How's the old summer been treatin' you?

Our Summer, so far, has been pretty dreamy. It has been exactly the Summer I hoped it would be. When Lorien finished school I panicked a bit--wondering how my low levels of entertainment would satisfy after a school year packed with fun and education. I also did not want to go bonkers stuffing our summer with event after event. So we made a list of things we wanted to do and wrote a few things on the family calender. Well, Summer showed up and did not disappoint. Here is a little taste of what we've been up to:

Dollar Movies

Playdates, Park and Library trips

Eating popsicles and ice cream after every meal but breakfast.

Swim, swim, swim! A million and one thanks to our friend, Cheer, who let us invade her pool and save those pesky public pool entrance fees.

(I know, my Mom friends are totally Hot!)

The Beach--The Sun--The Sand

--Is that a dead body washed up on the shore?

--No, I think it is another clump of seaweed.

--I'm pretty sure that is a body...

--Do you want to go poke it with a stick?

--Uh, maybe...wait, that is my son. I wonder what he is doing?

Answer: digging a hole in the sand...of course...

Dress up and dancing parties

Shaving cream fight--er--Family Home Evening activity

Lorien's loose front tooth not falling out on its own.

A few items that were not on our list, but we managed to do any way--

Getting sick and throwing up 100 times (a combined family effort).

Sending Clare's nap and meal schedule so completely out of whack that she made up a good 99 % of our puke tally.

Wyatt's discovery of computer games.

Lorien's sassy intellect informing her that she "knows everything" and her parents are totally lame.

Clare graduating from one favorite outfit to another-- The extremely observant blog reader might have noticed that in almost every single picture of my youngest child, she is either naked but for a diaper or wearing a red jacket. This summer Clare switched her preferences from: "Naked" or "Red Coat" to: "Naked" or "Mermaid shwem-shoot" (her Little Mermaid bathing suit).

Sibling bickering reaching monumental proportions.

Catching up on Avatar, So You Think You Can Dance and Word World.

The intense California sun and significant lack of ozone layer has dealt a near fatal blow to my energy saving clothes line. After a summer of line drying I discovered that all of our laundry has faded into a willowy shadow of their former color. Not that our clothes were anything fantastic to start out with but I am disappointed in the grey-green some of my favorite clothes have turned. So, I've limited my line drying to the big stuff (blankets etc) and any clothes that have already been destroyed by our usual family activities. (Like shaving cream fights.) I'll have to find other ways to save energy--our PG&E bill has gone down by almost 100 bucks-- I just cannot ignore those kinds of savings. Hey, maybe I can use that extra cash on new clothes every month!