Wandering in the Wilderness that is Spring Break!

Too cute to be true

After approximately 40 years, we are back!

Backpacks. check! Lunch, check! Ate breakfast, check! Donned actual
clothes, check! Brushed teeth and hair, check! Duly bored after a really
really long break, check! Back to school!

Passover is supposed to be a time to remember the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, a move which probably took a week or so as 1 million people packed up and left for a better environment and freedom.

But in modern times, the Israeli Ministry of Education celebrates what happened after the exodus: 40 years wandering the desert in an effort to get to the promised land. 

Yes, our spring break, which take place about two months before the end of the school year, seems to be designed to mimic the 40 years, not the actual seven days God commanded be observed for Passover. Being off from school for nearly three weeks stretched into what felt like 40 years in the wilderness with no promise or freedom anywhere in sight.

Attempt to give Lucas some culture and entertainment simultaneously.
Fail. (That's a genuine Van Gogh behind you, Lukie! Smile!)

Egyptians?? Pharaoh?? Success!

Lucas had the most days off, I had just two days more of school than he and Raia had a week longer. But nevertheless, within a few days, our daily lives had unraveled into an abyss void of routine, and even lapsed into negative routines.

Lawlessness. Boredom. Daily trips for desperate entertainment. Empty wallets. Utter lapses in personal hygiene. Sleeplessness.

Mommy and abba, teaming up with Mimi and GongGong, tried to keep up a consistent string of activities for us. Mimi and GongGong did the heavy lifting, sometimes planning up to two excursions per day to parks or gymborees. But of course, meals also had to be made in between our entertainment sessions and virtually everything came to a halt for Raia's nap each day around 1 p.m.

Accordingly, the entire vacation disintegrated into a pile of hyperactive children and weary adults. We as children have way more energy than adults. So while our outings were not enough to wear us out enough to sleep through the night, the adults operated on a deficit of energy and nerves.

Me practicing my ballet moves with my ballerina
(note the Nutcracker playing on the TV in the background)

And so you may conclude that we slept later each day especially since we had no reason to rush out the door. Nay! We woke up even earlier instead! Every single day. Sometimes at 5 a.m.! And we went to bed later every night, rendering each day even more interminable than the one before.

Thus the feeling of 40 years as each day dragged to its bitter end.

Eating random things at random times.

Basically all bets were off. Normalcy was stomped out, ground into fine dust that drifted away in the unseasonably hot desert winds that scorched us during this time.

Forty years of wandering. Wilderness. Desert.

Many days off = many parks visited

Raia spins a new tale

Hanging by a thread after a long vacation

Maybe a train ride will entertain us?

Maybe it will!

Play dates too!

And even a haircut, as you can see by my disturbed look

And, most endearing, a mid-break visit from Talya, my PA,
since neither of us could go that long without a date

When May 1 miraculously rolled along, we returned safely back into our daily routines, routines that involve us wearing clothes instead of pajamas and eating at regular times as opposed to 1. all day long or 2. not at all, which were our our preferred and vexing (to some) dining options during the break.

And we are happy to be back...

Back to harassing my PA at school

  

Follow @nic_jansezian