My Dog Has Fleas (and other Spring Break adventures!)

Chaperoning 13 high school students on a trip to New York City is full of pressure. Even when the kids are wonderful (which mine were), you've got 13 humans with 13 sets of needs. On top of that, my own personal children back in Florida were kind enough to keep updating me on the home front.

Leah: Informed us of a hold on her account at college that needed to be cleared before she could register for fall classes. Me: "What's the hold? I thought we were all paid up." Leah: "I locked myself out of my dorm room." Me: "They charge for that?" Leah: "Um. A few times. But don't worry, I wasn't completely naked!"

Jonathan: His friend's dog ate his wallet that was given to him by his girlfriend who bought it while in Italy. And the dog ate his driver's license, too.

Amy: She called about our dog. "Daisy has bugs on her!" Me: "What do you mean bugs?" Amy: "Live bugs! Crawling on her!"

Meanwhile, back in NYC...JetBlue lost one student's luggage, apparently forever. Another felt the flu coming on. Three didn't get off the subway fast enough and got lost on the mean streets of Central Park West. (Watch out for nattily dressed doormen and highly paid nannies from Sweden!) None of them was dressed warmly enough. And it was practically mandatory that someone had to be lactose intolerant.

Though our journey to New York for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association convention was a success, my long-awaited reward of spring break (which started while we were on the trip) did not work out as planned. Did you know that fleas in Florida have developed a tolerance to Frontline repellent? Ha! Well, I sure do now! The bugs Amy spotted on our 12-year-old, inside-the-house Daisy turned out to be the Super Bowl of flea gatherings. We got home late Saturday night, and Sunday morning I was up giving Daisy a flea bath while Ricky vacuumed and set up fogging canisters around the house.

I guess I'll get to rest eventually. It's only about nine more weeks until summer, right?