Summer is finally here

As of 11:15 this summer...summer break has (finally) begun! Every other school around us got out a week ago. Rumor has it that our school had it's required number of hours in but wants to be above the rest of the schools and put in more. We're okay with being like everyone else. And really the hours they put in this week were not of filled with scholastic endeavors...field day, trip to the zoo, pioneer day, talent show, soak-the-principal, pride card ceremonies, kindergarten graduation, etc. It was tough for the kids to have to go to bed when they could see and hear all the kids (all 4 of them) in the neighborhood playing in the street.

We celebrated when we got home and like all good celebrations do we had some yummy food. Pizza and root beer floats!

Before we ate I asked each kid to pray and thank God for something about their year. It brought tears to my eyes to hear them share heartfelt thanks. Jackson was thankful for a teacher that made learning so much fun and didn't just give it to them out of a book. Ainsley was thankful that her teacher taught her with love and taught her to trust God for all that she needs. (Needed a tissue after her prayer!) Olivia was thankful that she loved school and for the best teacher ever!

Each summer I have the kids list things they want to do for the summer. They can put anything on there...doesn't mean we will do it but they can list it. So over rootbeer floats we discussed the things we would like to do. Swimming at the Collins (#1 on everyone's list- we're counting down the days until the new liner arrives), camp (the older two are going- Jackson for a week and Ainsley for 3 days and Olivia may go to "Grammy camp" at the same time- which if you do the math means 3 days off for me), Hawk Island (a local county park), Silver Lake & MI Adventure (our annual vacation), going to the library, camping (which we are doing for the first time ever), and lots of playing. Sounds like a pretty reasonable list!

They all agreed with Olivia that we need to have a "go with the flow summer". Guess I may have mentioned that once or five times. Ainsley says, "You know a summer where we don't always ask where we are going or when we are going to get there".

So here's to summer vacation...I am glad for the break which I am sure that I will need to be reminded of in a few hours as we make the adjustment to being back in shared space 24/7.