Spring Break

It's spring break for the local schools here in Portland this week.  Spring break never used to be a big deal for us.  We just went about our regular business of life other than maybe choosing to stay away from places like the science museum because school was out and it would be busy.

However, with Davan in Zig Zags, it's been a bit more on the radar for us the last couple of years.  Last year, for example, we took the opportunity for Davan not to miss any practices and went to Colorado to visit my parents.

This year we're not going anywhere, but Davan is supper excited that it's spring break.  She's still doing her daily math and French.  She's still doing chores.  However, the exciting thing?  Lena is off school!  Davan and Lena have plans all week.  More specifically, they have plans to do something together everyday all week - exactly what is a bit looser, although they do have a whole set of ideas.

Yesterday was sunny and eventually got pretty warm.  Lena showed up after her morning ortho appointment and the girls took off for the park with plans to go to Oak's Park - the local, smallish amusement park where they were running a two for one special this week - at noon when they opened.  I'd agreed to give them a ride, but later thought they really should have ridden their bikes.  It's not that far, the weather was nice and it would have saved me time.

Turns out that time saving would have been good yesterday.  Luckily, I got in and went grocery shopping first thing in the morning because I got a call from Do Jump asking if Davan could sub for the afternoon session of their spring break camp yesterday.  She couldn't, having made plans, but I offered myself up if they were desperate.  I'm not a trained teacher for Do Jump, but I am an advanced student, so I know what I'm doing and they've had me teach before when desperate.  They said they'd let me know.

I took the girls to Oak's Park, walked Ranger quickly, and ran (literally) to Do Jump, telling the girls that I could pick them up after 4:00 or they could, if they so desired, walk home.  It'd be a long walk at about 5 miles, but not undo-able.  I also mentioned some options like walking on the Springwater Corridor.  I mentioned these things because Davan has recently started to feel a little motion sick on some rides and Lena was expressing similar concerns.

After my three hours of teaching (Whew, three hours is a long time to entertain kids!  It was fun, but I was ready to be done and I must say I like teaching the hour or hour and a half classes better.), I found some 6 text messages on my phone plus a voice mail.  Not all were from Davan.

A friend of mine was texting to reschedule a walk we'd been supposed to take that morning but she'd had to cancel due to a sick kid.  My mother in law was calling to confirm that she was coming to dinner.  And then there was Davan.

She and Lena had gotten done with Oak's Park around 3:00 and had opted to walk on the Springwater a bit.  She texted with a meet up place for me to pick them up.  Then she texted to say that they were getting themselves home as an adventure and they knew what they were doing.  The last one was to say that she was just texting in case I was worried, but they were fine, on a bus and headed toward home.

Okay, then.  I'm a free range type of parent, so this didn't freak me out.  In fact, I'm glad that she and Lena felt confident enough to tackle the buses on their own.  Lena, apparently, usually carries a bus schedule in her bag, but didn't have one yesterday, so they were winging it based on common sense and previous bus riding experience.

The next text I got, in the middle of trying to get dinner together for company and walking the dog again, was that they were at Lena's and she'd be home for dinner.  Awesome.

So, we finished the day with dinner with my MIL.  It was a pretty full day for all.

Today Davan is going to Sky High with another friend - gasp!  Then there is an optional Zig Zag workout this evening, after which Lena is coming over to spend the night.  The girls have plans to visit Voodoo Doughnuts and watch Harry Potter movies.  Davan had given them up after the third one, disappointed in the adaptation, but Lena has talked her into giving them another try.

I know there is more on tap for the week, but we'll see what develops.