What a break between quarters should be

After Mick's first day back to school second quarter, he came home and said he felt just the way he thought he should feel while sitting in his first day of classes: refreshed and ready. Many of his classmates had spent that first break flying home and busily visiting relatives, which was great, of course, but they came back not quite refreshed or ready for school.

We stayed home that break, though, and Mick slept, rode his bike, played with the kids, and even took a getaway with me to a B&B while his mom watched the kids. We had a low stress, low expectation week, and Mick said he wanted to feel as good on the first day of any future quarter as he felt that first day of second quarter.

As a result, we've purposefully spent this break with minimal plans. We've gone a few places locally, but with no hard schedule, and we've kept a carefree pace with friends and visiting relatives (blog soon to come). We've spent a couple of days lounging around in pajamas, Mick's been able to stay up late and get up late, we've watched a number of movies, played Sudoku, and made lots of egg nog lattes.

Third quarter is reputably the most difficult quarter of dental school at Pacific. It sounds like Mick will need to feel as ready as possible for it (more 120 hour "work" weeks). The kids and I are already getting used to the idea that we might not see much of him until his next break in March.