My Vacation Wrap-Up
Friday night -Valentine’s Day! I came home from work the with kiddos and we made M&M cookies for Dennis. I had asked Den what he wanted for dinner that night and he suggested making our own shaved steak and cheese sandwiches with peppers and onions - they were delicious!
Saturday - We went to a surprise 40th birthday party for a friend. Paintball and then back to their place for food and drinks and hanging out. I didn’t do the paintball portion, but I fully enjoyed the food and drinks and conversation. Dennis’ mom slept over so she could take care of the kids while we were out. Super fun adult afternoon and evening! No pictures because I was too busy having fun!
Sunday - Relaxed morning. Target run and lunch with the kids at Panera (they love that place!). Came home and played outside and did sledding in the yard. We came inside and Dominic looked exhausted and felt warm - he had a temperature. I sent him to his room to relax and Zach watched a movie downstairs with us.
Monday - Dom was home sick. He looked terrible. My usually very energetic and chatty kid just wanted to lay in his bed. He said his body felt heavy. Fever all day and he spent his time watching this LEGO City Undercover thing on the tablet. I’m not into videos where you’re watching someone play a game, but this kind of runs like you’re watching a movie and the person playing the game gives witty commentary (at least witty to a 7yo). I’m cool with it and we use it for special times or sick days.
I volunteered to help Dominic’s teacher staple these math packets. I guess each kiddo in the classroom has a massive (think almost 1,000 pages) math book and each lesson needs to be pulled out and stapled for the kids to complete. It makes sense to me - if those massive and probably expensive math workbooks got sent home they’d likely get wrecked. But the process of ripping the pages out is time consuming - and it’s totally a way I can volunteer! So I listened to podcasts and did that while Dom giggled at the tablet upstairs. It was basically like having a day at home alone. I barely saw my poor Dominic. Zachy had a great day at school.
Tuesday - Dom felt much better but he was still home from school. We dropped Zach in the morning and decided to pick him up between 12 and 1 because it was going to snow. Good choice. The snow is really beautiful and we enjoyed it from our cozy house. We hung out, watched Moana, the kids played. I had soup in the crock pot. Solid day!
Wednesday - Dominic was so excited to go back to school he was awake at 5:30 so I could check his temperature and confirm that he was still healthy. He was! I got a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee in peace, wash my hair, just get a day to catch up.
Thursday - A few weeks ago we got an email from Dominic’s school saying that he was one of the top readers in the school during the winter reading challenge. Thursday was the day that the kids got recognized in an assembly - they got a medal and the top readers received tickets to see the Providence Bruins play on March 8. The assembly was a surprise - and I am so happy that it happened during my vacation week! Dominic was so excited!
After the assembly, I went to the mall for a new lipstick, Trader Joes for a few items, and then to Target to browse in peace.
Friday - Dominic won an item in the PTO private auction this past fall - he got to be a fire drill helper. His principal sent him a letter after he won the auction referring to him as the Junior Incident Commander (we’re going to frame it - it was so awesome). So Friday Dominic got to leave class, meet with a fire department official, ask a staff member to pull the fire alarm, and use a walkie talkie to help the principal communicate with staff to make sure everyone exited the building safely. Dom surprised us by becoming a little shy, but it was a super fun experience.
After the fire drill I dismissed both kids and we drove up to visit my parents in Intervale, NH. The kids were great in the car and we spent the evening tubing at Cranmore. Lots of fun!
Saturday - My parents and I took the kids to a small aquarium up near StoryLand. We saw trout, “nibble fish” (you stick your hand in the tank and the fish all swarm your hand because they eat dead skin - it feels like they’re kissing you!), and manta rays (that you could pet). We stayed for about 2.5 hours - the kids had an absolute blast. Zachy liked the otters and Dom liked the rays. After dinner I drove the 3 hours home and slept in my own bed! The kids stayed with my parents and will remain with them and later with my in-laws for the rest of their school vacation.
Sunday - Slept in - coffee with Dennis - massive cleaning session. The house needed a little TLC. Dennis handled the groceries and I did the cleaning. I took down all the Valentine’s Day stuff, and generally deep cleaned a lot of the house. It felt really good - a mini spring cleaning. And the weather was mild enough that we could open the windows for awhile and change the air in the house.
This was a really great way to get ready to go back to work!
Overall this was a nice vacation. I felt bad that Dominic was sick, although it turned into just a quiet day at home. He was comfortable - his only complaint was that his body felt “heavy” (from the fever). I’m glad the kids got dismissed Friday - it made for a fun way to kick off their vacation week!
Back to reality…
