A Break in Routine

In October, the kids had a week long break from school.  I am not gonna lie, I was counting down.  We were exhausted and really needed some “fun” by the time it came along.  Because we did a good bit of traveling during our time in the States and we are trying hard to save money this term (that whole, we’re sending one off to college in 18 months thing!) we aren’t planning to take a traveling vacation during this 2 year term.  There really aren’t many travel options in our country and plane tickets and/or visas to another country are just more than we wanna spend this term.  

However, not “vacationing” doesn’t mean that we don’t see the value of spending time together as a family.  So, we decided that we would take a week of vacation from work while the kids were on Fall Break and tried to have some R & R together.  We slept late nearly every day, which was heavenly.  Just not having a tight schedule was a treat.

The break started off with a big softball tournament that the kid's school hosts each year.  We spent one day at the ball fields, cheering on their friends and enjoying the company of other families.

One day, we went to a local hotel and swam in the pool.  We had it nearly to ourselves, since it was just an average Monday.  To our surprise, they let us carry in a picnic, so we sat poolside and ate lunch, purchasing only our sodas on site.  It was a nice afternoon together.  

Another day we stayed home and played games all day long, while we ate assorted junk food that we don't have too often here.  We watched movies together on several evenings, with no one saying they needed to bow out to do homework.

Towards the end of the week, we went out to some large sand dunes which sit about 60 minutes outside of the city.  We joined with 3 other families to share a sunset picnic and a climb together.  Because it was a hot time of year, we couldn't go out during the prime of the day, but we hope to return sometime during cool season so we can enjoy them before the sunsets!

Here's Lily enjoying the view from her perch on the dunes.

Abe, climbing higher

The beautiful view!

Little man was less than thrilled that we wouldn't let him run off with the high school boys.

We hosted two birthday parties that week, one for Abe and another for one of Abby's good friends.  She really, really wanted to give her a surprise party and so she planned, plotted, and crafted to make it happen.  She invited all of the girls from the Junior class and they had a nice evening in our backyard, with a bit of a beach theme.  

SURPRISE!

A few of the party-goers!

We had a pleasant week and we were ready to start back and tackle quarter number 2.  I have to say that our second quarter of school has gone much better so far than our first did.  I'm not sure if it's because we knew what to expect this time or if it's because we now realize that it's possible to just survive it for 9 weeks and then another break will roll around quickly.  We are also learning to appreciate the good parts and endure the not so good parts.   When we've done it 4 times, we'll have a year in the books!  Needless to say, we're already looking forward to Christmas Break in just 5 more weeks!