Summer Vacation!

In less than a few weeks (Monday, June 6^th, to be exact) Jordan and Jamie will attend their last full day of school until school resumes on Thursday, August 18^th. Translation: Seventy-two days of summer vacation to fill for a soon-to-be 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.

Last summer was the first summer that went by way too quickly for all of us – great weather, great friends and great adventures and opportunities kept us busy from June through mid-August. As Jordan and Jamie were older, many of their activities were self-directed, and great ideas were brought to us for participation and approval.

We greet this summer with Jim sporting a brand-new left knee, which will allow him to more easily join us in our trips to the zoo, our evening walks and jaunts to the puppy park. While he’s still participating in physical therapy three times a week more than three months after his surgery, Jim’s joint status continues to improve and bodes well for our family activities.

We are fortunate to live in an incredibly family-friendly clubhouse community, with daily access to a swimming pool, tennis, basketball courts, great parks and lakes for picnics and fishing. Our park district even hosts a free day camp a few days a week at our local elementary school, where Jordan and Jamie can go to hang out, play organized sports or join in arts and crafts.

We will once again participate in our local library’s summer reading program, and I will host my own version of home summer school to ensure both kids’ minds do not turn to oatmeal in the seventy-two days they are out of the classroom.

We will unofficially adopt many of Jordan and Jamie’s friends, who will spend days and nights in our home and out on our back deck, killing gallons of lemonade and buckets of popcorn, and dining on Dunkin’ Donuts or homemade waffles with whip cream for breakfast (depending on how late all of us stayed awake watching movies the night before).

Multiple barbeques, family birthday and graduation parties, baby showers and weddings will fully round out the summer. All I ask, on behalf of all families, is for the beautiful weather that will allow all of us to spend summer vacation outside as much as possible.