a vacation of sorts

This week the kids are on winter vacation. No school, just hanging around, and the weather even obliged with a little bit of snow. Unfortunately, Sylvan doesn't close when schools do, so I've still had to work most of the week. I did take a day off, which was intended to be part of a little sojourn to the Cape.

The plan was this: Jess would take all the kids down Wednesday morning (one adult and five children - an act of sheer bravery) and I would meet them there that night after work. (None of the menfolk could get the time off.) We'd stay until Friday night, hit some of the local attractions, enjoy the hotel's pool. Well, part of it worked. Jess did indeed bring all five children to the hotel on Wednesday and hang out with them there, and they did get to enjoy the pool that day. I did meet them there that night, and the next day we brought them to the Cape Cod Children's Museum, which was pretty cool. But that was about where it ended. We came home early, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, remember that snow I mentioned? It arrived Friday, pretty much all day, when we would have been driving home. Also, we may have overestimated the amount of people we could comfortably fit in the hotel room. (I don't think it was seven.) Lastly, poor Magic Baby had caught some sort of virus, and was pretty miserable. So we packed up and came home a bit early.

It turned out all right, though, and Friday was actually a really nice day, just me and the kids. We braved the snow for a little bit, to bring Little Brother to the dentist but also to do a bit of book-shopping. This was one area (of many) in which I can see how different the two boys are: Big Brother picked out a couple of fantasy stories, where Little Brother went for some nonfiction and a math workbook. I got this book for Baby Sister, and the pictures are just fascinating - it's hard to tell which member of the family likes flipping the pages most.

So all in all, I think my boys have enjoyed their vacation week. They spent a lot of today outside in the snow - we are lucky enough to have a good-sized hill in the backyard for sledding - and tomorrow is, of course, NASCAR day. (I may escape to a yoga class, if I can.) I've enjoyed the week too. Work has been quiet, with a lot of kids away for the break. I've been doing a lot of knitting and spinning - I'll try to show you that tomorrow - and I picked up some books for myself, too.

I think whoever planned out the school calendar had it just about right when they decided to break up the everlasting blah of February. Why is it that the shortest month seems to be about twelve weeks long??