Of Dew and Donuts and Diatribes: March Fun

As March comes to a close, I thought I’d catch up on some of the fun family activities we enjoyed during the month. Here goes.

On March 9th, we decided to try a local pizza joint that is famous for making gigantic pizzas. When we arrived at Momo’s Pizza, I ran in to pick up the pizza. I knew it was going to be big, but I had no idea what I was in for. The size of the pizza far exceeded my expectations. I think you could fit half a dozen newborns comfortably inside the pizza box. I had difficulty getting out of the restaurant while holding onto the thing. Thankfully, we had taken the minivan to Momo’s. If we hadn’t, I don’t know how we would have gotten the pizza home. The thing wouldn’t even fit inside of a normal car trunk! I don’t think the pictures below do it justice, unless you look very closely. Notice that the pizza box is long enough to cover over half of our dining table. The pizza slices themselves were about as long as Peter’s arm. Normal-sized plates couldn’t hold them. It was an adventure.

The week of March 10th through March 16th was my spring break. Melanie and I toyed with various ideas of what we could do to celebrate. We really loved the idea of going on an actual vacation, but rational thinking soon got the better of us. We decided that we should just stay put. Edison still had school, and half of the fun things you can do out of town can be done much more cheaply by staying put. And so we did stay put. At least for a few days. We rewarded ourselves for our responsible behavior by rejoining the Church of Costco after a near two-year hiatus. When that didn’t provide the thrill we were craving, we broke down and went on a mini-vacation to exotic Jacksonville. We left on Friday morning and spent the day at the Jacksonville Zoo. We decided to revisit the zoo because they had a new dinosaur exhibit that we thought the kids would like. Eddie and Peter had fun with it. Creegan was rather nervous about the robotic dinosaurs and clung to Melanie and me during that entire portion of our visit.

After the zoo, we checked in at the Staybridge Suites. Our suite was like a little apartment. It had a separate bedroom with a king-size bed and its own television. The living room featured a sofabed on which Eddie and Peter (and for a very limited time, Creegan) slept. The suite also featured a small kitchen area, with a full-size fridge, a microwave, a stovetop, a dishwasher, and cupboards full of dinnerware. We didn’t utilize any of that stuff other than the fridge, but we wished we had planned on a longer stay and could have made use of the amenities. Instead, we ate at a nearby restaurant, Miller’s Ale House, which was enjoyable. I had some crazy cheeseburger topped with onion straws, barbecue sauce, pulled pork, jalapenos, and more. It was pretty good.

Looking for pictures? Melanie wrote about our Jacksonville trip and posted pictures on her blog. Go ahead and check it out by clicking here.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed the hotel’s complimentary breakfast. It was slightly fancier than those we’ve had at other hotels. They had real oatmeal, rather than little packets you heat up yourself. They had cheese omelets. They had glass plates, glass glasses and silver silverware. Needless to say, we were the only family of five in the dining area and didn’t fit in too well. But we made the most of it. We then checked out of the hotel and headed to Valdosta for the opening day of Wild Adventures’ 2013 season. We’re still season pass members, so we figured we’d go as soon as we could. The nice thing about being a season pass holder is that you don’t feel obligated to spend 10 hours at the park. You can mosey about for a few hours and then go home. This particular visit ended up being one of our most laidback ever. One reason is that we were tired. Another reason is that I ended up not feeling very well. I went with Eddie on his favorite roller coaster, Swamp Thing, and felt fine. I then went with Peter and Eddie on a new ride, Whacky Wheels. It’s basically a version of the teacup ride at Disneyland, but perhaps even milder. It wasn’t a big deal at all, but after spinning on the ride for a few minutes, I did not feel well. Fortunately, our next destination was the train ride, which had such a long line that I had plenty of time to just be still. That helped, but the train ride was my last. (Creegan is totally into train rides. Ever since we first went to the Jacksonville Zoo in January, Creegan regularly asks us, “Zoo train?” He constantly hopes we’ll go back. We’re hoping the Wild Adventures train, albeit not as exciting, will satisfy his train-riding needs for the year.) After the train, Edison went on one more ride with Melanie while I watched Peter and Creegan run around in a little splash park. We then headed home, our vacation complete.

Peter at Wild Adventures. This photo was taken on my cell phone. Peter is using his hands to give himself mean eyebrows.

I don’t have much to say about St. Patrick’s Day. The leprechauns showed up and turned our milk green, left little footprints around, and even turned the toilet water green. Edison’s old enough that the pinching rituals of St. Patrick’s Day were in effect. Since St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Sunday, Eddie knew he would see quite a few people that day. He was rather concerned about getting pinched despite the fact that he was wearing green. Hypocritically, he was rather fond of pinching me despite my wearing a green bread tie around my finger.

Though Easter comes tomorrow, Edison, Peter, and Creegan have already participated in two Easter egg hunts. The apartment complex in which we live hosted an Easter egg hunt yesterday afternoon. They do activities like this fairly often, which is cool. Our boys actually scored quite a few eggs, which pleased me because I know my kids aren’t the most assertive and can often be overrun by more aggressive kids. Eddie even found one of three golden eggs that were hidden around the perimeter of the apartment clubhouse. His prize? A large chocolate bunny. It was the perfect prize, as Edison had asked Melanie for a chocolate bunny just a day or two earlier.

This morning, we participated in an Easter egg hunt at our church. Despite a rule that kids were limited to 20 eggs each, Peter had a hard time collecting that many. Edison quickly found 20 eggs, but Peter topped out at 14. After much searching, he discovered one more. He then had to rely on the generosity of a no-good kid who had collected more eggs than she should have in the first place. She donated five eggs to Peter, bringing his total to 20. Creegan only collected 9, but he didn’t care much. He hasn’t felt well these last couple of days, and he mostly wanted to be held.