For most of the school year I’d imagined that we’d go
someplace for our first “real” spring break as a family. I guess that’s because we always did when I
was growing up. But as I looked at our
family travel calendar for the next 6 months I came to terms with the fact that
adding one more trip – even a small one – just wasn’t a prudent idea. So we invited Gommy and Papa to join us on
our little stay-cation instead!
Sam was looking forward to his break for several weeks and
kept telling me that he was going to do nothing but relax. We didn’t believe that for one second – that kid
is no good at sitting still! But
something magical happened this year: we sprang forward (time change) on the
first weekend of Spring Break. And both
of my children slept until at least 7:30 every day of break. The adults were up before them. One day they were up after 8. It was glorious. I pray those things will line up every year.
Our visitors were scheduled to arrive on Tuesday evening, so
after a relaxing weekend the kids and I had an opportunity to hit up one of our
favorite outings, WonderWild, for a day of play. Sam is really missing the little family field
trips we used to do during his preschool career, and this one is only available
for open play during the week. AND HISD’s
spring break was the week after ours, so it was really a perfect fit.
On Tuesday morning while I was trying to fit in my 4 hours
of weekly work before company arrived, I got a call from the sitter that
Annabelle, who was FINE when I left the house that morning, had thrown up
twice. “No no, you stay. I’ve got this. I just wanted you to know.” Best sitter ever. And my poor little bug certainly did have a
bug. She would have highs and lows over
the next several days, but that girl ended up being mostly sick for the rest of
spring break.
Given the morning’s events and the great distance we now
live from the airport, I decided it was important to bring a bucket with us in
the car. Thinking even one step further,
I brought a plastic pitcher, with a lid.
I’m all about containment. So I
have the jug next to me, asking Annabelle how she’s doing every few
minutes. At one point I turn around and
see Sam, who we’d moved to the third row to allow grown-ups easier access to
the back seats. I can read that kid like
a book and his face was screaming “I’M CARSICK!” After I told him he was wrong when he bravely
mumbled “I think I can handle it…” I explained to him that we had one chance to
get him this bucket. With his arms wide
open and his mind focused, while I was driving in stop and go traffic on the
freeway, I tossed that pitcher back to him.
With about 20 seconds to spare. “Oh
I feel so much better!” Relieved and
proud that I was oh-so-prepared (lets ignore the fact that I brought the bucket
for the other kid, mmm-k?), I confindently drove on through the thinning
traffic. Next time I looked back they
were both asleep and yes, Sam was still holding his pitcher. And I had the lid. The more we drove, the more it slipped. This could not happen. I could not let a sleep-induced spill trample
our pitcher-toss victory. I would not clean vomit out of my car! As traffic slowed again I weighed my
options. There are very few
circumstances where I feel its acceptable to put your car in park on the
freeway, but this was one of them. I
waited, unbuckled, watched the break patterns as far as I could see. And when traffic stopped I threw the car into
park, half-crawled back, grabbed the pitcher, wiggled back into my seat, put it
in drive, lidded the pitcher and re-buckled.
And then traffic inched forward.
Because the Lord loves me.
Needless to say, the welcome that Gommy and Papa received
that evening was a little less enthusiastic than usual. But everyone pushed through for a nice dinner
out, and then we had a wonderfully lazy morning the next day. Coffee and breakfast and reading in Sam’s bed
and legos, etc. Too bad that Daddy had
to go to work. We pulled ourselves
together for an afternoon outing and headed to the bowling alley, along with
the rest of Katy, Tx. Because, did I
mention that it rained for most of our spring break? A two hour wait for a lane wasn’t in the
cards for our crew, so we went around the corner to Chuck-E-Cheese. That place is, well, special. But the kids had a great time and Sam even
saw one of his classmates there.
On Thursday we planned our day a little better and made it
to the bowling alley before the crowds.
We actually had a really good time!
Bowling alley’s have come a long way in the last 15 years and now have
the ability to pop up bumpers for specific players on your line up. While I won’t deny that Sam did make use of
the bumpers, it certainly was not on every throw. He’s got hope! Me, not so much. We have no idea if Annabelle has any skill or
not because my girl hit her low point that day and literally fell asleep
sitting up on the bench without leaning her back against anything. Gommy took pitty on her and allowed Sam to
bowl the rest of her frames.
Friday we convinced Daddy to take the day off of work and we
hit up the Rodeo! Ok technically it was
the Livestock Show and Carnival, but none of us are concert people. We’ve managed to get my parents there a
couple of times now, so maybe we’ll make them Texans yet! Petting zoo, pony rides, collecting the
Ag-Venture cards, a tour through the farming process and then finally the
carnival rides. Sam was able to ride a
lot more this year but we still had to hunt pretty hard for Annabelle. They enjoyed the games, too, and Sam was a
surprisingly good sport about not being able to win the stuffed donut. I was very, very proud of him. When the tickets were gone we stuffed
ourselves with various fried treats, frozen lemonade for the kids, who seemed
to think our fried s’mores and Oreos weren’t a good choice – fools. But really, there’s no better way to follow
up the bacon-wrapped sausage on a stick that you had for lunch, right? But then it was time to head home, because in
all honesty it was no warmed than 60 degrees and misting at us for a good bit
of our time there. The Ohioans were not
pleased with the weather that we provided for them.
On Saturday the kids were treated to a bike ride to
Starbucks and I got to take my mom shopping and to the ballet! Sunday was church, lunch and then off to the
airport again. Sam chose to stay home
with the excuse of carsickness, but he and I both know the truth – goodbyes are
very hard for him and he’d rather get it over with quickly. That boy has some strong emotions running
through his vains!
Sprinkled in with our other activities was a lot of quality
play. We all spent hours building legos,
the result of which was a lego city that remained constructed in its assigned
spots around Sam’s room for several weeks.
Sam and Papa masted the all-sports challenge. I take that back. Papa didn’t seem to understand Sam’s house
rules and actually did quite poorly in the Sam-led challenge. Sam was awarded a large number of
trophies. We read a lot and snuggled the
sick-o a lot. And Papa and Daddy paid
the price for that a few days later.
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