What Have You Done This Summer?

Lots of visiting to see friends and family I don't get to see often. Went to San Diego twice, Santa Barbara twice, and up to the bay area. Had a beautiful week long camping trip at a lake with lots of family and friends. Going to another lake this weekend for a cabin vacay with family.

We also managed to squeeze in pre school sumer camp, ballet camp, swim lessons and lots of other fun! I LOVE SUMMER! Timely post for me because I go back to work tomorrow....booooooo!

Not a lot! We went to the childrens museum early on, where my son picked up mycoplasma (walking pneumonia) which has a long, long incaubation period, so he coughed his lungs up for about 10 days, before giving it to me, then 10 days later, sister. So that was 4 or 5 weeks gone right there. Needless to say we won't be going back there.
Last weekend we went to Austin, this weekend we go to San marcos river.
WE have been to the movies twice (brave and ice age 4) The park a few times, but now it's too hot here. We have swum most days, but the kids are getting bored with that now.
We have done NO school work, uh oh!
My son did 2 weeks of a day camp, just in the mornings, and he hated it, but I made him stick it out!
We have made sculpey animals (clay you bake in the oven) a lot.
Countless crafts and shopping trips.
I have mixed feelings about it coming to an end, I am running out of things for us to do, but I will miss them.

Went to Disney World with my 5 year old, nursed my husband through major back surgery, took the children to field trips like the Tall Ships Competition (awesome!), a couple art museums, a nature center, picnics in parks and a wildlife preserve, backyard campout, learned how to work the grill (I was scared to before), taught my 2 year old his alphabet (by sight, he doesn't have the order yet but we're working on it) to count to 5, and to get over his fear of water, helped my 5 year old learn to read and to ride his bike with no training wheels, went to 3 parties, hosted 1 party, took the boys to TX on a business trip that turned into a lot of fun: days playing with family and friends, 2 days at the stockyards (watching a rodeo, a wild west show, riding mechanical bulls, among other things the kids loved), the zoo, a western museum and a science museum, the movie tavern, putt putt golf, go karts (I drove the 2 year old), laser tag, got our other house rented out immediately (yay! one moved out on the 30, the housekeeper got it ready on the 31, the new tenants moved in the next day), a day at a waterpark, lots of days at the pool and beach, went to a polo match, co-sponsored an equestrian show, and we're having an end of summer pirate party on a pirate ship on Saturday. Movies sometimes, a few arts and crafts, on hot or stormy days we went to an indoor playground with bounce houses and stuff, visited grandpa, prepared for kindergarten. It's been a pretty good summer!

Very low-key summer.
Growing a lovely patch of zinnias, some cheerful sunflowers, Swiss chard, tomatoes and two delectably delicious bushes of blueberries... planting late carrots in a few weeks when things cool a bit...Watering, watering, nearly daily

A failed camping trip. Rain rain what a pain (esp. when it swamps your tent)!
A fun two day trip, just Joe and I, to see the Yankees play the Mariners up in Seattle. First getaway together in 5+ years.
A handful of nightmare-duty nights. Coffee, please.

Grew Kiddo up at least an inch or two. :) Finally got a diagnosis regarding his vision issues, so writing a 504 is on my list of things to do before kindergarten starts. I've read him almost all the way to the grand prize of tee shirt in the summer reading program. (He loved Holling Clancy Holling's "Paddle-to-the-Sea" and "Pagoo" so much he wants to re-read them both!)

Have put in at least 10 hours of scraping the old paint off the house-- 7 million to go...
Have created a cardboard box cabin with Kiddo, complete with cookstove and chimney....
Kept up from time to time with my blog, which is good for me.

Not enough brisk walks alone, too much heat, but plenty of face time with the family and that in itself will feel like a gift in the years to come.

We have been camping four times. I went to school for two courses. We had birthday parties for both boys. We have been go-carting, mini-golfing, bumper boating, bowling, to the water slide park, to the museum and fishing. My husband and I went fo a spa day and couples massage. We went to a baseball game. We've gone bike riding. We went canoeing. We went to the midway. We went to see fireworks three times. We've had back yard camp fires. We've been to the library. I went for a haircut, manicure and pedicure on my birthday. We've been to the YMCA. The boys have been to a week of day camp. The boys are in two weeks of swimming lessons. We are camping again this weekend, and we will be going to YMCA Family Camp the last week of August. The boys have spent lots of time with their closest friends.

We didn't get to do any traveling because our oldest two had jobs. We went to the pool a lot, did some local hiking, went to the beach, the state and county fair, a family reunion and a couple of other parties and events. My 13 year old did a week of sewing (fashion) camp and went to a weekly book club, as well as gymnastics three times a week. My son's girlfriend came and stayed with us for a few days and then they went camping and rafting up in Oregon. My husband just left on his annual golf trip. I've read at least three books since school got out, and have been spending time with friends whenever possible :)

I indulged in the beach almost every other week, sometimes with DD, sometimes without.

We also hit up every local weekend festival, became staples at our pool, picked strawberries and peaches. Started potty training, hit a plateau with potty training :-P.

Since this is probably the last summer I will be home with my daughter, I did everything and anything, under the well, sun.

Due to economic difficulty, we learned that the best times can be had with day trips!

Morning

We took a trip up to the Northwest, which included Portland, Seattle and Vancouver (B.C) WOW............... awesome awesome awesome.. good food, great people, gorgeous scenery.. My son who loves public transportation got to ride each city's metro/buses... which he absolutely loved doing (hey, it's the simple things) and it seems that way, they sure seem to have a common respect for nature and environment. I loved how there were flowers and gardens all over the place. Additionally, my ten year old plays the accordion had many gigs :) which makes him VERY happy...
We visited new restaurants, hung out with family, took long walks throughout the city , he learned to swim YAY~!!!!! My son also did four weeks of Summer School for which he loved and got a lot out of...

It has truly been a GREAT Summer!!!!

Lots of trips to the beach, to the aquarium, to the zoo, to the children's museum, the town pool, swimming in our backyard small pool, sleepovers with friends, going to the in-laws lake house, sleepovers with grandparents, arts and crafts, smores, bike rides, martial arts and cheerleading, staying up late with friends and their kids.
We have done simple things like family movie night and just lounging in PJs almost all day.
Also my 15 month old is finally walking now!!!

We still need to:

1. Camp out even if only in the yard
2. Fly kites at the beach
3. Go on vacation to the OBX - next week - can't wait!!
4. Buy school supplies!

started the summer with a trip to florida. then lots of beach time, then spent a month overseas, and finally was able to take my kids to greece. went to visit my family. we just got back a few days ago, and have one more trip (in the us) planned before school starts. wish summer lasted 3 more months. i don't like any other season.

We went camping and fishing a few times. Taken the boat to the lake to play. Went to Seattle for a Red Sox - Mariners game. Oldest son went to church camp for a week. Both boys went to my Dad's for a few days and they have stayed at Grandma's quite a few times. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Had a great day at Silverwood. Baseball for the oldest. Visited our favorite pool and splash pad many times. Built a new chicken coop. Leveled and readied an area to have a cement slab poured for a basketball court (concrete coming saturday!). Had friends over for multiple bbq's. Lots of sleepovers with cousins and friends from school. Reading 20 minutes every night and working on multiplication table (8 y/o) and letters/#'s/etc for 4 y/o. Now we are finishing up the summer with swim lessons, football practice and another trip to Seattle to visit family.