Spring Break, Part 1

Vacation for children is rarely a mutual experience for parents.  More work may actually be involved in vacationing, as oppossed to our daily grind, because it is imperitive to keep expectations from plummeting to the reality we are all too familiar with in day-to-day living.  Every effort is made to avoid reminders of home.

 But, my topic is not really vacation, it's worse:  a school break without the glory of vacation, more specifically (drum roll, please):
An Indiana Spring Break.

The Midwest, in March, is a gamble, to say the least.  This year, it was anything but warm.  M'lady, March, simply wouldn't have it and sought some sort of retribution for the record-breaking heat we enjoyed the year prior.  While we frolicked in the tropical heat last year like spoiled Polynesians, we paid the piper this year with a freakish post-Solstice snowstorm.  Not what you want when the students in your children's classes are talking about Florida-bound plans making you, the room parent in charge of the Spring Party to usher in the very "Break" of Spring, very jealous indeed.  I was present in class when the teacher made the rounds to ask what exciting plans each child had in store for their Spring Break.  My kid wasn't going to Disney World....

Sigh....what to do, what to do?  I don't base my success as a parent on a trip to the ocean, although I wouldn't feel UN-successful if we were heading to the Sunshine State, but I do find deep satisfaction in making a break from school worth breaking for.  Time spent with me has to be at least more exciting than fractions.  My oldest daughter went through the trouble of making a binder entitled: "My spring break schedule and fun things I did."  Talk about pressure...  She's got every day of the two weeks swimming in a sea of blank white paper, staring at me like a dare.  How am I going to see those pages filled?

I started by initiating a new tradition:  every Spring Break will begin with cupcakes!  New rule.  Don't know if it's more for them or for me, but it feels festive and bright and "Spring-y," and I'm sticking to it for the next 14 years until all my children graduate high school.  By then, I should definitely have more gray hair than Chestnut (yes, Chestnut), and I will probably continue the tradition from there with my grandchildren....yikes!

Here's the best part about a break in the school grind:
Waking up with daylight.  Moving slow.  Eating breakfast together in our pajamas.  Discovering an activity around town.  Freedom to be busy between the hours of 2:30-4:00 without stopping to report to a school pick-up line.  Time with grandparents and cousins.  Staying up late.

Here's the worst part:
Stumbling over bodies parked in front of the TV every morning, shoo-ing them away like flies collected on an old hamburger, to find something, anything more productive.  Noise.  Finding something to do out of the house.  Mess.  Late dinners.  The kids never seem to go to bed.

I enjoy being with my kids.  I also enjoy my house not looking like some sort of animal rescue shelter.  So, they must help with chores and picking up, while I dangle the carrot of good things to come.

This week, as I mentioned, started with a thick blanket of snow.  My mind kept trying to sync the longer days of light and sounds of turtle doves with the 9 inches of snow on the ground, but, out came the snowsuits and boots, nonetheless. They enjoyed playing in it for at least 15 minutes, until two of the four ended up landing face down in the powdered ice, and they came crying of the shock and pain, while one other child trailed behind in tears from "not meaning to push" the 3-year-old to his demise.  That was fun.



We did find warmth the next day at Garfield Park Conservatory.  The bulbs in bloom made the air thick with fragrance and my nose was grateful for the humid warmth.   We lingered for two hours, until someone had an accident in his britches...but that's another story.  I gave the kids turns with my camera, which added to the foraging-in-the-rainforest-experience.

 If you ever want to have a good laugh, give a kid charge of a camera.  They need it long enough for their creative eye to engage, but not so long you've lost track of where they might have discarded it.  When they're done, enjoy scrolling through the 527 pictures to replay their steps and see what they see....

They spent a long weekend with grandparents, making costumes, working the winter garden, and baking with some very custom "shape ware."  Apparently, my father has become adept at ordering specialized culinary equipment off the internet.  He has a collection of bake ware in a variety of shapes.  Castle cakes, pineapple cakes, you name it....  He has warned the perils of looking up "shapeware" in a search engine, as it may also apply to lingerie.   Assuming they weren't exposed to any "angels" in their "unmentionables," I believe they were dosed with enough sugar to make it a good time. 

What's in store this week?  We'll have to wait and see.  I do know we will get out, get creative and try to find some ever strengthening April sun to warm our faces and the memories we will make.






I did make some pretty killer gluten-free, Meyer lemon waffles.  They are also dairy-free.  The recipe is an adaptation from a tradition waffle, but it's all mine:

Gluten-free Meyer lemon waffles

2 Cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 Tblsp sugar
2 Tblsp chia seeds
zest of 2 Meyer lemons
 mix and add wet ingredients:
3 eggs
2 oz oil (I used sunflower)
1 1/2 Cups rice milk
juice of 2 Meyer lemons
1 tsp vanilla

Mix batter.  Allow to rest 5 minutes.  Ladle in waffle iron.  Cook until golden brown and serve warm with maple syrup!