Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Summer!

Today is my last day of work until August! In past years, I’ve gotten a little anxious over the change in routine, but not today. I’m not going to lie, being home all day, every day can get a little stressful for me, but I wouldn’t trade it. And really, I don’t think it ever gets anymore stressful than my work days can become with getting everyone up and ready and to and from. Not to mention the chaos that erupts if someone is sick.

Summers are so much more laid back. We still get up early, because both of my children are early risers, but we can take our time getting ready for the day. Plus, I have 5 days instead of 2 to fit in all of the activities and play dates, which usually means we have room for at least one lazy day. And with bedtime more relaxed, the evenings are much more fun and the kids spend more time with Jeff.

Then there’s the activities themselves. This year Evan is doing 2 solid weeks of swim lessons and we’ll also try to attend story time at the library. I’m currently going back and forth on the decision to join our new YMCA, and that would definitely add to our itinerary. But I don’t like the schedule to get too full, because we spend a lot of time doing play dates in the summer and we really look forward to those, especially when we head to the pool! Our neighborhood has a pool, and every year my goal is to spend more time there. Between Evan’s swim lessons, and the fact that Aida looks completely adorable in her floatie seat, I think we’ll make good on that goal!

Last but not least, summers are when we take our family vacations and by the time that comes around we are sooo ready!! Last year, bringing home a newborn was our “vacation,” so I think we’re all feeling the need for an extended getaway. We’re going back to Lake Michigan, but staying in a different town. The house we’ve rented this time is less rustic, which means free Wi-Fi, hallelujah - going a week without internet is a little challenging for me. Like last time we’re staying in a neighborhood that has its own private beach, but this time it will be a much shorter walk to get there, which we thought was a priority with Aida. We’ll explore the dunes, take a boat tour, walk around the town looking for ice cream shops, have movie nights with the kids, play games, spend lots of time at the beach building sand castles and hopefully getting some sun, and do a lot of relaxing! We really love Michigan but one of the biggest reasons is travel time. It will take us about 4 hours to get there and more importantly only 4 hours to get home!

There’s also one thing that causes this summer to stand apart from the others. My little Sister and her husband are having their first baby, any day now actually, and maybe even on Aida’s birthday. We’re all very excited to meet our family’s new addition and I know that Evan and Aida will want to spend time getting to know their cousin this summer!

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