Then the summer began, and all my free to be you and me plans
went straight in the toilet.
The first problem is that by the time we got into our summer
groove, it seemed to be half over. We only
get about two months of summer vacation where we live. Long holiday breaks and the occasional snow
day ensure that our children will be attending school into the second week of
June. Add to that each of my kids’
chosen extra-curricular activities which end at the end of June / the start of
July, and we are on a school-ish schedule of practices and games and
performances until the lightning bugs are almost gone.
That leaves two weeks of July and three and half weeks of
August to squeeze the spit out of summer, and we have VBS and weeks at the grandparents
and actual vacations where we all go out of town and a mandatory family reunion
to go to where I harass my elders.
So we didn’t go to the library or the art museum or a folk
festival or even have a stinkin’ afternoon lemonade stand.
We didn’t do any art projects or movie marathons or see an
IMAX movie or hike a national park or even go to a park. We didn’t go to any amusement parks either,
which my son will probably never stop mentioning.
We did go to the pool, though, and I read some books there, and
the kids ate their weight in mozzarella sticks and ice cream bars and learned
how to do front flips and we all got our tan on.
My son learned some new yo-yo tricks, and my daughter zoomed
around the neighborhood on her scooter which is something that I didn’t know
she was so good at until I saw her zooming around the neighborhood on her
scooter.
And we had a picnic on the fourth of July, and set off
driveway fireworks which we ooohed and aaahed at as if it was the most
spectacular fireworks show we’d ever seen.
We had cleaning day every week, and I did teach them how to
do laundry, which was the best thing I’ve ever done in my entire adult
life. Maybe my whole life.
And we all had a terrific summer, even though I was a
certifiable slacker who probably could have done a better job at planning
this summer’s activities.
Oh well.
The summer would have been perfect if our mom didn't suck. |
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You know, I try to plan the hell out of summer every year, too. And then I get depressed for about a week at the end while I list all the things we did not get done. But on the other hand, look at all the great things you DID get to do...especially that teaching your kids how to do laundry thing. Awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteThe planning part is easy. It's the doing that gets me every time.
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