We had just 59 days of summer vacation. That’s a little more than eight weeks, with nine weekends. Such a short time to enjoy the long days of summer.
So, a few weeks before school let out I made a list of things I wanted to do with the kids and a plan to get them done. The list included swimming, bike rides and walks, 3 special afternoons, 3 day trips, a gathering at our house, camping with friends, and a family vacation. I just needed three Mondays to get the day trips done, just three Wednesdays to get the special afternoons done, the 4th of July for a gathering, one weekend to camp with friends and the week before school for our family vacation. Swimming, bike rides and walks could happen whenever there was time. Add up the time and it’s just 18 planned days. That’s pretty simple when you have 59 days to work with.
We started out strong. Week one was easy, figuring out our routine, riding bikes and strawberry picking. Week two, a little more exciting with an afternoon at an Indian’s game. I planned the special afternoons to be time for just me and the kids. A game was prefect. It could have been a horrible day, though. While I took the kids to get ice cream, it started raining. Our stroller, blanket and cooler were spread out in the outfield. We were able to get back to them and back under cover before the drenching rain fell. I debated on leaving until a guy gave us tickets to sit behind the dugout, the boys were excited. While in the seats, the 7th inning stretch happened that included a T-shirt toss, Emerson caught one. The enthusiasm in the kids made the stay worth it.
Week three, a planned day trip to the Ft Wayne Zoo with friends. Unfortunately, weather wasn’t so cooperative, it was crazy hot and humid. We decided to reschedule for the following week but canceled that due to the heat and humidity, again. The whole plan was then pushed to sometime this fall.
Week four was when were celebrated Rhys’ birthday with a summer camp theme party with a lot of friends. We played at the pool and then things came to a holt. Rhys broke his leg for the second time by slipping on the pool deck. We almost cancelled our weekend plans to camp and hang out with family. Then talked it over and decided to cancel our outing to Holiday World but knew we could handle the rest.
Week five, was our 4th of July gathering and camping with friends. Our town has a parade and fireworks which we only have to go two blocks in either direction from our house to see both of them. It makes for having an easy gathering and we love when our friends make time to spend with us. I’ll share about camping with friends later.
Week six and seven, found us planning Elle and Emerson’s birthdays, figuring out details of our summer vacation and slowing down just a bit. There really were no days that slowed down so much that we forgot what day it was. These two weeks were great.
Week eight was our family vacation. We headed to Boulder, Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. It was such a fun and easy vacation that included so many different things. We all had a great time and I plan to share more about that later.
Week nine. Back to school.
Even though summer break is over, summer is not. Several of the things I planned to do, didn’t happen but they will. We have already managed an afternoon at the art museum and we’re planning our trip to Lake Michigan. We didn’t let our circumstances hold us back, we just changed directions to make it work.
