Spud Family Spring Break

Spring Break is always somewhat of an oxymoron for the Spud Family.  We usually don't really take a break and it never feels like spring!  The local school board laughs itself silly by having the district spring break the weekend before the semester break for the University.  This means that if you 'or someone you love' works at the University and has kids in school the likelihood of your being able to go away and do something fun is less feasible.

I am kind of a stickler for my kids going to school when school is in session, but this year I took a look at their last report cards.  Both Spudette and Jr. Spud had 3s in everything.  If you are wondering why they are given numbers rather than a letter grade, join the club.  I have no idea why they do this, but a 3 means "At or above standard" their test scores were also very high and I realized...they are in grade school!!!  Give the spudlets a break!!!  So, we decided to do just that.

We stayed at home for most of their Spring Break as Dr. Spud was giving finals, grading papers, emailing students to let them know that he cannot change their grades even though he likes them very much, attending graduation and all those other things professors do.  We enjoyed a lovely Easter at home, then bright and early on Monday morning we headed out of town.

We stopped for a bite to eat with family in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake and then proceeded as far south in Utah as you can go and still have a bed in which to sleep.

Yes, folks we went to lovely, sunny, wonderful St. George, Utah.  Ah...the red rocks, the cacti, the palm trees, the sagebrush, the temps in the 80s!...oh how homey it feels to this sun-loving soul!  We spent the next day and a half (which went by way too quickly) swimming, playing racquetball, tennis and mini-golf (all at the condo where we stayed), visiting the Dinosaur Discovery Center (saw some awesome dino tracks and more), hiking in Snow Canyon, shopping (yes, there is some lovely shopping in St. George), and just generally enjoying recharging our batteries. (Do you enjoy all my parenthetical expressions and my run-on sentences???) A night at Grandma and Grandpa's in Salt Lake on the way home rounded out our quick vay-cay.

I have now made some rather important decisions.  #1 - I will be far less reluctant to take the kids out of school for a few days for a great family vacation.  It was educational, physical and really good for us.  #2 - Red rock deserts are really my thing! Not to mention warm weather.  My flip flops have missed me and I have missed them.  I am now wearing them again daily! #3 - I really need to work on my golf game so that when Dr. Spud retires and we can live wherever we want, we can move to St. George.  Yes, there is a lot to do there that does not include golf, but that would just be an added benefit.

We got home on Thursday and have been playing catch up a bit.  Today life gets back to normal.  The new semester starts tomorrow.  The Spudlets are back in school and Dr. Spud is back on campus.  For now, I get to look forward to my tulips blooming, budding trees, allergy headaches (ok, not so much fun, but it means the weather is getting nicer!), weeding, starting seeds, registering the kids for summer lessons, spring cleaning, painted toenails, afternoon and evening walks and bike rides.  Yay!!!!