School's Out!!! ... sort of...

Well, here it is, the beloved summer vacation. Hours and hours of "I'm bored!" ringing through the house. Well, that was the first day. Joey and Rachel are now very good at finding things to do without our help, since we usually come up with things like, "Oh, the kitchen floor grout needs to be scrubbed!" or "Have I taught you how to clean a toilet yet?"

Joey was invited to attend summer school this year. I remember summer school as the thing you would have to go to if you flunked a class in high school, but here in Lee's Summit, 80% of the kids go. I think it must be because it is free and a good substitute for childcare. This year there weren't enough teachers available, so they had to limit who gets to go. Joey was invited to attend and was seriously dreading it. Yesterday was the first day. It went like this.

"Mom, is it my regular bus stop?" Yes, but a different bus number.
"What do I need to take?" I have no idea. They didn't send a list. A backpack and a pencil sounds good.
"What's for lunch?" Pepperoni pizza, your favorite.
"Okay. See ya." Don't slam the door!! I mean, I love you! Have a nice day!

2:00 comes and goes and no Joey... where could he be? Maybe the bus is late. The phone rings - he missed the bus. So I go pick him up and the conversation in the car goes like this:
"Sorry, Mom, I got a little mixed up." That happens, no big deal.
"Okay, summer school is really fun." Oh? Do you like your teacher?
"Yeah, she's really cool. And funny." Great! Tell me about your first day.
"Well, we work in teams and we got to name our team the Stars!" Great!
"We only get one recess but it's for a whole half hour!" Woo-hoo!
"It's better than real school." So you think you'll go back tomorrow?
"Oh, yeah! That's fun!" (Phew)

Rachel's summer is pretty easy going. She has a good friend in our neighborhood - just 5 houses up the street. She and Maycee play together almost every day, and for the most part they are quiet when they play in the house and follow the rules when playing outside. Except two days ago. It went something like this:
"Mom!!! Mom!! Look what we found! We found real live fossils in the creek!!" Wow - that's great - wait, in the CREEK?? You guys were in the CREEK???
"Yeah, but Kaylee went with us." Hold on, you were in the CREEK??

...it's a good thing Jeff was here because all I could think of was "You were in the CREEK???"

Let's face it, if my brother Mike and I were Joey and Rachel and had a creek behind our house, we would have been in it all the time. But I don't think, at 7, I would have been allowed to go by myself... and the 8 year old sister Kaylee isn't exactly a responsible stand-in for a big brother.

In the kids' defense, the creek behind our house is fairly irresistable. First of all, we have a slide built into the hill that drops into the creek. Once you get down there, it's a magical world. There are so many trees - it's enchanting. You can't see any houses. There are huge boulders to climb. Turtles and bullfrogs abound. They did try to bring home turtles. All I could think of was salmonella... back to the creek went the scared turtles. I guess I'm not such a fun mom!

Ahh, little Noah. He is such a little sweetie. But he is a fat little sweetie. So I told Jeff he needed something to play on in the backyard. 2 hours later we have a Step 2 Climb and Slide in our backyard. Don't you just love Craigslist?? We have a daily trip out to the backyard - which is aerobic in itself - to climb up the tower and go down the slide over and over and over again...

Noah also loves to go for a walk. He stays on the sidewalk and he goes really fast! It's great exercise for mom on those days when I just want to sit on the couch. You can't say no to that little face standing by the door holding his shoes saying "please???"

Remember how much fun it was to go to the city pool all summer? Although I own a really cute maternity bathing suit, I don't exactly want to wear it. But the kids want to go to the pool. So I have to get it in my head that no one cares that I am a fat pregnant lady at the pool. Not today, though! It's raining cats and dogs! Saved by the weather, at least for today!

We don't have any big summer plans. Oh, except for adding another member to our family. Which I suppose is a pretty big summer plan, although it means mom sits inside in the air conditioning while everyone else goes outside to escape the arctic air.

I think I may put a big piece of plywood out back, cover it with chicken wire, and let the kids attach things they find to it. Maybe I'll let them take pictures with disposable cameras of all of their adventures, too. It will be the summer mom let us explore and be children. After all, "If you never let anything happen to them, nothing will ever happen to them!" -Dory, a quote from Finding Nemo

Looking forward to posting more as the summer adventures continue!