Spring Break Vacation

Today was my first day back to work and the kids day back to school from our whole week of Spring break family vacation. After a whirlwind, demanding, fun packed, crazy busy 9 days of daily day trips all day long, we each were ready to go back to the "normal" usual routine.  Exhausted from the long drives, taxing 3 little kids around, feeding, taking care of them, entertaining them throughout the whole day, including lots of cartoon movies in the car, telling them to stay together as a family, hold hands, don't run off, taking them to frequent potty breaks, packing snacks, fresh fruits and kid lunches for the just in case they can't  eat "real" food, getting them dressed, bathing, packing and unpacking lots of kids stuff (including uneaten food, fruits, boil eggs) and clothes for every type of weather, doing "tricks, encouragement and even threats" so they would all eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, mediating "nagging" tattle tell sibling "wars" over it's "my turn on the ipad" or "my sister says she doesn't like me" etc., I was ready for my own time of peace and quiet days of working in the office.

Family Fun Days
Not to say that I didn't cherish, enjoy and savor in every moment of everyday, spending, precious family, quality time with my hubby and kids, and also with friends and family on some days, but by the end of each day, I was utterly worn out.
From the first day of our first Spring break, since it was Easter weekend, with full of excitement and energy, we jump started it off with attending an Easter festival where the kids enjoyed the petting zoo (pony, chickens, pigs, geese etc), each got their own type of balloons from the balloon making lady and then went to see the annual Campbell  Easter parade. Afterwards, with lots of energy to do a real egg hunt, we head to our local elementary school to participate in the annual, whimsical Easter egg hunt where they each participated in their own age level egg hunts, played carnival games, ate popcorn and cotton candy and even won a neat Summer water playing toys basket in the raffle.  Ethan was so proud to have won it. The girls were overjoyed to eat pink cotton candy and to have baskets filled with eggs with candy. It was a such a delight to see them have so much fun. For lunch, we stopped by my parent's place where we had warm, home cooked food and got in some much needed rest and family time with their cousins.

Spring Break Places
The rest of our vacation days were much like the first where it was jam packed with lots of activities, sights, smells, great food and places. Our day trips thereafter included places like: San Francisco, Monterey Aquarium (where we met up with my sister and her family/kids), Santa Cruz and its beach and boardwalk, Santa Cruz Mystery Spot, Fioli garden/ water temple, Oakland Zoo, went to our good family friend's most organized party ever (little Joey's 5th Birthday party), stayed at home one day to do Spring planting of plants/vegetables, played in the back yard, Half Moon bay Lemos farm, attended my BFF's son 4th Birthday party, and then finally, on the last day, Sunday 4/7, we resumed their swim lessons, had lunch, played with their cousins for a play date and then we were off to do 2 hours of the girls' dance picture session rehearsal.  Whew! Honestly. After all this, I really seriously would't mind a vacation from the vacation.

I tried to slow down and wind down afterwards towards the end, but, like routine, the kid's activities keep us very busy. And yes, of course, to male it more grueling, throughout the 5 days of Spring Break, I had to waked up in the early wee hours at 6:30 AM every day, drag myself out of bed and drive myself to and from Stanford for Whole Brain Radiation (WBR) treatment daily.

Overall, it was an amazing, unforgettable family Spring break vacation. Looking back, I just loved making and creating timely treasure family memories.  It was a lot of hard work.  But, despite the exhaustion with treatment and shuffling 3 kids in tow everyday to lots of places, I wouldn't change a thing. It was filled with so much love, fun, happiness and joy. Priceless. I'm glad I had reserves of energy and stamina to spend each and everyday together with the kids and my hubby, family and friends. Lots of Love.