Back from Break

It's been a minute, huh?

The first week of classes came to an end this week; today is my second day back. We had a good-if-busy break. The timing this year was such that the end of our semesters slammed right into Christmas (I usually have two weeks off before Christmas but got one; Hayley's last day was the 23rd!), so we didn't travel for Christmas as we usually do. We did Christmas at home with the kids, complete with real tree, then flew up to Ohio on the 28th. The kids had a great time, of course.

SON ONE: "I told Santa to bring me lots of cool things, and he did, he got me lots of cool things!"

Cleveland was good: we stayed with Hayley's brother and his wife for a few days, then an Airbnb. We got to see our new nephew for the first time, even though he's over a year old, and the kids enjoyed playing with their first cousin. Flying home is getting to be expensive, though, now that Son Two is too old to be a babe in arms! Unfortunately, Hayley's dad had COVID... for the second Christmas in a row! We haven't really seen him since early 2021, I think.

Completely by coincidence, it turned out that a Cleveland theatre was putting on a performance of a new musical based on the second Oz book, The Land of Oz, while we were going to be in Cleveland. Son One and I went... it was good stuff! Better than the book, to be honest.

Then back home and Hayley and the kids back to school while I try to get my life under control... only somewhat successfully. My parents flew down MLK weekend for their customary January visit, which was good if as always busy: my father comes with all sorts of home improvement plans for me, though I did get him to help fix my dishwasher.

The nicest thing of all was that my parents offered to watch the kids so Hayley and I could go on a date. Our first in I don't know how long? We went to a restaurant on the bay where you could watch the sun set. When we are home together we are always in parent mode; it was good to be in another context for once. (The food was fine.)

Back to the grind, I guess. This is my eighty-student semester, so we'll see how things go!