It's been a few years since the company I work for went from being a family-owned business to owned by A Very Giant Company. It is mostly an upgrade for a ton of reasons, but comes with some quirks. Like, our holiday schedule is still in flux. Each year we lose a weird holiday, but gain another that is at least somewhat more normal. For example, last year Good Friday became no longer a holiday, but we gained a floating holiday instead. Nobody has Good Friday off, so that makes sense.
This year we lost New Years Eve. Again, I don't think many people have that as a standard holiday. It doubly doesn't make sense because it is MADNESS at my office at the end of the year, so having one less day at the end is just plain nonsensical.
We gained Presidents Day instead. I can't say that it makes more sense, but I will happily take a holiday in the middle of February. As a bonus, it aligns with one of the girls' days off from school. Sure, they have New Years Eve off as well, but I take the last week of the year off always and forever because MADNESS at my office. I'm in the way if I'm there.
The plan for my first ever Presidents Day off from work was pretty straight-forward. I was going to sleep suuuuuper late, like all the way to 8:00, and then work. I know I just said it was a day off, but I've been drowning lately so the allure of a day of working when others weren't was SO attractive. Do you know how many emails I could have deleted?
Alas, my children had another plan.
Somehow, they managed to gang up on me and talk me into driving to Cleveland to go to the zoo. I can't explain how they pulled that off, but it possibly had a little to do with the thought that I could grab Swensons for lunch. Mmmm .... egg salad and fries with a milkshake.
Yeah, that was probably why.
So we picked up one of Alexis' favorite people, drove to Cleveland, wandered around the zoo, and returned in time for Alexis to go to her usual Monday dance classes. With that whirlwind trip, three things were confirmed:
1. The Cleveland Zoo is a million times better than the Pittsburgh one. Possibly a billion times better. It's not that big, but every inch of it is well done.
2. Mila is a delight. I know I've said that a few thousand times before, but it's true. She is so aggressively happy about everything, including every single itty bitty animal at the zoo. She spent half an hour being excited about ants. ANTS. It was adorable.
3. I need to go to Cleveland more often. There's a lot of good stuff there and we don't spend nearly enough time exploring it. We especially don't spend enough time driving through Cuyahoga Falls on our way there so that Swensons lands in my car.