Suddenly Summer Staycation

Because we were really stupid didn't know any better, we had children far away from the helping hands of most of our relatives. Last week, being Spring Break, we had to patch together childcare using bribery, and thin on the ground vacation days.

Don't ask me what we're going to do for the THREE MONTH American summer holiday or I'll have to start breathing in to a brown paper bag.

I ended up taking Wed - Fri off, and struck it lucky. Michelloui from American Resident just asked what your favourite thing is about the town in which you live, and this is mine: I have many issues with Santa Barbara, but I have to admit, it is a great town for an impromptu vacation. You can have the most miserable work day on record, and within minutes be down at the beach, feet in the sand, sipping a beer. We couldn't find anyone to watch the girls - so I had vacation thrust upon me - and I made the most of it. There was a precipitation ceasefire and three days in a row of weather in the upper 80s - it was glorious.

This is the pool where we are lucky enough to have free access - this picture was taken at noon during Spring Break - and as you can see, it's completely deserted:

We invited friends to come and share our good fortune, and when they weren't available, I used the cunning diversion of colourful pieces of floating plastic crap. 

Lucy did not budge from that spot for hours. 

Going to the pool is becoming a pleasure. We're so nearly there. For the past five years it has involved mountains of swim nappies, floaties, spare clothes, many towels - all for a five minute dip with both children clinging like limpets before they turned blue. Now Anna can 'swim' - she doggie paddles like she's about to drown, and Lucy bobs around wearing armbands and a perma-smile. I reckon I am about two years away from being able to sit by the side of the pool with my nose in a good book. My kids may appear to be self-sufficient in the pool, but Anna is flirting with drowning with every puppy-paddle, and Lucy is just one deflated armband away from complete submersion.

Still, I got to float around in this beautiful outdoor pool every day, thinking about David Hockney and how we're both a long way from the North of England - and I tried not to dwell on the fact that my body was not at all prepared for a bikini in March.

We also played tennis,

Drank smoothies,

Ate some rather shi-shi frozen yogurt,

Shopped for gingerbread men, and played on playgrounds.

I had such a good time. Let me just say, looking after two small girls all day may sometimes be harder than working full time, but being a stay at home Mum beats trying to juggle being a full time Mum and a full time employee any day of the week. It was so nice to not be rushing everywhere, not to have to race across town at 5:15pm from a long day of work to pick up two overtired and over-hungry girls from school. We had a ball. 

Now - how do I conjure up a three month summer fakecation?