Where did summer go?

Summer is flying by. In May, when my bible study ends, MOPS ends, we have to start chipping in for the teachers gifts...when all that stuff happens, I have really good intentions. I (in my pre-kids anal self) start to make a calendar of fun thing that we'll do together as a family. I make a chore chart (since I'll have all sorts of help around the house) and join up at the reading club at the library. I promise myself that I will take the kids to the beach/lake at least once a week. After all, we do live in Southern California, right?

But then Summer comes and my plans fly right out the window. I'm sitting here this morning wondering how I'm going to get the house cleaned, our clothes washed and packed and ready to go on our family vacation on Thursday. We have people coming to stay at our house and watch Darby...so the house can't look like our dirty clothes blew up all over. That, and the bathrooms need to be cleaned also. We're going to be gone for a week and a half and driving all over the West coast. I still need to get the tires checked, a wedding gift bought, borrow never seen movies for the kids on our drive...so many things to do.

What have we done this summer? We've played games at home. We have played in the sprinklers and gotten our wood floor slippery beyond hope. We have visited friends and seen friends move away. We have taken late night walks around the neighborhood and swam at friends pools. We (meaning me) have taken a weekend away from the family and hung out with friends (a MOPS retreat). We have spent hot afternoons in the Costco cooler trying to find the "right" bag of lettuce. We have watched movies and had our teeth cleaned at the dentist. We have read books, gone camping and washed a lot of laundry.

We have had a good summer. I realized that when we get back from our trip, we'll have two more weeks at home and then school starts up again. I need to get my priorities in order and spend those last two weeks doing FUN things with the kids. I still want to start teaching my girl to read...maybe we'll start that this summer in the car on the way to Washington. I haven't gotten too many things on my list done this summer, but we have had a great time. It's gone by quickly. Next summer, I'm not making a list of things to do...I'm just going to do what I want...