Our First Spring Break

With my oldest in kindergarten, we’ve become slaves to the school year calendar.  So much so that we weren’t able to make it back south for the holidays.  There just wasn’t enough of a break to make the 12-hour trek to see family.  Seriously, what is up with that anyway?

Since we didn’t go home for the holidays, we promised we’d make it down for Spring Break.  And here we are, although we almost didn’t make it.  Being a mostly one-income family, the threat of a government shutdown put our trip on the fence.  You can’t really justify that kind of expense when you’re not sure if there will be any money coming in. 

Thankfully, at the 11th hour (literally), the threat was gone and I found myself, ironically, shopping.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not really much of a planner.   It just didn’t occur to me that we were going to the beach.  I hadn’t even switched out the winter clothes yet.  So I spent most of my week making sure the kids had everything they needed. 

We travel at night, especially when making an 18-hour trip to Panama City Beach, Florida.  My mom lives there.  Since I’m not much of a planner, I waited until the last minute to pack.  I thought I had most of the day to get ready.  However, what was supposed to be a quick visit to the orthopedist for ended up taking almost the entire day, primarily due to a major accident on 695.  Literally, we walked into the house just moments before Owen got off the bus.

Miraculously, I was still able to get everything packed, the house cleaned, and the kids ready to go by 6:30 pm. Yep, I'm a supermom and I just happen to be married to a superdad. A big thanks to our neighbors who watched the kids while we got ready to go. 

After a quick breakfast for dinner at Shirley’s Diner, we were off.  For the most part, the trip went off without a hitch.  Okay, maybe it was more like just a few hitches.  Regardless we made it to Grandma’s early Saturday afternoon. 

We’ve spent the week playing in the pool, putting on the mini-green, shopping and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.  We even made a brief visit to the beach.  We’re not really sand people.  Poor Madison couldn’t really get in the water, and boy, did she want to.

Honestly, I can’t believe it’s time to leave already, but we sure did have a great time.  Now we’re off to see my grandparents in Warner Robins, GA and then to Nana and Papa’s house in Augusta for Easter.  Actually, we’re leaving the two youngest with the in-laws for a week.  I guess my vacation really starts when I get home, right?

All in all, it was all worth it.  We had a great time, and now I have to go make sure we don’t leave anything here.  Until next time…