Stay-Cation Down Under

We’re in the last week of J’s two-week mid-year break.  School is different down under.  Here, children go to school 12 months a year, January through December with breaks after each of 4 terms.  J just finished term 2.

We thought about skiing in New Zealand but frankly with C2’s currently intense travel schedule, the thought of engaging in more travel was too much.  So we decided to vacation at home; a stay-cation.

As it turned out C2 was travelling the first week of stay-cation.  J and I hung out together and it was awesome!  I made him work out with me doing circuits in the park.  He made me play with his action figures.  I made him do three tennis coaching sessions (while I read my Atlantic Monthly in the warmth of the club house).  He made me take him for hot chocolate and frozen yogurt.  We watched for the eight hundred and forty-ninth billionth time the extended edition of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and we relished in our mutual love of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.  We went beachwalking with friends and dogs, and both stayed up reading till midnight.

Poor cheerleader didn't know she was walking into spinning ninja decapitating swords!

C2 returned in time for our second week and it’s only gotten better.  We’ve had towel fights, footy kicking, and lego building.  I've read the paper cover to cover with a second cup of coffee and found the time to meaningfully reflect on the state of Australian politics, the economy, and the misery faced by asylum seekers off our coast.  J has had longer hours playing computer games while C2 and I cook meals together, sip wine, and watch back-to-back episodes of “Breaking Bad” (without him) and “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones” (with him).  As an aside, if anyone has missed either series, they are both remarkable and some of the best television ever made.  Visionaries Vince Gilligan and George Lucas!

J's pinboard full of things that mattter to him

My personal favorites are: photo of my dad's memorial tree in Calgary, a no-longer-in-circulation Canadian two dollar bill, a Swiss postcard, and a picture of the Tawtel family cat Garcon (he gets passed around).

Imagination has soared, bodies have been exercised, sleep has been recovered, and time has been well spent.  We’ve all three stayed up reading till midnight and reminded ourselves where our happy place is.