The Next 76 Days

Despite the fact that the first day of summer vacation I...

Picked up 5,291 Otter Pop wrappers from the back yard
Swept the kitchen floor 654 times
Called Mike and told him I was SERIOUSLY considering calling a local day-care to get the rates for a certain child to attend.
Was dismayed at the aftermath of a eating popcorn and playing Legos combo for three of my children and two neighbor kids.
Picked up 343 towels from my backyard while the children picked up the other 8,729 items strewn across the lawn.
Gave my kids a reprieve from the 'summer tasks' for the first day.

I am still feeling optimistic about the rest of the summer.  I've had a couple of people ask me lately how I feel about all my kids being home for the summer.

My answer?

I love it.  I love summer vacation, I love my kids home from school for a couple of months, I love the do-what-we-want-when-we-want kind of feeling without schedules of school, homework, bedtimes, etc.  But I do love the return of routine when school starts again.  There is something about the more routine, organized schedule of a school year that keeps us all in check. But a two-three month vacation is glorious too.

Although, with that said, summer vacation definitely isn't all Otter Pops and water games around here.  Just like last summer, the summer before that, and the summer before that; we have daily morning task lists that include such things as; homework sheets, pick-a-chores, music practicing, bike rides around the local trail, and summer goals.

And when Luke said the other day, "Why do we always have to do homework sheets in the summer?  No one else does!"  Mike and I gave him the standard reply, "We don't care what other people do. It's what WE DO."  Luke's follow-up comment was cut short by Mike's reply, "No one else I know has a goat either, should we get rid of Hank?"

Luke had no further comment.

All in all, I think the summer and us will get along just fine.
(For the most part.)