Summer Week 11: The End

Well this was supposed to be our fun week, I tried, but it wasn't quite what I wanted it to be... it was still a satisfying week, just not mind-blowing, exciting, fun :) And I took almost no pictures :-/

Monday: The kids love pancakes - or should I rephrase that and say the kids love it when Todd makes pancakes, they don't so much seem to care when I make them. Perhaps it's because I am the world's worst pancake maker, and Todd is the best. In spite of that I decided it would be fun to make the kids sprinkle pancakes for breakfast, which turned out OK after a full batch of burnt flops. I also let Liam choose another fun thing to do that day and he picked frozen yogurt for lunch, so ok!

Tuesday: Liam picked lunch out as his fun thing, which was kind of perfect for me because our other "fun thing" was to go in to school so I could get some work done, the kids ate their lunch there and then played and read. I wasn't sure it was going to be fun, especially because I forgot to bring the iPad, but they were so entranced with all of my classroom stuff and then my next-door-neighbor teacher was there with her daughter as well as the librarian and her two kids, all Liam's age. So they actually had a really fun time (and I got work done) and they didn't want to leave.

Wednesday: I had wanted to take the kids to a movie this summer, courtesy of the $1 summer deal. The movies only play Tues-Thurs, only in Eagle/Boise, only at 10 am, and only 1 (older) movie a day. You take what you can get. Well, I had asked our friends Katie (Strawser) and her son Owen (who is Liam's bff) if they wanted to go with us. We got a little bit of a late start - but with previews I assumed it would be fine. Except for the pouring rain, and the 5 car pile-up, and the hour long drive to Boise. It was rather a disaster - we were just far too late for the movie, we couldn't go to a park, couldn't go to the pool (it was cold that morning), and to top it off Carolina puked up her snack all over herself.. she wasn't sick, just gagged on a mouthful. So the movie idea was a failure, but we came back here and the kids played quite happily for hours. It's what they probably most wanted to do anyways :) That night we had a crazy storm - it sounded like it was going to bring the house down - literally constant lightening and house shaking thunder, pouring sheets of rain and hail. Liam was fine, but Carolina was crying and hiding under her covers. For the first time ever, we pulled her into our bed to sleep, but she was too wound up. And the fact that Ripley was on the bed with us (because she was also scared) kept her awake until about 3:30 am. It was interesting.

Thursday: I had a meeting at school, so back we went, but the kids were excited about it after Tuesday. To make it even more fun, one of my teammates had brought her little girl, Carolina's age, and her teenage son - so he played hide-and-seek with them and took them out to play on the big-toys. If we hadn't all been starving for lunch I'm sure they would've stayed and played all day. That afternoon Liam helped me pick some tomatoes and basil from the garden to make homemade marinara - he loves being in the garden.

This haircut is a lot shorter, and much better

Friday: Last official day of summer vacation :( I had been thinking we would just stay in pajamas all day and veg, but I'm not very good at that unless I'm sick. The only thing on the agenda was to get Liam a haircut, and get some craft supplies, then Liam decided he wanted to go to Costco for samples, of which there weren't very many, so then he needed lunch ($2.50 for a split hot dog, pop, and churro - you can't beat that price). They are really very fun to shop with generally, they follow me around pretty well and we chat about things we see. Then Liam helped me do said craft, the theory was good, but he wasn't a huge fan once we got started. At least grilling, swimming, and roasting marshmallows made the day a little more exciting.

Saturday: The morning was low key - I took Carolina with to Target, she likes to shop with me :) And in the afternoon I took Liam to a birthday party - I didn't try to compete with that. Plus the fact that it was Todd's and my anniversary and he knew he was going to spend the night at Grandma and Papa's... he declared it the best day ever. Glad he had such fun, but it made my efforts feel like wah wah wahhhh. Todd and I had a fun date though, dinner at Twigs (sososooooo good) and watched "Guardians of the Galaxy".

11 years earlier...

Drunken Donuts: frosting and powdered sugar
coated warm doughnuts with pucker apple sauce, irish cream
chocolate, and amaretto creme anglais - delicious, not at all boozy.

Sunday: We seriously missed the kids, but it was nice to sleep in. After church we went straight to the pool to soak up some sun and relaxation on my/our last day. Of course I kept telling the kids how much I would miss them, and they kept making sure they were going back to Grandma and Papa's and then Nana and Poppa's later.

Pic-Mic at the pool

I'm not going to go on and on about going back to work. I'm sad, it was a really good summer, and generally really easy with the kids. Only a couple times did I say outloud that I was ready to go back to work... and all that meant was that I needed a break for them for a little while. I'm really really going to miss them. I know they are in exceptionally good hands, and dare-I-say that they would rather be there than at home with me, so they will be happy. This is life. I get very spoiled in the summer and sort of forget that I've worked very hard so I can stay home during the summer. Ok, that's enough. I'm lucky to have a job and so on and so forth. Wish me luck :)