Adobe is very generous giving employees with five years of service a three week sabbatical. You have two years to take the time off and then you lose it. At the end of this month, I will have been with Adobe seven years, thus, it was now or never for the sabbatical. Larry and I spent quite a time thinking about what we could do with the time but after some careful consideration, we decided to have a three week “staycation” filled with chores, movies, and naps. In order to ensure a successful sabbatical, I’ve established some KPIs (key performance indicators) for the time off:

• Exercise daily
• Create garden paths
• Make home office
• Make guest room somewhat liveable
• Be able to use the living room table as a … table

Of course, there are many other tasks I’d like to complete such as knit a blanket, create a quilt from old jeans and flannel pants, convert the crib to toddler bed, see some movies, catch up on financial paperwork, etc. but I consider all these stretch goals. I have quite a long list and will consider it a success if I can check off half the items.

I’m already a week into my staycation. It started off with a trip to the after hours clinic — the second time in three weeks. It was clear Walker had an ear infection when all the gunk drained out overnight. He was diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum and a wheeze which was treated with a week of antibiotics and doses from an inhaler. Sounds very dramatic but it’s very common for kids. But, of course, Larry and I got the cruddy cough. Despite the fact I sounded like hell and had a body-wrenching coughing fit every fifteen minutes or so, I wasn’t going to let it stop an activity-packed sabbatical.

On Monday, I took Walker to Day Care and then took a very, very long walk along the beach — oh, and the first 30 minutes I chatted with a vendor about a work project. While a lot of the week was spent wrapping up a few things for work, I did it from the convenience of my new home office (check off one KPI), after walking/running/watching FIREFLY episodes (check off another KPI for week one), with the benefit of meeting-free days. Tuesday night the dryer decided to stop drying clothes and we had to take a few hours and $150 to get it fixed. All in all, it was relatively painless and inexpensive given I thought we’d have to replace our 20 year old dryer (which was predicted to last another five to ten years by the repair man who simply cleaned it to get it working again…) By 5:30 on Friday afternoon, I finished my work and could finally start my sabbatical in earnest. And yes, everyone is feeling much, much better. Tomorrow we’ll be starting the work on the garden paths.

Walker had a wonderful Easter. On Saturday we colored eggs and, this morning, the Easter Bunny left a very big basket on the stoop for little Walker’s second Easter. It was filled with Barney and Elmo DVDs, a puzzle, a bunny pull toy and some sidewalk chalk. Despite all of that, Walker was more interested in Daddy’s See’s Candy Jelly Beans. Later in the day PopPop came over and we had the First Annual Easter Egg Hunt. I filled some plastic eggs with organic chocolate graham crackers and strawberry fruit chews and distributed them around the back yard. I couldn’t get the camera started fast enough — Walker saw the basket and took off around the yard collecting eggs. He was in heaven. After finding all the treasures and transferring from the Easter basket to the Christmas tree holder, we did a bit of chalk drawing.

It’s also worth mentioning that it’s spring and Walker is not immune to the love in the air. He has been smitten by a young girl at Day Care named Madeline. When we returned from a week in Florida, Walker spent the first day back at Madeline’s side, giving her hugs and kisses and returning her dropped pacifiers. Periodically, when he awakes from his nap, he’ll run straight to Madeline’s crib and give her a hug. Apparently his love is not unrequited. Madeline follows him around as well.