Day one

First day of summer down......a whole bunch more to go. I am so ready for this time with my family and a chance to breathe a little bit. No more alarms, no more packing lunches, no more daily grind. I love love love love love this time of year.

Today consisted of donuts, first softball practice, swimming and sunburns at Grandparents, afternoon movie, fried chicken, bike and scooter rides with Dad around campus, and popsicles in the bathtub. Oh yeah, and a deep conversation with my daughter about God and Jesus and Satan and the temptation of Jesus and the end of the world....etc. etc. You know, normal bedtime stuff.

Softball was hot. Softball was also fun and (knock on wood) might be the one sport besides swimming that my daughter (might) be into. Only at one point did she tell me that practice wasn't fun. That was while she was waiting for her partner to change out of the ballet flats and jeans that she arrived to practice in. Somehow throwing the ball around with Mom just isn't as fun. After that, she said "This is pretty fun, and I haven't done anything really wrong." And she caught and hit balls. She's already done the two things I could never do.

Camp starts next week. I am thrilled to spend some time amidst the ticks, copperheads, centipedes, and teary kindergartners. My cabin-mate and I have already planned out how many diet cokes we can cram into an igloo packed with ice as well as a way to lug up a Starbucks barista and economy sized coffee maker. Really.

I'm worried about the pet turtle, dog, and hamster. Oh yeah, and my son. Sort of all loose ends in a week where I'm not home at all and my husband starts a new job. More on that later, but in the meantime I just hope all of the above make it without me. The hamster and dog might. Turtle, no way. That little creature has been more effort than the other two combined.

I think it's a God thing that the hedgehog promised us by a college-girl-headed-to-a-clinic-and-can't-take-my-pet-hedgehog thing didn't work out last week. My daughter had a partial nuclear meltdown when she heard the bad news and has only mentioned getting another one about 500 times since Tuesday. It's been a good week. (grimace)

Happy 9 years to my sweet husband this past week. You're the best and I love you. Thanks for taking care of us and working so hard!!!

I think while I have the time I will go attempt to make a grocery list and maybe plan a meal or two. If I serve my family hot dogs or chicken nuggets one more time in the next two days, I'm going to make myself sick. Forget the kids.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!