to drive to Holly's house but our zoo is so big and Kai had been dreaming of going here for so long that we ended up staying the entire day! Everyone else was exhausted, so Richard took most of the kids back to the pet store to recharge while the rest of us explored the entire zoo with Kai. We then took them to try Melt, which is where every main dish is cooked inside a grilled cheese sandwich! It is very delicious but definitely not food you can have all the time. Brooklyn and I split a chicken and waffles meal but it was hilarious to see the waiter put down this enormous meal in front of Brooklyn!
And lastly, even though our temple wasn't open yet, the building was all the way finished so we had to drive them to the temple to check it out. It was a BLAST to have them here and we managed to fit in a lot of good food, fun games, and exploring the city while they were here.
We were in the path for a solar eclipse and there was so much excitement about it that the schools decided to give the kids the day off to be able to enjoy it. We weren't quite in the path of totality and Richard wanted to drive 40 mins or so to get there. I wasn't super excited about it but knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I went along. We left early and packed both a lunch and a dinner because we had heard that traffic would be insane. We even had the girls pack a bag with some activities because we thought we would be sitting in the car for hours. Richard took the back roads and we ended up getting there with no traffic whatsoever and had hours with nowhere to go and nothing to do! We parked at the LDS church in that tiny city and ended up going to Walmart to walk around for a bit and played soccer in the field next to the church. We also brought some card games to play but it was really hot sitting out in the sun! The time finally came for the solar eclipse. It wasn't that exciting as it got closer- we would look through our fun glasses and see a dark circle half covering a bright circle.... but when it went into the full eclipse, it was actually pretty cool! I was surprised at how dark it got, even the church streetlights came on! It got quiet, even the birds quit singing for a minute, and the temperature dropped quite a bit. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen! So I was glad after all that Richard talked us into it, especially when we also got home super fast with no traffic!
We have a girl in our ward who is in a wheelchair and this was going to be her first year at girl's camp. The stake leaders found a wheelchair accessible camp but it was a lot more expensive so our ward did a fundraiser to make up the difference. McKenna and Reagan decided they wanted to help out as well and did a lemonade/cookie stand and told everyone that came by they were doing it to raise money for their friend to go to a church camp. I thought it was very sweet of them!
Kenna's last soccer season is over! I have loved watching her play (and helping coach twice) and am very sad she isn't going to keep playing. She seemed to really enjoy it though and made good friends on every team she played on.
I got to attend my very first work conference! Scott did a phenomenal job putting everything together and I actually had way more fun than I thought I would. We had some really interesting speakers the first two days (including a vet who was like the 3rd person in the world to get a new kind of prosthetic leg!) and got to do an escape room game and a scavenger hunt in the Museum of Natural History. By the 3rd day, I was pretty wrecked mentally and physically so it was a lot harder for me but overall it was great. And I loved being able to hang out with Kristi the whole time! (And Scott a little bit!)
While I was gone, Kaylee had her awards ceremony and got a certificate for her grades and also got a special award for being a "purposeful learner". We are so proud of her!
McKenna went to her first dance with two of her friends. I was surprised she wanted to go since normally the thought of a dance with boys strikes terror in her, but she seemed to have fun!
Branching out to new crafts keeps it fun for me. I tried painting my own puzzle. I was hoping it would turn out cuter... but it was a fun experiment and one I might try again in the future. I also made a new picture for Brooklyn to go with her new Harry Potter obsession. I had drawn a princess themed one for her when she was around 4 or so and decided to do another one with the girls from Harry Potter (plus Brooklyn). I thought it turned out really good and was so happy with it, until I colored it... I am sad that it doesn't look as good colored but still proud of what I drew!
