Spring Break Staycation

[waverly]

So we are out of money after the Hawaii trip, but I still have to use up my vacation time because I need to be at 60 hours for vacation (I can use some after my anniversary date but it needs to be in the software by the end of June).  I have 130 hours now.  With the Christmas holidays, that vacation only used up 3 vacation days.

So, I might be crazy but I was thinking of a staycation for Spring Break.  I've never done one, and I know if I stay in the house all day I will do chores.  So I need to get out, but I am sure the kids will enjoy some days in the house, and maybe we will go away for a weekend and just pay for 2 nights in a hotel. 


So if kids have a half day Friday and the whole week off after, how would you schedule it?  Friday is probably better for DH to leave but traffic can get bad.  So Friday maybe work half day or all day (aftercare).  Sat-Mon weekend trip.  Tues, in house/ unpack, What should I do Wed- Sun?  We do have a zoo membership, but we've let all our other memberships lapse.  I could aim for a playdate one day.  We have tons of museums around but those tend to be $$$$ to the point that you might as well buy the membership and then go 2 times in a year and make your money back.  So maybe avoiding museums.  There is a lodge with a waterpark that could be our weekend getaway (not Great Wolf- we did that, and I was not super impressed).  That is also a bit pricy thought, I think, but at least off season. 


Should I sign them up for camp a couple of days because I might get tired of them after 10 days at home, plus DH might still be working, so it would be me and them for 4 days by ourselves?

[phdmomma]

I would sign them up for a couple of days of camp, and use that time for things that you need to do. Like doctors appointments, other things that you never get to.

We aren't doing anything for spring break here. The university and the school district have different weeks off. So DS is going to camp while I go to the work.

[sdlaura]

Your kids are older than mine, but I'd definitely do a couple days of camp Our YMCA has one-day camp options. Could you do long weekend trip, then a day of camp, then a day of zoo, then a day of camp, then a day at some other local attraction, or something like that?

I would love to do a staycation because we're at the stage where we have lots of local memberships, plus there's the beach here. But I never have vacation to burn/a light enough workload to make it happen.

Our elementary school has a two-week spring break (modified year-round schedule so there's a two-week fall break, two-week winter break, and two-week spring break and then only 8 weeks off in the summer). They'll do a full camp week the first week, then my sister is bringing her two older kids out to visit the second week for their spring break. So that week they'll probably do 3 days of camp (two of them with their cousins so my sister and I can hang out - maybe with me working half days), and then my sister will take all 4 kids somewhere one day, and I'll take off Good Friday and we'll all go to LegoLand or something. Maybe we'll get up the nerve to do Disneyland but it's so expensive and crowded.

[waverly]

sdlaura , good idea. Maybe Friday work (half day camp) Sat- Mon trip. Tues camp because I know I will be annoyed staying with kids at a hotel. Wed- zoo if the weather is nice. Thursday camp. Friday- TBD.  Unfortunately too cold for the beaches here.  

[k3am]

waverly, I have a mandatory two week vacation every year. One week of it is spent as a family vacation, and the other week is spent as me time. Which is basically a daily workout, reading in the sun and various things around the house or errands. It sounds boring, but love that week.

[sdlaura]

Jan 8, 2020 13:40:11 GMT -5 k3am said:

waverly , I have a mandatory two week vacation every year. One week of it is spent as a family vacation, and the other week is spent as me time. Which is basically a daily workout, reading in the sun and various things around the house or errands. It sounds boring, but love that week.

That sounds amazing

[covergirl82]

Play dates are the most free thing to do. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of reliable outside options in the Midwest for spring break. It could be sunny and 50s/60s or a foot of snow and 30s. You could see if there are any hiking trails or places to go ride bikes if the weather is nice. Going to a pottery painting place or an indoor trampoline park are other ideas, but obviously those cost money.

