The Third Monday in April

Hi everyone. It's been awhile since I blogged last, but it was a busy week followed by a cold that came out of no where. I just had a little cold a few weeks ago so I figured I was in the clear for awhile. Then halfway through the day on Thursday I started to feel TERRIBLE. I had a tutoring interview Thursday afternoon and a Writing Celebration with kids and parents on Friday morning so I powered through those days but my body is definitely against me right now. Mainly in the form of excessive coughing fits. I'll be happy when that's over.

If you aren't from Massachusetts, you may not be familiar with the greatness that is the third Monday in April. Over the years, this day has meant different things to me and it's crazy to think that most other places in the world, it means nothing at all :)

Patriots Day

Patriots Day is a holiday celebrated in Massachusetts and Maine which remembers the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolution. I can't remember exactly how old I was the first time my dad decided to bring me to the re-enactment but I do recall waking up in the pitch dark, driving to the center of Lex and then walking around trying to find a place to actually see the "battle" from. This was followed with a delicious pancake breakfast from the churches nearby. When I got a little older, I got to march in the parade with my Brownie troop.

You may think that the re-enactment got less cool when I was in high school, but in fact, it did not. In high school, I would sleep over my friend Lisa's house- and then me, Tiff and Lisa would strap on our rollerblades and rollerblade in the freezing cold darkness (it's 5 am after all) to the re-enactment. Then we would go get bagels, go back home and hang out at one of our houses' until the afternoon parade. Then we'd rollerblade back to the center to visit all the things set up- cotton candy stands, etc- it was kind of like a fair type atmosphere from what I remember. I think it was just the fact that we were allowed out of our houses at 5 o'clock in the morning that really made it fun.

Marathon Monday

When I went to college, the Patriots Day traditions were abandoned for a new tradition, MARATHON MONDAY!!! The very-famous Boston Marathon goes right past BC right at Heartbreak Hill so the crazy BC students go out to cheer most of the day. And pretend to be runners... obviously...

My junior year of college, one of my best friends ran the Boston Marathon for the first time. She has since run SEVERAL marathons, and qualified for Boston (she had previously run with a charity) this year so she'll be running today! Here is her fabulous cheering section including her family and all our friends. We are totally failing to actually spell her name right here but I promise that we did in fact HAVE all the letters at one point!

First Day of April Vacation

Another weird thing that Massachusetts does in the public school system is that we don't have a "spring break." We have 2 breaks, one in February, one in April (I believe this balances out normally though because we have only 1 week off in December, while most public schools have 2... at least that is my understanding). I much prefer this method because I like my vacations spread out and I have had the pleasure of managing kindergarten kids after two weeks off and I'd rather not do it on a regular basis :) So now, Patriots Day/Marathon Monday is the first day of April vacation for me and Eric. We have done a couple of different things since we started working 5 years ago. The first year we went up to New Hampshire, which was a terrible idea. At the first site of snow, we knew we would never head north in April again! The next year we stuck around to watch both of our cousins run the marathon and since then we've been at the Cape enjoying the hopefully spring weather and being tourists. That is where we find ourselves today. Looking ahead, I see myself going back to some of my old stomping grounds in the future. Don't think I won't drag my darling hopefully early-bird children up at 5:00 am to hear some gunshots. It's an experience, I promise you.

What's a fun local holiday you celebrate? Tell me about it!