Where's my unicorn?

This morning was bittersweet. I slept in late, woke up lazily, then realized it was my last day of vacation. Dang! Talk about jolting yourself awake.

During breakfast, I asked Mark, "What was the best thing you did during winter break?"

He shrugged and answered, "Everything."

"Well, what was your favorite day?" I persisted.

He shrugged again. "I don't know," he said. "I can't answer that until tonight -- maybe it's gonna be today."

And...point well taken! Gotta love an optimistic kid.

We met up with our friend Vicki, who'd suggested a trip to the Observatory. I like the Observatory because it has amazing views of the city, from the mountains all the way down to the ocean, especially on a day as clear as today. Vic likes the Observatory because James Dean made a movie there; Mark likes it for the same reason -- his favorite movie stars (the Transformers) made a movie there, as well.


He also likes it because there are lots of buttons to push, and miniature model things to move. Except that today there weren't -- he tried setting off the Tesla Coil and moving the model of the giant telescope, with no luck. So he settled for running around the perimeter of the front lawn instead.

It wasn't a total loss though. There were lots of other cool things to learn about -- the seasons, the stars, the tides, the element table. And no discussion about stars is complete until Vic points out Orion -- "Look, there's my boyfriend in the sky!"

We even saw a real live image of the sun -- Vic went back a couple times, checking for sun spots.

We had lunch, then Vic and Mark weighed themselves on all the planets. We decided Pluto is the best place to live, weight-wise, because Mark only weighed 2 pounds, and Vic weighed about 5.

We thanked Vic for a lovely day, and headed home to enjoy our precious remaining vacation hours. Yesterday, Mark lost some good behavior rocks for mouthing off, so on the drive home, he said he'd earn them back by washing my car.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "It's 3:30--it's gonna get cold and dark soon."

"Yes, I'm sure."

I agreed, and said I'd clean up the garage while he washed. (How could I say no to a boy wanting to work off his penance?) I tried to change his mind once we got home (mostly because I didn't feel like cleaning the garage), but he told me, very confidently, "No, Mom. I said I'm gonna wash your car -- just stick to the plan."

And so I did. I am happy to report that my car is now bright and shiny, my garage is a little cleaner, my boy earned back his rocks, and all is right with the world.

Except for one pesky little thing...it's now Sunday night. Which means...

"Go get your uniform out for tomorrow," I told Mark, as he readied for bed.

"My WHAT?" he called back. Apparently, he's forgotten at least one vocabulary word during his school break.

"Your uniform!"

He came out of the room and told me, with a very straight face, that he did not have a unicorn.

"Not your unicorn -- your UNIFORM!" I called, and before I could help myself, I added, "Because tomorrow, you're going back to school!"

"Well, you're going back to work!" he shot back, and boy, did that stop my smirky little dance.

We've thoroughly enjoyed our two-week vacation. I'm sad to say goodbye to it so soon, because as my friend Amber said, "I really should be a lady of leisure, because I'm so good at it."

Couldn't agree with you more, Amber!