I know my kids like to hang out at home and play with toys/games/video games, since they don't have solid blocks of time except some weekends to do those things. I know you said you don't really want to be home because you'd probably do chores, but are there things you enjoy doing at home, like reading or a hobby that you could plan to do if you spend more time at home? (I'm a homebody, lol, so I like to be at home.)

[waverly]

covergirl82, a pottery place sounds nice. I don't mind spending some money, but most of the museums here are $60+ for 3 people. We've been to all of them at least once if not often with memberships when the kids were little, and we needed to find lots of indoor places for them to run around.

I feel like we spend a lot of time at home because DH is a homebody. I have to actually plan something or else he putters around the home, and I do chores. The flipside is if he does want to do something it is usually a long and involved day in the city, so I am better at planning a couple smaller outings say an hour or 2 like see a movie or go swimming. I might have some books or TV shows to catch up on.

With DS being 9.5 too, I might be able to leave him home for an hour and do a mommy daughter pedicure or something like that.

[covergirl82]

waverly, going to a movie is a great idea. The theaters where I am often run cheap family-friendly movies during the day the week of spring break, so maybe that's something your local theaters might do. And yes, definitely get a pedicure with your DD!

[rere]

During Spring Break I don't like to block my time too much. We like to go to the movies, iceskating, trampoline park etc... a few afternoons so that we can be lazy in the morning and not rushed. I may take them out to lunch one day then the library or even try to shop for stuff that we need coming up like bathing suits or shorts. By that age my kids had opinions on what they would wear and a break from schools was a good time to do it. I did usually take a day to clean and they could declutter their rooms.

[waverly]

rere , good point on going through the wardrobes and buying stuff for summer. I will add that to my list.

Even though I have a list, I wont actually assign anything until that day when we talk about what we are thinking we want to do, that way it feels open rather than over scheduled, but I will still need to know what days to send them to camp, and get a hotel room if we go on a weekend trip. I like the idea of camp being Tue/ Thurs or Tues- Thurs and that leaves either weekend with a day that we could make it a long weekend.  We could also go visit family, but I need a good long break from them after the holidays.

[mae0111]

Our local libraries have passes to museums, aquariums, zoos, even some amusement parks. Would that be an option?

Other ideas that I rely on during our crummy winter break...

Bowling
Inflatable place
Trampoline park
Pottery/ceramics painting place
Rock climbing
Any rec centers with open gym time? I bring them to play basketball.
Baking day
Movie day (in or out of the house)

[waverly]

mae0111, yes we do have the Museum pass program. It doesn't cover the big expensive museums downtown, but it does do suburban ones. We've done a lot of them, but not all. Thanks for the ideas.

[186momx]

waverly, do you have a membership to anything museum/zoo wise? If so I know our zoo membership has reciprocal sites each month. So in November last year we were able to go to the aquarium with our zoo membership no cost.

Our summer staycation plans usually are day trips someplace fun. No hotels, not major cost other than lunch out and maybe a parking pass or the $$ to get into an attraction. DD enjoys hitting up the local trampoline park, mini golf, pool, during no school breaks. I know our aftercare spring break camp you can choose 1/2 or full day options and they try and do something fun 3 days out of the week. It is normally swim day, movie day, and maybe the mini golf/laser tag place.

[waverly]

Jan 8, 2020 18:43:08 GMT -5 186momx said:

waverly, do you have a membership to anything museum/zoo wise? If so I know our zoo membership has reciprocal sites each month. So in November last year we were able to go to the aquarium with our zoo membership no cost.

Our summer staycation plans usually are day trips someplace fun. No hotels, not major cost other than lunch out and maybe a parking pass or the $$ to get into an attraction. DD enjoys hitting up the local trampoline park, mini golf, pool, during no school breaks. I know our aftercare spring break camp you can choose 1/2 or full day options and they try and do something fun 3 days out of the week. It is normally swim day, movie day, and maybe the mini golf/laser tag place.

Unfortunately our aquarium and zoo consider themselves above reciprocity. I don’t think our aftercare does field trips that week but I will double check. Adding mini golf to the list.