Spring Break was very different for me in the 1990’s, then it is now!
Daytona Beach, Cancun, MTV, Bikinis, Sunburns, Mai Tai’s, Bahama Mama’s, Wet T-Shirt Contests (No, no, no… I swear, I never actually competed in those!). One Spring Break I did hang out with OJ Simpson and Colin Quinn (from MTV). True story. But I’ll save that for another post.
Needless to say, my Spring Breaks were fun and crazy.
Now that I have kids, Spring Break is still fun and crazy, but in a totally different way. It generally means a week spent running around like a crazy lady, trying to entertain my kids. And trying to referee their arguments all day long.
And after it’s over, I desperately need a vacation! Any other moms feel the same?
I feel pressured to make the week fun for them. We don’t usually go on a trip during Spring Break. It’s usually a tough time for my husband to take time off from work. And this year was no different… he had to work the entire week. So I was the kids’ Cruise Director, while also juggling my work and chores (I work from home, usually when the kids are at school, so it was a challenge getting it all done). Ultimately, laundry, cleaning, and most of my chores in general, were all put on hold for the week. I was too pooped at the end of each day to do anything else.
So what did we do on our Spring Break? Well, the first day, I spent FOUR LONG HOURS putting together a GIANT Thomas train track with my 6-year-old. And by giant, I mean giant! I won’t lie, the whole process was slightly frustrating. Well, honestly, “a pain in the ass”, would be a better description. And by “we”, I mean ME building it, and my son laying upside down next to me, asking if it was done yet. “Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet?…”.
Finally it was done, and my son was thrilled. And you know, I was quite proud of myself too. It is a really cool track.
The best part was that the train set kept my son busy for about ½ an hour, until he told me he was bored and had “NOTHING TO DO”! Yep. He said that.
So we went bike riding, tire-swing riding, took our first Spring ride in the convertible, and spent lots of time outside. This mommy’s goal that day was to exhaust them with fresh air! And it worked.
Another Spring Break day we left our own zoo at home (currently, three dogs, a cat and 2 fish), and took a trip to The Bronx Zoo. That was a lot of fun. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend The Bronx Zoo. They have great programs for animal preservation and supporting animal causes, and an amazing Congo exhibit with very engaging gorillas. Just look at this Mama gorilla and her baby. I love this.
I like to take the zoo at a slow pace. I can spend hours watching the animals.
For my kids, about :30 seconds was sufficient at each cage.
The exception was whenever an animal did anything “potty” related. And for some reason, they seemed to know we were coming. A big daddy gorilla peed right in front of us, and my kids thought that was the funniest thing ever. Then at our next stop, a tiger pooped in front of us. Again, the kids found that hilarious. I think the animals were somehow telling each other to entertain my kids because even the Rhino decided to pee when we got there. Seriously! I was just happy they stayed longer than :30 seconds to watch!
It was a very fun day and on the way home, we chose our favorite zoo animals – Me: the GORILLAS, “I just love them!”; My daughter: the FLAMINGOS, “because they’re pink and can stand on one leg!”; My son: the TIGERS, because “they eat people!” Uh, ok. Should I should be worried that he likes man-eating tigers?
Probably the best day of our Spring Break week though, was the day we visited our local Nature Center and Farm. The reason we had such a fun time that day – my kids didn’t have one single argument! No fighting, no bickering, ALL DAY. That made it such a great day. I pointed it out to them and they were both surprised they hadn’t argued. So I treated them with a stop at the ice cream shop on the way home. It’s funny that it’s truly the simple things that make a good day, great.
So even though my Spring Breaks now, are so different from my past Spring Breaks, I wouldn’t trade them. I’m too old for that craziness now anyway!
It was a fun, exhausting week, and I felt like I needed a vacation when it was over. So you probably won’t be surprised that on their first day back to school, after I got my kids onto the bus, I did a little happy, dance of freedom. Shhh … don’t tell them!
But I will also admit that the minute the bus pulled away, I missed them!
#LifeOfAMom
~Cindie xo
#SpringBreak