Our Summer List

Every year at the end of school, we make a list of 100 things we hope to do during the summer.  It is by no means exclusive or mandatory, but it does get posted on the fridge so we never have a day where someone can say, "I'm bored." because there is always something on the list we can do.  Besides, if they do utter those two words, they know it is instant KP, laundry, toilet scrubbing duty. 

Here's our summer list.

1. Swimming lessons
2. Berry picking
3. Go to the Library
4. Cook out on the grill often.
5. Camping
6. Go to the park
7. Ice cream from a truck
8. Read comic books all day long.
9. Baseball games, Nats and O's.
10. Go to the beach.
11. Visit both sets of Grandparents.
12. Drive in Movie.
13. Visit Civil War Battle grounds.
14. Zoo.
15. Visit 2 colleges for oldest.
16. Go to a Waterpark.
17.  Firecrackers
18. Fireflies
19. Swimming, swimming and more swimming.
20. Train for track (that's a high schooler) The rest of us will either ride bikes or skates or some such.
21. Visit historic places we haven't been.
22. Driving lessons
23. Summer Band Camp
24. Sleep over with friends
25. Potty train 3 year old. (I have to dream).
26. read 100 books. (We put this on our list every year).
27. Go to a summer concert.
28.  Put on a summer concert.
29.  Date night once a week.
30. Game day any day it rains.  (all cards, monopoly, magic, no screens).
31. Grow lots of tomatoes
32.  Trampolines
33. Going to an amusement park or fair.
34. Riding a horse.
35. Staring at the stars and seeing a meteor shower or falling stars.
36. Lemonade stand
37. Play capture the flag.
38. Watermelon
39.  Ice Cream.
40. Tour Washington DC
41. Paddle boats.
42. Feed the ducks
43. Go Fishing.
44.  Sunbathe with no discernable stopping point.
45.  See a play.
46. Paint the deck.
47. Make a scrapbook.
48. Watergun fight.
49. Throw a party.
50.  Petting zoo.
51. Visit a farm.
52.  Make jam.
53.  Learn to sew or knit or some craft involving thread/needles.
54. Cartwheels and hand stands.
55. Card castles.
56. Milkshakes at the park.
57. Aquarium.
58. Basketball camp.
59. Learn to skate.
60. Chalk drawings
61. Bubbles.
62. Remote control planes and cars.
63. Wiffleball league.
64. Skateboarding
65. Paint toenails.
66. Canoeing
67. Sandcastles.
68. Hiking.
69. Smores
70. Singalong
71. Move to medium level of drums on Rockband.
72. Teach middles to read, do multiplication tables more fluidly
73.  Write letters once a week to someone.  (At camp, we had to write once a week a chicken letter to get lunch on Sunday which was fried chicken, so I'm going to have icecream letters on Sunday, same deal).
74. Daytrips to Shenandoah, Annapolis, Leesburg.
75. Art Day.
76. Do Summer workbooks M-F so they don't drive us crazy come August.
77. Celebrate 20th anniversary, make kids watch wedding tape.
78. Family Reunion in Tennessee.
79. Visit one of the places profiled in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Itching to try a C.M.P. over in Baltimore.
80. Tripple A Ballparks once a month.
81. Cook Brisket all day long.
82. Playgroup for toddlers once a week.
83. Find jobs either paying or volunteer for oldest two.
84. Work on Helen book.
85. Invite friends to come over once a week.
86. Learn a piece of music a month on the piano
87.  Start to learn Guitar.
88. Sleep in.
89. Exercise every day somehow.
90. Pillow fight.
91. Blow dandelions.
92. Catch tadpoles or frogs.
93. Collect rocks.
94. Build fort.
95. Frisbee
96. putt putt golf.
97. Dance
98. Ride a rollercoaster.
99. Do nothing all day.
100.  Get text books and school uniforms for school (incoming freshman is very excited).

Have a great Summer!  I can't wait to get started.  Think I'll begin with 99.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. My favorite moment of the mass is right after Communion.  In that quiet, I know that all of us have stories, have crosses big and small that gnaw at the heart and make even the simplest things difficult. But we are all here, and all of us are offering all our sorrows, joys, hopes and triumphs and tragedies in that quiet moment before Christ, and being  fully aware of having Christ within us. 

2. My son finished school this week, and my daughter finished her exams.  For my oldest two, summer has officially begun. Time to sign them up for outside of the house jobs.

3.  Swimming lessons.  I think the woman at the aquatic center nearly quit but we got five kids signed up for the same time, all in different level swimming.  The sixth one is only 3 so I'm going to have us go to the pool for two hours prior to the lessons so she gets her water fix twice a week.   It should be fun.

4.  On my nightstand: Eat, Pray, Love.  So far, not too excited by it.   Sparta.  Yeah, I like it more than one  probably should.   Also hoping to throw myself into reading Blessings and the Bee Keeper's Daughter. 

5.  Phineas and Ferb have made it popular but before the cartoon, my kids and I had a tradition which we will still hold this summer.  We make a list of 100 things we hope to do over June, July and August.  We post it on the refrigerator and check off as we go, and add in as we find new things to do.   I highly recommend it. 

6. There are three things I require of my children's teachers; that they care about the outcomes of their students, that they come prepared to convey material and meaning to the kids, and that they hold the children accountable for their actions or inactions because  the real world commercial, social, economic, political, cultural and spiritual will.  

I thank God for teachers my kids say are "hard" because they assign homework, grade it and give it back with corrections.  I thank God for teachers that give my kids the grades they earn and demand my children turn in their best efforts even if the efforts reveal a lack of understanding.  I thank God they care enough to assign projects and posters and book reports, all things that cause my kids to groan, and to grow. 

We are coming to the end of another school year, and knowing how much I hate homework and how hard it is for me to get kids to get through it, I love these men and women for being willing to take it day after day.  I love my kids and some days it's a battle royale to get started on homework, but they walk into the lions den everyday to demand more.  

So Thank you!

7.  

Have a great weekend and remember those who walk in harms way and have since the beginning of our Country, so we could have all this lavish freedom, all these opportunities, all the gifts our society rains on its people.     

  

Rock On Mom!

It's Small Success Thursday over at Family and Faith!  I'd almost stopped doing this exercise if only because it meant, I cut back on actual writing when giving these updates. But I promised myself that I would write a piece first and then do the update --and so, you get Cramming for Next Time and the Thursday Small Success's blurb.  Lucky you. 

This week I: 

1) received an email from a publisher regarding an inquiry I wrote several months ago about a potential book.  (I'm now overwhelmed that I ever thought about doing this).  What was I thinking?  Why did I think that I could do this? 

2) exercised 4 days.  I blew off yesterday or it could have been 5.  Starting over again today.

3) went to the May Crowning at my kids' school.

4) Threw out six big things that were broken.  Ha!

5) Am potty training 3 year old.  She at least sits once a day.  That in my mind, counts big time.

6) Paul took a side step this past weekend. He also started nodding yes and no. 

Have a small success or a big one?  Go share at Family and Faith Live!