what I did on my spring break vacation

When your kids aren't officially in school, spring break is kind of an odd week. Do you take a vacation? Everyone else is. It seems only fair. So, yesterday my cousin and I whisked our kids off to Wisconsin to "the lake house" for a couple days. So far, here's what we've done:

1. Play Candyland, Yahtzee Jr., Candyland, Yahtzee Jr., Candyland
2. Assess the "leaking water" situation in the basement utility room; show local handy guy what has become steady rainfall in basement utility room; watch handy guy panic and, with help of second handy guy, fix frozen septic system
3. Make dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner and clean up, clean up, clean up, clean up
4. Take walk with five ill-attired kids through melting snow/ice (This includes Liam who was barefoot - at his stubborn insistence - in rubber rain boots since dad put him in the car before we left without putting any shoes on him. After we had driven an hour toward our destination, I realized Liam did not have shoes on and called to ask Andrew what the heck. He said, "I thought you packed shoes for him. I just carried him to the car." Who goes out of the house in winter without shoes? Brits!)
5. Make homemade pretzels and chocolate chip cookies
6. Eat all the pretzels and most of the cookies
7. Go a little crazy at impromptu dance party (While shaking our booties to Mary J Blige, my cousin Josie busted a couple moves and said, "In heaven, I am definitely going to be black.")
8. Build a toasty fire and almost (almost) feel okay that it's still freezing out on "spring" break
9. Think about all the work I have to do and should have done and haven't done and yawn and go to bed

Our short-lived trip, planned til Saturday, will end tomorrow because, as much as they have enjoyed spotting "bear" tracks in the snow and watching movies on a 96-inch screen, all the kids are a little homesick. As 6-year-old Cami put it, "This is a real nice place, but I miss my dad." And, the truth is, keeping five kids fed and happy and a house that isn't mine picked up and clean is a lot more work than just hanging out at the pigsty we call home. Don't get me wrong, this lake house is capital G gorgeous and capital P peaceful and capital S stocked but unless you leave the kids at home, it isn't much of a break. Maybe in five years, Josie and I will leave the kids with their dads (who they miss so much) and take a real spring break at the lake house. The list then will be something like, Read book, Sleep, Watch movie, Sleep, Drink bottle of wine, Sleep, Dance, Sleep, Take walk, Sleep some more. I can't wait.