It's No Endor, but Close

Not sure if you all around the United States are familiar with the idea of year-round school, but it is a cornerstone on the South Denver school scene. Thousands of kids go to school all the time.

Which really means, they are NEVER in school.

When you spread out a traditional school year, including three months of summer vacation over a 12-month calendar year, you realize that most of the year is actually spent NOT ATTENDING SCHOOL, which in my humble opinion, is not very educational.

And I love education.

So I move to rename the year-round calendar Vacation Abundance Calendar in Which Weary Parents Never Get a Break.

Year-round school has it's proponents, some of which are even my good friends, but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts on year-round "education."

I hate it.

There are some positives (not really...I'm only saying that to be nice), but I'm not going to write about those because being fair and balanced is something this blog is not known for and why start now?

And I don't even want to go on and on (ahem) about my great and serious dislike of year-round school because the Lord has heard my cry and we will be returning to a traditional school calendar in September.

September! Remember when school started then? Back when Labor Day and Memorial Day actually meant something? Back when we were young and busy plowing the fields and grinding wheat during June, July, and August so we couldn't be bothered to go to school?

I don't either.

So this post isn't really about year-round school and my great dislike of it, but rather about the fact that we are on vacation!

Yes! It's a vacation post disguised as a rant about my kids' (horrendous) school calendar!

I wasn't sure exactly what to do when one has THREE AND A HALF STINKING WEEKS off school at the end of April/early May.

Too late for Spring Break, too early for a summer road trip.

But also, TOO long to hang out around the house with a large, muddy, grassless backyard in a climate that snows every other day despite the fact that it is APRIL.

And.

I can't handle the snow.

In APRIL.

Not even flurries. Of which there have been many.

So on a whim, we packed up and went to Dallas. Where it is flurry-free and just gorgeous this time of year.

Oh, and lots of people who love us live there.

That would be Jackson and Lilly in the airport clutching their new Nintendo DS carrying cases. Jackson has embraced his man-bag and wants to take it everywhere, including the grocery store. 

You never know when there will be ten spare seconds to play a little Mario Party at the dry cleaners. And Lilly loveth her carrying case as well.

As do I, because it means two uinterrupted hours of People and In Style magazines on the airplane. And maybe a Southern Living and Good Housekeeping with Paula Deen on the cover, because remember what I said about my PASSION for education?

So I will keep y'all updated on our excellent adventure. 

So far, it includes the Fort Worth Zoo, which my kids thought was located in an ACTUAL JUNGLE because they are not used to seeing trees, let alone large, lush beautiful ones.

Ever.

Denver is as barren as a desert and our *ONE* tree that is leafless and makes anything Charlie Brown ever owned look full and expansive has not given them the vision for live foliage.

As we left the zoo, Jackson said, "Mom, do you think we can come back to this zoo that's also in a FOREST?"

Stay tuned for our adventures on speederbikes.