Spring Break

One good thing about Spring Break for my 3 oldest grandchildren (Eric & Nicole's children - Ethan, Ella, & Olivia) is that they usually spend it in California. They are probably the only children living in Nebraska who have season passes to Disneyland. They, along with Nicole, were here for a week, staying with Nicole's parents who live about 1.5 miles from us.  I was able to do some fun activities with the kids before they went to Disneyland, which gave Nicole a much needed break and an opportunity to hang out with her mother & sister.

One day I took Ethan and Ella to see the movie "Oz, The Great and Powerful".  Since this movie was too scary for small children, Livi stayed with her mother.  Nicole didn't want Livi to know that I had taken them to a movie because Livi would not be happy about being left out, so Nicole made arrangements to vacate the house with Livi prior to my arrival so I could pick up Ethan and Ella without Livi's knowledge.  When I brought the kids back after the movie, Livi came to the door and immediately asked where we had been.  I tried to hum and haw and think of something to tell her that would make sense without lying to her and still not tell her that we were at a movie.  I said "I just took Ethan and Ella somewhere."  I knew that Nicole had planned to do something fun with Livi while we were at the movie so I tried to change the subject by asking Livi what fun thing she did with her mom.  Not happy with my previous answer, she asked "what did you do with Ethan and Ella?"  Again, not wanting to tell her the truth, I asked her what fun thing she did with her mom.  She said "I'll tell you if you tell me."  I found that so funny.  Fortunately, Nicole helped divert the conversation so Livi and I didn't have the chance to exchange secrets.  Phew, that was close.

The next day I was able to entertain all three children at my home.  We had fun doing sidewalk art as shown below. Ella is not pictured during this activity because her arm was hurting so she went inside before I got the camera out.

Sorry these three pics are are upside down - I tried and tried to correct it, but was not successful.

Another activity we did was to have the kids each write down on a piece of paper something they wanted one of the others to do - like "sing the Barney song" or "rub your tummy and pat your head while jumping up and down."  We then put the pieces of paper inside balloons and blew up the balloons.  Each of the kids took turns popping the balloons and doing whatever was written on the slip of paper.  This was so much fun!!!  Here are some pics and videos illustrating our activity.

I have a feeling that the kids will want to revisit this activity at some future date.  Don't worry, I am prepared to do it again.