Breakin' In the Spring

I haven't looked forward to spring break this much since my years as a college student, back when I still associated the week with wild and crazy beach vacations in Florida. I took two spectacular spring break trips during my young adult years: to Clearwater Beach with friends my senior year of high school and to Disney World with my sister my junior year of college. I have wonderful memories from both, and feel lucky that 1) my parents allowed me to travel sans adults as a high school student and 2) my parents helped "bail me out" financially when my sister DIDN'T BRING ANY MONEY on our trip and I had to pay for everything. I have awesome parents.

Spring Break 1997 - Clearwater Beach, FL

We have no plans for a wild and crazy beach vacation in Florida, but we intend to take full advantage of this break. The combination of illnesses, never-ending rain, numerous "probable" snow delays/days that never came to fruition, and the spring forward time change (I loathe Daylight Savings Time) has made for a rough couple of weeks and we need these nine days to rejuvenate.

Who says you can't wear
rain boots on sunny days?

Our little foursome kicked off the break on Friday night with dinner out, an evening walk to the park, and an epic game of Trouble. Then, while Tom worked all weekend, the kids and I worked out at the gym, shopped for rain boots, planted onions in the garden, watched Big 10 basketball, read books, and visited a new outdoor market outside of College Station. We'll split the remainder of the week between home - playing with friends, watching movies, baking cookies, attending a couple of camps, and most importantly, updating our NCAA basketball tournament brackets (a little history can be found here and here) - and San Antonio, where we plan to visit the zoo, a museum or two, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. Unfortunately the weather forecast predicts rain throughout the entire length of our trip, hence the rain boot shopping...

I wrote once before about how our failure to truly embrace Michigan's beauty while it was right at our fingertips - for six-and-a-half years - is one of my greatest regrets. I can't have those same regrets about Texas should we someday move on from College Station, which is why I created my Texas Bucket List (which exists right now in a state of disarray because I keep adding to it) and why we're heading to San Antonio and why future spring (and summer) breaks will include more trips like this one.

What are your plans for Spring Break? Anything wild and crazy?

And if it rains the entire time we're in San Antonio, what do you suggest as far as indoor activities are concerned? (We can handle spitting, sprinkling, and even drizzling rain, but I can't imagine we'd enjoy the zoo very much in a torrential downpour.)