Somerville, Mass – Vacation week is some kind of a sick joke. It is wrong on many levels:
1. The twins are in preschool. They do not need a vacation from preschool.
2. It’s not just vacation from school. There’s also no gymnastics, no swimming and none of the other activities that keep us sane. (Yes, I now know that I could have signed them up for some special activities during vacation week, but this whole thing caught me by surprise, so I had nothin’. NOTHING.)
3. Every single kid IN THE STATE is on vacation. That means that all of our go-to destinations for adventures and outings are jam-packed.
4. The kicker is that vacation week is also the week I am supposed to finish a manuscript and the week before we leave for Moscow. Not exactly a good time to take a vacation.
The twins made things worse by coming down with nasty colds–not nasty enough to knock them out and keep them bedridden (not that I would wish that on them), but nasty enough to make them “less pleasant” to be around. That means that the few plans that I did manage to make for them–not happening. Daddio had graciously offered to take them up to visit MIL one day, but she does not want to see them when they are sick. I also had to cancel my babysitting-trade playdate (and yes, it was my turn to get the morning off).
Under these dire circumstances, here’s what I came up with to survive the week:
- Gardening At least we had mostly nice weather, and we managed to get the garden cleaned up for spring. Best of all, my saint of a neighbor invited the twins over to “help” her plant her vegetable garden, and they stayed there for two hours. I’m not sure how that happened, but I hope it happens again.
- The Lego Movie Yes, those were my kids coughing up their lungs in the back of the the movie theater. We tried to keep our distance from you. I am truly sorry if some germs came your way, but I was desperate.
- Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day This is a real thing, and today is the official day. So the twins and I showed up at Daddio’s work place, where we met his colleagues, ate animal crackers and ran up and down the hallowed halls of academia. Probably not exactly what the good folks at Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work had in mind, but we made it work for us.
Now, is this vacation over yet?