march break

I was trying to remember what  the March Breaks of my childhood were like.
To me, they've always held  a special spot in my memory, because I often got treated to special activities and outings.
Trips to nearby towns, going to the movie theatre, going out for a rare and special dinner at a restaurant. Going swimming, out for the first icecream cone of the season, playing outside on warm early Spring days. There was something so carefree and special about March Breaks.
This year, the thought of having Noah home for a whole week slightly panicked me. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my boy, and we know how to have fun together, it's just, there isn't much to do here in our little community and I was worried that we would get bored ... and end up ultimately being couch potatoes.
So my first plan to conquer the boredom blues was to head into Whitehorse for a few days. We spent about 5 days in Whitehorse, visiting with friends, having playdates, going out for treats and just doing fun "town" things. We had originally planned to go to visit friends in another community (Mayo), but Noah fell sick with an ear infection and I had a stomach bug, so we spared our friends from getting sick, and stayed put in Whitehorse.
Whitehorse was fun. Trips to the library, 3 sleepovers for the kids with Sunny and Evey, a night in a hotel, sushi for lunch and Sunny's birthday party. We all had our fix of friends and social time :)
After our fun in Whitehorse, our return to Beaver Creek, wasn't so hard. We felt refreshed and I came equipped with a few ideas up my sleeve to keep us occupied.
On the first morning of our March Break in Beaver Creek (which was a Wednesday), I wrote a note to Noah and Katia, and let them know that we would be filling our days with fun activities. I told them that they could choose 1-2 activities a day from the list that I made. Noah was beyond thrilled with this idea and hugged all of us, exclaiming that this was going to be the most amazing week ever. Oh how easily he is pleased :)
Some of the ideas on our "bucket list" included:

~ make elephant toothpaste (I scored some high potency hydrogen peroxide in Whitehorse)
~ make our own zen gardens
~ make egg head gardens
~ have a friend over
~ bake something yummy
~have a Winter's picnic

Add in lots if outdoor play, plenty of free art time, face painting and more, and I think we succeeded at having a nice March Break.

How to Make Your Own Zen Garden

~ a small box (we reused a stationary card box, it has a lid, perfect for when we put it away)
~ sand (we used salt, because it's what we had on hand)
~ a small rake ( I made ours of wire)
~ a chopstick for drawing with
~ rocks, stones, shells 

Pour the sand into the box. Carefully choose a few small stones, shells or rocks to put into the garden. Quietly spend time raking and arranging the stones in your garden. Let your thoughts go, practice quiet meditation, whisper mantras or simple words to yourself. 

It's amazing to watch Noah and Katia "tend" to their gardens. They quiet down really well, and focus on the simple task of raking and arranging. To show them what a zen garden is, we watched a few youtube videos.

Happy Spring days my friends.
xox