Vini Vidi Vaca

We came (after 12 hours of airport, airplane, and bus transfers)

We saw (how fabulous Gravol can truly be)

We vacationed (Yes Nicholas, we have to go to the pool AGAIN!)

March break is officially over in my house, and maybe I'm just a tiny bit glad to get back to the routine.

Don't get me wrong: I loved the lack of routine and the throwing away of rules (particularly those which involved having to eat healthy, swim up bars which opened at 10:00 a.m., and the chocolate fountain as a lunch substitute.)

My kids learned charming phrases like "Speedo Alert!" and "Virgin Pina Colada Please"


But I also love what I do in my real world.

And of course, every trip with my family provides me with pages and pages of material.

I'm thinking of calling my next book "Clean Underwear Never Takes A Holiday, Buddy"

Snow Day? No Way!

We're being hit by a major snowstorm - Snowmageddon they're calling it - and the kids have been perched by the radio waiting for those magic words. And as hard as they wish for a snow day, I'm counterwishing it.

Think we came out 50/50. The buses got cancelled, but school is on.

I'm known in the 'hood as the Mom who never lets her kids miss school, so away we go.

Now, because I'm not totally insane or actually the meanest Mom in the world (although I haven't done a recent survey so my information may be dated), I'm going to pick them up after lunch before the roads are really treacherous.

They'll spend the afternoon outside anyway, sliding down our pathetic excuse for "Snow Mountain" (we live on a cul de sac and it's where the plows dump their excess.)

By the time they come back inside, it'll be a reasonable time to pour a glass and prepare myself for the two weeks they have off. There is a method to my madness.

For a Mom like me who works from home, having kids around is like doing double-shift, with your hands tied behind your back. For true stay-at-home Moms I guess it's like double-overtime.

So Moms, if you can get them safely to school (and back, they usually recommend), do it. You'll regret that you didn't enjoy your last few hours of kidfree time on day 3 of the "vacation".

Now go put that wine in the fridge to chill. Better yet, start gathering the ingredients for a hot rum toddy to sip on while you're breaking up fights on your own "Snow Mountain".

It was the best of times...

It was the worst of times.

At least that's how I saw our last week in Niagara On The Lake.

The best of times?

1. The play, "Belle Moral: A Natural History", written by Ann-Marie "Fall On Your Knees" MacDonald. Brilliantly written and performed. Everything from a discussion on eugenics to glimpsing the freckly bottom of a leading man.

2. Discovering the Marynissen winery - particularly the 2004 Cabernet Merlot. As good as it is inexpensive.

3. A house 10 minutes walk (and walk we did) from the main street, where my kids became intimate acquaintances of most of the shopkeepers, and the flowers lining the street are beautiful.

The worst of times?

1. Three out of the four kids vomited. Enough said.

2. The 70's movie of Niagara Falls, at the Imax. Full price. Less than an hour long and about as entertaining as a "CBC Hinterland Who's Who" segment. With worse music.

3. The food at Marineland. Aren't we all fat enough? (Sadly, came AFTER most of the vomiting.)

The week long holiday is over - back to work this week - until Friday when we hit yet another OPC. I've already packed the Gravol.