Spring Break(apart)

We are on Spring Break here in small town, middle America, USA. The kids are thrilled to have some time off. I enjoy having them around (most of the time) and it's good to be able to spend some time with the girls. I will hardly see Mr 18 though, and that makes me sad.

Unfortunately our Spring Break will not include any sort of family trip. This year instead we will spend our break in 3 different places, and none of it except home includes all of us being together. That says something about the busy lifestyles we all lead now, doesn't it?

Hubby and Mr 18 just returned from enrolling Mr 18 in his classes at the university for next year. They had parent orientation and some testing for the incoming freshman. The guys left at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon and traveled most of the day. They attended what was required of them on Monday at the university and headed for home, arriving just after 11 p.m. last night. Both of them complained of sore rear ends from all the sitting.

Tomorrow all the girls head to visit Grandparents in their hometown. While we are there we are planning to do some shopping, get haircuts, and hopefully have a little fun and down time. Hubby and Mr 18 are headed to work at the farm. Seeding season is fast approaching and the guys can't afford to take the time off to come with us.

The guys are however planning on leaving again as they head out on Friday and Saturday to go look at a vehicle that Mr 18 has been checking out. He is hoping it is "the one" as are we because then we would be done shopping for his graduation present. He gets one car from us in his lifetime, it better be a good one.

It makes me a little nostalgic for the days when Spring Break meant we would take the kids somewhere to stay at a hotel and play in the pool. Rarely do we go very far from home, but it was always good to get away together for a short time. I have come to realize over the last year that time like that is long past for us. The kids are all getting too old and involved in too many things for us to spend time just hanging out at a pool. I miss those days! I feel like Miss 9 was sort of cheated out of some of that togetherness time as well. But life goes on and she has the fortune of having older siblings who mostly take good care of her. So in some ways, she has things that they never had. So I guess it evens out.