February is also my least favorite month. I think it's when the afterglow of the holidays officially has worn off and it's just naturally a time of personal reflection, putting life back together, etc. Although, that does play into some positives for gratitude.
February Break - Growing up, my school district gave us a week off in February in addition to a spring break week in April. They noted how kids often were hit with fatigue at this time after coming off of the holidays and found it more beneficial to take this break (and extend days/the school year) vs. trying to muster through. There's a similar logic to October break. I forget how many years it's been now but our school district here does the same thing even though most in the area do not. So, I'm grateful for that break. Obviously, work does not give us these breaks, but February is a slower time for me at work, so I'm giving myself a 5-day weekend around this break this year. That should help my mood.
Mardi Gras - Like
@leebee we are grateful for Mardi Gras. We are close enough to Louisiana that our part of the state also celebrates. In fact, Galveston hosts all kinds of parades and celebrations each year. I'm sort of ashamed to admit that we're already on our third king cake. Last week, DH and I bought ones from two different Louisiana bakeries (they flood our stores around this time) to play battle of the king cakes. Last night he came home with Costco's king cake offering and I'm really tempted to head back today to get the praline king cake I saw from my favorite bakery. Not like I NEED any of this. We don't really go down to Galveston any more for celebration, although we used to have a blast taking the kids. Things have since changed, but there used to be one day with kid friendly parades along the Galveston seawall. The first parade was the Krewe of Barkus and Mew...which was essentially the pet/animal parade. It was a huge turnout of pet owners parading their animals dressed in their Mardi Gras finest. After that, was the Kiddie Krewe, which was a children's parade sponsored by several groups including the Shriners. It was also fun because we were right on the beach, so we could take the kids down to the sand to go shelling and just walking around to help pass time in between parades. We always also had soooooo many beads! Nowadays, we usually just hit up a few Cajun restaurants during this period to partake in some of their more festive seasonal offerings.
Softball - It's not only the start of college ball but it's the official beginning of school ball for us after breaking from travel ball in late November. Sure, we've already had some scrimmages but things really pick up steam in February. It's a very different vibe from travel ball, although we do get to see some of our travel friends and various points in the season. In fact, next weekend, DD will be going to College Station for a huge high school tournament and I think at least 10 of her travel ball friends will be there. We also love it because those kids' families sort of become part of our extended family.
