a peek inside the fishbowl

Here’s my problem, I don’t like crowds very much. It’s not so bad that I’ll break out in a sweat and start hyperventilating, but it comes pretty close. Sure, I’ll do it for the kids, but in my experience, the kids really don’t like being (a) packed like sardines (b) knocked around by errant purses and elbows and (c) possibly trampled.

And as we all know, if mummy’s not happy, EVERYONE SUFFERS.

Sadly, we don’t ever get to travel to exotic locations over March Break. It’s just too expensive for us. I would love nothing more than to pack it all up and go somewhere amazing. I love to travel with my family, and I’m game to go anywhere – hot or cold – this time of year. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY.

So we make do with staying in Ottawa. It’s not so bad, right? There’s a lot to do right here in town.

My March Break strategy is this: Do one fun thing every day, and fill the rest with down time (down time is a must!), reading, outdoor play (if the weather co-operates), and I’m sorry to say… regular chores like grocery shopping and house tidying. Hey, it needs to be done, right?

(The trick is to hold off on that One Thing until after the chores are done. It works remarkably well, and you get to make declarations like: “Of COURSE you can have ice cream for breakfast! But you need to clean your room first!”)

Works.Every.Time.

All kidding aside, the One Thing We Do can be big or small, cheap or expensive, at home or somewhere around Ottawa. But I have found that by doing at least ONE THING, it makes it seem like you accomplished a lot over March Break. And I like that feeling.

Here is a list of the things I think we might do over March Break. The second part of this list (below it) will be things we’ve actually done, and I’ll update it as the week goes on. Just because.

p.s. if you have relatively crowd-free March break suggestions (whether they’re in Ottawa or not) leave ’em in the comments below!

• go to the library and take out a huge stack of books to last us the week (DONE! See below.)
• take the bus downtown to visit Mark at work, and take him out to lunch (DONE! See below.)
• pump up our bike tires and go for the first bike ride of the season
• pay a visit to T & T Supermarket (yes, this is a fun excursion for us!)
• Bubble tea in Chinatown
• walk down to Westboro Village for a cookie, maybe visit the secret garden and see what’s happening there (I’m hoping we’ll spot some redwing blackbirds)
• baking
• a special craft
• sleepover at Nana and Papa’s (for the girls that is!), which includes a mani/pedi too.
• a road trip (DONE! See below.)

Monday – The girls made KD for the first time (I kid ye not), and after a major house tidy we went to T&T Supermarket where we picked up a lot of neat treats (click to see a photo of some of our haul here). Plus we’re making sushi for dinner!

Tuesday – Road trip to my mother’s place. Included: a long drive with lots of great views, tunes, snacks, new earrings, dessert-making, visiting, fried chicken, a nature walk (I can’t wait to show you their photos), stargazing, daring feats, and a trip to their favourite playground. (And that’s because the equipment was the rare 1960s politically-incorrect and accident-inducing kind. Like this one and this one.)

This trip included some personal growth for me as well. This may sound pathetic to some, but I figured out how to put windshield washer fluid in our Prius (!) I had to pull into the Canadian Tire in Carleton Place to buy some. Sadly, I could not open the childproof cap. Thankfully a tough-thumbed samaritan helped me out in a moment of crisis. :)

Wednesday – We did a super secret thing for CBC radio interview (we were interviewed for a story!), and met Mark for lunch downtown at Lone Star for mediocre fajitas (toppings were dried out and wilted… clearly from the day before.. ugh), took a stroll around the Byward Market, picked up some fresh new kicks in a cool little shop, admired baked goods and new views (I am not including pics from all the gorgeous things I spotted at Urban Barn and EQ3!). Some people apparently had energy to spare so we did a bit of horsing around on the way home.  After a much-needed nap for me, we struck out for Westboro Village, where we undertook a serious Hot Chocolate Evaluation. If you want to get the results (and they might surprise you!), it will be available in the next issue of the Extra Helping. Sign up here if you haven’t already!

Thursday – we made chewy pretzels for dinner and had friends over for a movie… the new Footloose! :)

Friday – I dropped the girls off at their grandparents in the morning. They had appointments for manicures with their grandma, followed by a sleepover. I went to Ikea (ALONE) and tweeted and shopped and had a lovely lunch that even included a very indulgent glass of white wine with my blueberry spinach salad. Bliss! I met Mark downtown for a bite to eat and we saw a movie at the Bytowne, after which we met friends for drinks at the Hintonberg Hub. Heavenly.