Brighter Days

Remember that post from a few weeks ago where I lamented the fact that our family appeared to be stuck under a gloomy rain cloud?  Well, I'll knock hardily on this wooden desk as I report that the sun is back and it's all good.  Friday was the boys' last day at school for the summer (and Ethan's last forever), and while I've admittedly had a few panicked moments of 'what the hell was I thinking becoming a stay-at-home mom for the summer!?' since then, I am super excited to spend the next eight weeks with my munchkins.  We have what I think will be a perfect mix of fun plans and no plans, trips, time at home, family, friends...it will be grand.  Or maybe it will be exhausting and maddening and will make me thrilled to send my biggest boy off on that school bus come September 6th.  Either way, it will be an adventure, and I can't believe it's finally here!  And in some bizarre twist of luck and fate, Ben will also be home with us until September 4th, when he starts his new job.  Could it get any better?

When I first told Ethan that I would be home for the summer a few months back, the first thing he said was, "oh that's great, Mommy.  Can we do some learning?".  Although I had instead envisioned carefree, unstructured days, reading trashy mags on the beach (yeah, right!), I agreed that we could do some learning too, and even make the summer a little like camp, with theme weeks and field trips and the like.  So this morning we headed off to the library to gather as many books as we could about our first learning topic: bugs.  We actually expanded the theme a bit to bugs and bees and frogs and snakes and any sort of creature you can find at the lake, since we'll be there for a spell and I don't know when we'll next get to the library.  In the meantime, I'm sure my little task master will keep our lesson plans on track.

Part of my motivation to take this summer off relates back to that New Years resolution I made over six months ago - to unplug.  I am so happy to have this opportunity to throw my Blackberry in the drawer, detach from Facebook and all my other online addictions, and to focus on my family and being outside and having simple, low-tech fun.  So I'm not sure how much I'll post this summer, although I will try, as I'll want to memorialize it all.    Until then, if you need us, we'll be at the beach.