Signs of the Season {A Spring Break List}

On Sunday, we went on our first "Search for Signs of Spring" stroll of this year; there will be many to follow in the next few weeks and months. We do this every year, starting sometime in March, usually; that time when you start to think that winter will never end and snow will cover the ground forever. We usually start at our local nature center, Woodlake; a bit of woods smack in the middle of the city.

Admittedly, it's a bit early for finding signs of spring here in Minnesota, especially this year, considering the winter we've had, but we use broad definitions and look for anything that tells us winter is coming to a close. And we found a few of those indicators yesterday.

Will and I walked through the packed-snow covered trails while the boys went off-trail and plodded along in the deep snow, looking for animal prints and scat and any signs of spring. They joyfully called to us as they found a deer print or presumed coyote scat or saw a bird high up in the trees, singing its heart out.

There were lots of families out skiing, strolling and snowshoeing through the woods. It was a beautiful day, actually reaching the 40s and yet snow is still quite available for winter sport.

We noted drips of water coming off downed trees that they shimmied up and leapt off of. We saw the happy chickadees singing and flitting from branch to branch high above our heads. We delighted in seeing the sap bags attached to the Maples; this week should be perfect for getting the sap running. We stomped in puddles and slush. And we talked about the mulberries we like to pick and eat in the summer as we walked past those now leafless trees.

It gave us hope to see these changes in the landscape, and it got me to thinking about Spring Break.

I love Spring Break because it was always such a magical time for me as a kid; a kid who always hated school. And as a kid, the week seemed to last forever!

We never went on any big trips or did anything extravagant, but it was a time to work on projects or play games or read or watch movies and just be. For a person who does not do well with schedules, this week of no scheduled events or times to be somewhere was delightful in and of itself.

Since becoming a mom with kids in school, I still look forward to Spring Break. We love to do things around the house, but the mini adventures out and about are also something to look forward to. So, here is my list of 30 things to do on Spring Break, just in case you are stuck in planning yours. Of course, I don't anticipate doing all of them; after all, that would take scheduling and I simply do not schedule this week.

Make Oobleck; my son did this at school and wanted to do it at home too and even drew out the recipe and process for us; seems like a Spring Break kind of thing to do;
Make a Peep diorama; anyone can enter the St. Paul Pioneer Press contest;
Go to the cheap movies; for us that is Riverview Theater in Minneapolis. We love the feel of this old one screen theater…and you can't beat the price of $2 a ticket.
Go to the zoo;
Go bowling;
Go ice skating; probably indoors for better ice. It's off-season for hockey, but we still have to keep up with skating.
Go roller skating; just for a change of pace;
Go to the arboretum; and for us that means the Maple Syrup Tours and Pancake Brunch;
Paint pictures; not my favorite thing to do with my boys….it can get very messy;
Declare a Lego Day and simply build and design with Legos all day;
Go to a museum or art center;
Have a dance party in your living room; any attire is acceptable;
Bake cupcakes for no reason other than it's SPRING BREAK!
Declare a book day; take turns reading out loud to each other and then everyone can read his or her book quietly…this way mama can read the book of her choosing too;
Go to a Nature Center; look for signs of spring…or maybe summer, depending on where you live;
Write a book together and illustrate it; Creative Kidstuff has some great bound blank books and comic books for this activity;
Spend the whole day in your jammies watching movies on Netflix or from your own dvd stash…maybe watch all of the Star Wars movies or all the Harry Potter movies; order Jimmy John's for lunch. This one is especially good if the weather is foul.
Have a tea party; yes, even if you have boys. I love tea parties and the best part is making the food for it; boys like food, especially if they have a hand in making it;
Play ball….soccer, baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf, whatever….assuming you don't have snow on the ground or have a place to play inside;
Have a Family Movie Night and make or order pizza and stay up late watching movies together…no school in the morning…;
Play in the remaining snow…assuming there is any left (wishful thinking, folks) and then make a big pot of hot cocoa…not instant…with marshmallows…for the last time this season.
Declare it Game Day and play card games and board games all day;
Walk to a park and play on the playground; again, assuming there aren't mounds and mounds of snow on the ground…it has to melt sometime, right?
Explore a part of town you haven't before; shops, restaurants, activities, etc.;
Sign your kid(s) up for a day program offered through the city or school or museum in your area; by this point, the kids {& mom} have probably reached their limits of "family time." Give everyone a break;
If close to Easter; dye eggs and stuff plastic ones and do egg hunts inside and/or outside;
Go to the dollar store and find some cheap activities/games/toys. Each person gets $4 to spend;
Hang out at a coffee shop for a few hours, each person with his or her own electronic device. It gets you out of the house, around other people and you can each have a bit of space while being together; this week is lasting forever;
Plan absolutely nothing and see where the week takes you; and
If you have done all of these things, start over again with #1…the week won't last forever and the kids grow and will have plans of their own before we know it. So, I will be trying to remember this and soaking up every minute that I can!