It's SPRING Break!!

At least, it is supposed to be SPRING. Someone forgot to tell the weatherman though - they are forecasting a massive cold front tomorrow, the first day of Spring, and 4 - 8 inches of snow in the next 24 hours after that! UGH!

Well, we are enjoying the warm weather while it lasts. We actually had plans to be skiing for spring break, but after Amy Sr.'s death, we decided that spending time with our family would be more appropriate, so that's what we did.

Sunday, the day of the funeral, was absolutely beautiful. The dads took the cousins out for some farm exploring to the big pond, where they enjoyed tossing things into the pond and plowing through the woods. Here's Gracie and Will making a tractor stop on the way home:
After that they headed to the park for more fun - getting all worn out for the babysitter! Maggie took her role as older cousin seriously, watching over Carissa - not that little Miss Independent needed watching over! Here they are on the slide:

It's amazing how fast they grow up - I seriously have trouble remembering when Maggie was two - it was so long ago.

Amy Sr.'s service was beautiful. It was fairly small - for the visitation as well. I guess that's the hazard of living 91 years - there's not many of your peers left to come to your funeral. We sang her favorite songs. One was "There's Just Something About That Name." Amy Sr. had told me ever since I started taking piano lessons that she wanted that song at her funeral. I've played and sung that song a million times, but it was hard to sing it at her service.

We headed back home on Wednesday, stopping by to see GGma, who was back to her usual self. She's got her fancy new walker, which she calls her "hobby horse" and seems to be moving around pretty good.

Thursday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head down to the local nature park. At the visitor center they have a bunch of walking sticks that you can "borrow" for your visit - the girls chose two that had little loafers attached to the end of them. They got lots of comments as we walked the trails:

We came to a creek that the girls had played in during a trip last summer, but the water was cold, so we didn't wade across - although I'm sure Gracie would have if we had let her. Jerry mentioned how as a kid he had enjoyed playing in the creek. Gracie was amazed that he had come up from Texas to play in the creek here in Oklahoma. He clarified that it was not this particular creek, but one near his house. Gracie thought about that awhile and then said, "That was a long time ago, before there were swimming pools, right?"

Here's another shot of my pre-teen (that moan you just heard was Jerry - he gives this little moan of despair every time someone calls her a pre-teen.) Isn't it amazing how grown-up she is looking these days?