2 Days in October, Past and Present

It seems crazy now, and my kids don't believe me when I tell them this, but when I was a kid, we got 2 days off school every October so people could go hunt deer. Thinking about it now, it does sound kind of nutty. I never went hunting. Because my dad was a fly fisherman and not a hunter. And I always thought all that hunter orange clothing was so ugly. But I sure looked forward to that long weekend- four whole days of sleeping in, watching too much TV, and putting off homework.

By the time I got to high school, I guess it became not so PC to have a school holiday for shooting stuff, so they changed the name to UEA (Utah Educators Association, or something) weekend. All the teachers were supposed to spend their two days off getting jazzed up at a big union rally/meeting. If you ask me, that sounds even crazier than the deer hunting idea. And no teachers ever really went to the meetings, except for the hard nosed types.

So now they just call it fall break.

Whatever the name, whatever the reason, a four day weekend is a welcome break this time of year, and Fall Break 2010 starts tonight!! So we are staying up late watching movies and eating shakes from Arctic Circle.....except for Audrey, who has already passed out on the couch.

Tomorrow we will sleep in and maybe venture out in search of a hayride and some pumpkins. Or maybe we won't. Maybe we will just lay around and watch too much TV and argue about whether deer hunting is ethical or not. Is it even deer hunting season? I'm happy I didn't marry a hunter. I tried venison once and it was gross. Too gamey. Friday I have to work, which is no fun for me, but the kids are happy because it means they can come with me and spend the day with Logan friends, whom they have not seen in several weeks.

Our other pressing agenda item for the weekend is Halloween. And what to be, what to BE??? Olivia can't decide if she wants to be some various and ever changing version of princess, or if she should be a witch. I am voting for witch. Audrey was all set to be a dog, again, for like the 4th time, but now she is thinking she should be a box of macaroni and cheese. Will has pretty much settled on being a stranger. And Duncan, I think Duncan is out of the costume brigade this year. He is thinking 15 might be a little too old to be trick or treating, and in his words, it is "time to move on to more adult things." He is still scheming other ways to get some free candy though. I am a little worried about the small loan we may have to take out this year, to get enough candy to pass out to the hoards of little spooks we are sure to have knocking on our door, in this very kid filled neighborhood.....