Tag: Spring Break

March 20, 2023 – My World Tour

March 20, 2023 /

Sometimes we joke that we are going on a Griswold Family Vacation. That is partially based on where we are going and how we are going to achieve it. I myself have some additional business travel that I am not really looking forward to as well as us driving all over the southwestern United States.

I also spend a lot of time talking about the types of trips that I took throughout my life during the Spring Break period. This is to give an idea about the things that we have done and provide inspiration for you to make your own memories.

End Your Programming Routine: Time seems to be accelerating. By the time we get to the Summer, my family is starting to scatter to the wind. I talk about some of the reasons we are taking this trip in the podcast. I am definitely not getting sentimental, but my kid’s futures are starting to get real. Enjoy your time while you have it.

March 21, 2022 -What is Seafoam Green?

March 21, 2022 /

When I was young enough to have a spring break, going to the beach meant Cancun, Daytona or Padre Island. At least that is what I saw on MTV, remember this is pre-internet. Of course, I was never going to spend that kind of money so we settled on the Oregon coast. Frequently, we spend a couple of days during spring break week.

As I wrote about last week, a storm was coming, but we were going to the beach anyway. The family was staying for several days but I was just spending the day and taking the dog for a long walk. The truth is, the weather wasn’t as bad as I was expecting (for a storm). The surf was rough and I ran across to big piles of foam.

I don’t think the picture did it true justice. When I saw this in person, I thought it looked yellowish rather than greenish. I would say the picture looks more brown than green or yellow. You get the point. When I hear the name, I think of a washed out green. Or maybe a better description is Kelly green with a lot of white added to it.

I once heard an interview with Sherwin Williams marketing and the person said that each color name is unique and never to be repeated or changed. That means when they come up with a new color, they have to validate that the name has not been used before. What I can’t remember was what person in my life questioned the origin of the name Seafoam Green. When I saw this pile of foam, that question popped in my mind and I took a picture and now I am writing this.

End Your Programming Routine: I am keeping it light today. I guess this is more of an anecdote rather than my typical writing, but that’s OK because I am on spring break too.

March 16, 2022 – You Know Spring Break is Coming…

March 16, 2022 /

Spring Break starts this week for my kids. For me, this means that it is final’s week at the local university and things like traffic lighten up a little bit for the next couple of weeks. Since I live on Main Street, I see a direct correlation between school being in session and traffic.

However, I know that it is going to be spring break when I look at the weather forecast. Growing up, we often took extended camping trips during this week. I can think of multiple times it rained like cats and dogs the entire trip. In college, I remember distinctly having an inch of water in my tent with wet sleeping bags, pillows and clothes.

Lately, it has been more often a beach house rental. At least we are sheltered from elements but it tends to keep us in the house and less out and about. I don’t want to say that every trip was wet. I had a rafting trip on the John Day river that was dry. Ironically, 2020 at the pandemic’s very beginning it was a beautiful week as well. In fact the entire spring was dry as I spent 90% of the time working on the house. Remember that we had huge wildfires that fall as well.

I also don’t want to sound like I am complaining because I am not. I am simply saying that I cannot count on consistently nice weather during spring break. Any plans are subject to a deluge. Of course that is relative to where the plans are as well I am mostly talking about reasonably distanced local trips that are 4-5 days long.

End Your Programming Routine: With risk comes reward. Sometimes playing it safe, you miss the best opportunities. I am simply saying, make seasonally appropriate plans and prepare for the what-ifs. This year I am saving my vacation but the family is going to spend four days at the coast. I will be home to take care of the animals and work, but I will get some free time as well.

March 27, 2020 – Nearing the end of Spring Break

March 27, 2020 /

We took this week to have a stay-cation being that it was supposed to be Spring Break. Our plans were to meet up with another family and spend the week on the coast for some rest and relaxation. That changed first with them coming down with suspected Covid-19 and then the state lockdown.

Next week, we are instituting a much more rigid schedule that will include personal development (self paced learning, reading, art/music, etc.) time, earlier bedtimes and wakeup times. This will be in place until we get word that life will be returning to normal – hopefully April 28.

I am sure everyone that is enduring this period seriously is finding aspects of the quarantine challenging. I am a person that treasures my alone time and personal space, that has been hard to find. But I am also a person that thinks family time is valuable. Here are some of the ways that we have been enjoying the time together.

Puzzles an games for hours
  • Puzzles – This 1000 piece puzzle pictured above took us three solid days to complete. This is a staple activity for our vacation time. It allows everyone to participate and interact for long periods of time
  • Games – I went back in the waaaay back machine to dig out old role playing games (from the 1980s!), build characters and adventure. We also have played Monopoly, poker and Mind Trap.
  • Family movies at night – We have been working our way through the Twilight Series and in honor of Kenny Rogers we watched ‘The Gambler’ the other night.
  • Swap Day – The kids were the parents and the parents were the kids. They planned and executed all of the meals as well as led the entertainment decisions for the day.
  • Cooking- We have been making comfort foods. We have been doing the activity with different family members and involving them in different aspects. A lot more baking and deserts have been made recently.
  • Create parody video – We wrote, acted, filmed and edited a video that was a lot of laughs. We are still in the editing phase, but should be up on YouTube shortly.
  • Make-over time – Not really, but my wife has been bugging me to shave my head for years. So I did, to see what it would look like.

I have to say that a lot of these things I would normally not want to spend time doing. But it seems as though forcing the issue has made something like Monopoly enjoyable. As we head into next week, hopefully it will be an empowering time teaching the kids that they don’t need school to learn and find interest in pursuing their personal projects.