Ahh! Fall Break! It's that time of year again...that time we all look forward to with hold your breath excitement and anticipation! (Insert sound of record needle scratching across record) What?! You've never heard of fall break? Yeah, me neither. Not until about 4 years ago when my lil guys started school. Yep, here in the good ole State of Colorado, in the fair city of Colorado Springs, in the not so well known district of 49 we GET to have fall break. Wait....Wha? I know. I know. But, let me take a small moment of my day to give you the highlights of WHY we are the privileged chosen of this break that no one in the rest of the world and hardly anyone else in our city has.
You see, kids, a few years ago, the smarty pants, higher ups in our district claim that they took a survey asking parents various questions about their preferences for the school schedule--start and end times for the school day, where the school buses should pick up and drop off, and yes, apparently there was a question about having a fall break. But, what no one seems to remember is that the pay off for this fall break would be to start school in the middle of summer instead of the, preferred... end of summer. Instead of getting to enjoy all 12 weeks of soaking in the sun(you know, that 2 hours we get before noon here in Colorado when the temp finally reaches a reasonably warm level), playing in the pool (hopefully yours isn't in the shade til 2:00pm and therefore you don't get to play very often because of the afternoon thunderstorms that come through like clockwork), eating Popsicle's, playing at the park and doing all of the summery things we all love to do--they decided that we only needed 9 weeks to get all of our activities in. We GET to start school on August 1st and since that makes for a pretty long stretch til Thanksgiving and Christmas break, we GET to have fall break.
Now, I don't mean to be one to complain. Having a break can certainly be nice, but I'll be real honest...I'd rather have back my summer. For the last four years we have had to move through our summer activities at break neck speed. Starting in late May I'm barking out orders to go play like a drill sergeant:
"Okay, today, we need to go play at the park! I don't care that it's only 50 degrees, just bundle up--wear your heavy coat and gloves, it's summer break--we don't have time to wait until the weather is warmer. There's a schedule to keep here--we have miniature golf to play, we must go camping and fishing, there's the zoo to visit, we gotta go to a water park and a baseball game. Move it! Move it! Show some hustle!" My poor boys move meekly through our break looking dazed and confused as to why our summer break doesn't look or feel like the ones they've seen on TV.
Truth be told, I do love fall--it's probably my favorite time of year and I DO enjoy spending time with my boys. I've really been missing them since school started, but coming up with ways to entertain Thing 1 and Thing 2 so they don't destroy our happy dwelling, is a little trickier than than it would have been 2 months ago. Plus, with Christmas only a mere 78 days away, the ole pocket book is a little thin on funds. With the weather turning cooler, it's harder to find free and inexpensive things to do. So, for the sake of my sanity and the humblest of hopes, I turn to you today with the plea of my heart crying out for some ideas on some activities we can do for the next 10 days that will not break the bank and not drive me crazy.
PLEASE, for the love of all things holy, do NOT suggest anything you have seen on pinterest. For you crafty sorts out there--I love you, I think you're creativity is....well...just nifty, but I am still cleaning out glitter from every crevice in my kitchen table after following an over zealous suggestion 3 years ago. Movies, movies and more movies are all I have in my arsenal right now and I'm trying really hard to not turn my children into mindless, vacant zombies.
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