Spring Break Memories

Some of my fondest childhood memories are from family vacations. Growing up in a small Ohio town, a lot of my friends didn't do family vacations, but my parents always made sure there was a get away of some sort. Long trips to Florida or Wisconsin, short trips to the nearby state park for a week or weekend of camping , it didn't matter, I don't remember too many summers or spring breaks that my family didn't go somewhere. My parents were pretty good at mixing it up, we did Disney, various beaches, and historical sites like Gettysburg. Most of these trips were spent camping in our Wayfarer pop-up camper which cut the costs and provided some excitement like the time it rocked back and forth in what seemed like hurricane force winds in Florida just outside of Disney World. Many times friends were included in our trips, taken along and treated like part of the family. As parents the lovely Mrs. Prosser and I have been trying to give our children those types of memories as well. We have had sort of an informal list of things we would like to see as a family. With Meredith in her junior year, we know our time for this list is running out, and so, we checked another one off this week with four days in New York City. While none of us want to live there, we all agreed it was fun to visit, and I think we came away with some lasting memories, like...

Seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. The kids, especially Meredith have enjoyed the movie version, and since they are both involved in the drama programs at their schools, third row seats were a treat. We also took in Shrek! The Musical, Steven's choice, which was EXTREMELY funny and entertaining, I highly recommend it to anyone going to NYC.


A delicious dinner in Little Italy where we were enticed into the Bueno Notte restaurant by a charming man singing That's Amore and offering free sangria to Kathy and me.


The Statue of Liberty.




Standing where the Lovely Mrs. Prosser's great grandmother first set foot in the United States.





My two great kids getting along, which, as they get older, happens more and more. They actually seem to enjoy each other's company and laugh together often, it makes my heart smile! Being inspired by a beautiful cathedral and saddened by a sculpture damaged by terrorists.






...and having a laugh at Dad's expense when he had a hissy fit because he needed coffee and couldn't find a Starbucks soon enough!
Thanks for indulging me on this sort of personal post, sort of unusual for me, but it was a great week and I wanted to share it with you. Monday I'll return to school for the sprint to the finish and even though it wasn't a relaxing four days, it was energizing and awesome to reconnect with my family.

Slice of Life - week of April 14

I walk into the large banquet room, and am assigned my table/workspace for the day. There is much work to be done. I will be working from 9 AM until 5 PM. I need to get moving. I unpack my bags. Paper cutter, cutting tools, papers in all shades and designs, tape runner, stickers, my own personal sheet for the Cricket machine, box of pictures sorted prior to today, scissors, tweezers, a list of my plan for the sequence of the book. Then, ta-da! I crack open my newest album. Today is the day I start C's high school scrapbook. Prior to this, I have documented and journaled about her life from birth to eighth grade. Lots of memories, and now more to come! First pages of albums are always hard for me because they need to set the tone for the rest of the book -- I skip that for today, and dive into her freshman year activities. It's 4 pages of cross country season - laying out the pictures, deciding which one goes where. Choosing the borders that will be the best accent for these pages. Choosing the font that I want on the Cricket machine for the title -- I'll go with "George" today. Tape and lay down. Tape and lay down. Over and over, for all 4 pages. Leaving room for my journaling -- leaving my thoughts for C.
Time to move to Homecoming and start all over again.

* Note: I started scrapbooking in earnest six years ago this past October. One of my closest friends, Cheryl, had just lost her battle with breast cancer. A few other friends and I gathered at her house to help in whatever way we could. One of the biggest jobs that we chose to undertake was to go through all their family pictures, and find pictures that told Cheryl's life story to display at her memorial service, and then for her daughters to have. She took such pride in being a mom to 2 daughters, and we wanted to gather pictures for them that had meaning. We pulled out boxes and boxes of pictures, haphazardly dumped together. As we sorted through the pictures with her daughters, talking and remembering as we went along, it became crystal clear to me that I wanted to leave a physical legacy behind for my own two daughters. There are many legacies we leave behind, but I wanted K and C to each have a tangible object that came from me -- made with my hands, containing my handwriting and thoughts, and sealed with my love for them. Scrapbooking became the vehicle for what I wanted to do. This is truly a labor of love.

For more "slices", visit Two Writing Teachers.