March Break Staycation

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March Break is fast approaching and the thought of it makes me excited, and I must admit just a little bit anxious. What will I do with our two boys aged 2 and 3 for the entire two weeks? I have been brainstorming ideas, with some input from my three year old, on what we would like to do and I have determined that with some planning March Break can be enjoyable for the whole family. 

The list of things we came up with took just minutes:
  

• play dates with friends we’d like to catch up with,
• possible venues to visit, e.g., the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Toronto Zoo, the Kortright Centre, and the Ontario Science Centre,
• events planned at the Toronto Public Library,
• outdoor activities (depending on the weather), i.e. go for a walk, go to the park, toboggan, build a snowman, play in the backyard,
• indoor projects, i.e. plant seedlings, paint, watch movies, bake together,
• chores and errands that need to get done,
• possible favourite lunches and dinners,
• last but not least – mommy time! I plan to get a pedicure since I know I’ll be run off my feet, a night out with my girlfriends and a date with my husband at which we will try not to talk about either the kids, finances or any other things that need to get done!

After spending a couple of minutes online I found that March is Egypt month at the ROM, and Shop AGO will be having a reading by children’s writer and illustrator Jeremy Tankard as well as paper craft activities. The Zoo will have extended talks on some of their animals. The Kortright Centre has planned a Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival, and the Science Centre has planned a slew of activities for the whole family. Our library branch is having a showing of a children’s feature movie and a visit from musical guests. With all these possibilities the two weeks are sure to fly by and we’ll have some nice memories to boot!

My husband will be taking a couple of days off, on which we plan to go to some of the busier venues. I also don’t intend to do more than one thing per day that takes us out of the home, so as not to make the two weeks overly hectic. Other than our play dates which are set, we will decide what to do each day either the night before or on the day of.

Planning for something always makes it seem a lot more manageable. I will still need to get a few things immediately before the March break begins: some groceries, some cash (essential to have on hand for parking, lunches and incidentals), and most importantly, a good sense of humour.