This post was originally posted on my old
website iamzoewatson.com which no longer is active.
Lake Havasu or Miami Beach might be the place to be when you’re in college feeling all froggie and young and single, but when it comes to planning a spring break for kindergarten age kids and younger, your focus becomes more on what you can do with the kids during the week while you take advantage of being able to sleep in since there is no school for an entire week!
The History of Spring Break
Spring break is a vacation period in early spring at universities and schools which started during the 1930s in the United States. It is now observed in many other countries as well.
While many college students migrate south to the beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida and Cancun, Mexico, most younger students and their parents use the time away from classes to recharge to finish out the school year on a high instead of a low.
Spring Break is different with kids
So, two weeks or so ago I sat down, with a cup of coffee, while the kids were eating breakfast before kindergarten and preschool and thought about what we should do during spring break. This is about a 30 second at a time thinking session since whenever I sit to drink my coffee I usually only get to drink it cold because at age 5 and 3 my kids still can’t do most things on their own.
Since Hubby has to work that whole week and we have a family wedding to travel to later this month, the thought of local activities came to mind.
Included in the last homework packet that Bootsie got from her Kindergarten teacher, was coupons for Gilroy Gardens, a semi-local amusement park that I went to as a kid, but never have taken my kids to. The coupon seemed like a great idea, but when I thought about the expense and time spent to actually get to the place, I’m glad that we had a more laid back spring break.
Another direction to head is to go to the local zoo. By local I mean an hour in either direction. Not as far as Gilroy Gardens, but still kind of a trip that needs planning. The last and most inexpensive of my tho ughts was to visit to grandma’s house, since we haven’t seen her in months, but really part of me just wanted to sleep in the whole week and not bother with anything. The luxury of no alarm is amazing!
You know that song “You’re gonna miss this?” I never thought I’d saythat I miss the days of diapers and 8am naptimes, but I do miss the days of having no kids in school and not a structured schedule to follow.
So what did we end up doing?
Not a whole bunch that was out of the ordinary.
There was great Easter party on Easter Sunday with Hubby’s side of the family. My mother in law is in the process of interviewing for jobs near us so we all packed up and went to see her aunt. The kids had a blast in the pool and it was great to see people we only see about once a year. What is it about time that it passes so fast? I swear we were just over there, but it’s been at least a year if not more.
There was an uncomfortable trip to visit my grandmother and my aunt was there as well. Sounds nice, right? Not really. The aunt, who I haven’t seen in about five years is a fairly toxic person which is the least of her issues at the moment. It’s a drama filled back story that would take days to explain, but the summary of the visit is that nothing had changed, we are still pretty much estranged, and I miss my grandma.
Our first Karate Kid Tae Kwon Do lesson was a success. You can read about it here if you haven’t already.
There was a birthday party for the daughter of my college friend. I hate that I don’t get to see her enough, but she’s a working mom and I’m a stay at home mom and we live an hour apart. It’s the nature of the beast.
And finally trip to the local OHV park for motorcycle riding. Hubby is riding in a race at the end of the month and this was his opportunity to ride with his cousin for a whole afternoon. Bonus was that both the kids got to ride their own bikes and got to ride on the big boy bikes as well. It left me with a whole half hour or so by myself to catch up on a crochet project I’ve been working on FOR DAYS!!!
What’s next?
School is making it’s feverish run to the last day of school. We have two school field trips, a picture session and “kindergarten graduation”. It’s going to be a fun time, but I’m afraid far busier than I expected.
How is the end of your school year shaping up? Are you afraid or prepared for the onslaught of activity?
The good thing is that the new school calendar is out, so I can already start planning for next year! I’m getting all the days on my Google Calendar now because really. Mommy time management shouldn’t be complicated! <—read this old blog entry to see how I do it!
Did I really spring break like a pro?
Some would say that I failed miserably at spring breaking like a pro, but my form of success is that my children had a good time, we’re all alive still and we’ll live to see another Spring Break!
Be sure to comment with your spring break or vacation hacks! You never know what might help another mom!
365 MomMe 
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