Well we got our first Spring Break in the books.  The first time the kids were old enough to officially have a Spring Break at school.  I was thrilled!  We were going to Disney World, Sea World and were going to build a sand castle on the beach the size of Cinderella’s castle.  I was going to lay out in my new floral tankini I got from Kohl’s and have some drink with an umbrella in it.  Memories for miles and a nice tan to go along with them.  We are going to take a new family photo on the beach.

Wait, no we weren’t, not even close.  We didn’t even realize it was Spring Break until about 2 days before it started.  When I picked the kids up from school actually and the teacher told me to “Have a nice Spring Break!”  Wait, say what?  A nice what?  Holy balls did we drop the ball on that one.

So, what are you to do when you are stuck in Chicago and the weather is nearly below zero, there is still a foot of snow on the ground.  You fear your TV may shit out at any minute because it is on about 18 hours a day.  Thank God that DVD’s don’t have a specific number of views or I would have a stack of Disney DVD’s that would make lovely coasters.

Well, we decided to make the best of it…..we kicked it off with bowling and Build-A-Bear.  The trip to Build-A-Bear cost about as much as a flight to Florida.  We probably could have gotten a real live Koala bear imported and draped in a gold shawl for a new family pet for the same price.  The important thing is the kids had a great time and we did it together.  Sweet memories…but for the record, the “Bears” they built that have underwear, shoes and outfits are nowhere to be found.  L.A. also wanted his to sing a ONE DIRECTION song for 7 dollars but I put my foot down.  I relented on the 3 dollar SPONGEBOB theme song instead.

 

If you notice poor Abbott’s bear only got underwear.  Oops.

Bowling was a blast though.  We went to this great place on a rec from a friend, Pinstripes.  It was like a fancy bowling alley where people had all their teeth and and you did not worry that the shoes were going to give you gang green.  My pals loved it.

 

The best part was the time spent with their dad who works a billion hours a day to make sure they have every opportunity to enjoy life and succeed.  This was my favorite part.  Sometimes life gets so hectic that you forget what really matters.  Watching our kids smile ear to ear and roll the bowling ball down the alley with they daddy changes all this.  Blessed is an understatement.

 

Awesome day with my favorite people on the planet…..from there we decided to head North to my favorite place in the whole wide world – Green Bay, WI.  We needed some Nonie time but not before a pit stop for lunch in Milwaukee at Cheesecake Factory with some aunts and cousins.  We slowly ate our way up North….one chunk of cheese at a time.

Green Bay was so damn cold….colder than a witches tit really so we did not do much there.  We did make brownies and there is nothing wrong with that.  Making brownies with your Nonie pretty much tops the “awesome things to do” list.  Nonie lets you eat half the batter and stay up until 10:00.  She also lets you sleep with her.  Good times.  I remember begging to sleep with my Grammy and loving every second of it.  Talk about memories.  Grammy was an awesome lady who made you feel like you were her only grandchild even though she had about 57 others.  My mom does the same thing with my pals.  They are so blessed.  Always hopped up on sugar, but blessed.

 

After lunch out at my favorite place in GB, Margaritas for mexican, we headed back down to make our way back home and needed one last pit stop – Milwaukee.  Nothing better than Milwaukee because the Cahill’s live there.  One of my best friends from college and probably one of the funniest people you will ever meet – Auntie Ei….along with her gang who we all adore.

 

All of the kids are very close in age so we rolled in and they played – out of sight while we put some cheese and wine out of sight.  We laughed till it hurt and bitched about some of our problems like why Costco ONLY carries lime LaCroix and the fact that we still have our identical North Face jackets we got in college.  Damn, those things really do last!

It was a perfect end to Spring Break 2014.

 

There was NO sun, NO sand, NO beach and no Minnie Mouse sighting….but there was wine, good friends, the best family and lots of memories made.  As we say now, “We don’t need no stinkin’ beach.”  Well, at least for the next couple months.