Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Summertime...and the livin's easy

Summer is my very favorite time of year. It's always been that way. I have a summer birthday, school is out, and it's light until late into the evening. Things just seem a lot more relaxed in the summer, and I absolutely love the weather. So...some things we've done so far with our summer!

The beach is my favorite place to be, but Dan has not been to Ocean City except for a couple of occasions (and one of those was in the winter). So, he and I took a mini vacation over an extended July 4th weekend sans kiddos. It was so wonderful! We loved our hotel (The Dunes Manor), we were relaxed, we had fun, and the weather was gorgeous. The only negative that occurred was somehow I caught strep throat, so by our last night, I was feeling pretty terrible. But, up until then, I was LOVING our getaway; we're hoping to do it again next year.


The kids got to spend a lot of time with their grandparents. Dan's parents came to visit in July and stayed for a long weekend. My dad and Shirley came up the following weekend for a wedding, and while the kids only got to spend an hour or two with them, they certainly made the most of it! I'm pretty sure dad was sore the day after hoisting the kids up and down repeatedly on what they fondly referred to as "The Ride".


We've also spent time at my mom and Ron's house, specifically in the pool. Both kids have really taken to swimming this year. Emily and Owen both will swim unassisted with their swimmies, and they will both jump off the side of the pool and swim to the steps. It's amazing how fast they learned!


This summer has been a bit different for me since I don't have the usual time off work. This spring semester, I filled in once again in the guidance office, so I owed ten additional days after the end of school. This time, however, the other counselor decided not to do her ten days prior to school starting either, so I am taking those as well. That means I only get about 4 weeks of summer vacation, and it's been broken up throughout July and some of August. I love the counseling job, though, so I don't mind too much...although come August 24th, I return to the English classroom once more.