Summer's Coming

Today is the first day of the last four weeks of school. The children can wear shorts (a special uniform short with a special shirt, not just any old shorts) this month and during the first month of school - September. It's a nice change for them and me.

Lots of parents choose not to invest in the shorts uniform, but I love it. It gives me a break from HAVING to do wash every third day to be certain the kids have uniforms. If they don't have any clean shorts, they can always wear their regular uniforms.

This time of year is always so busy, it's like walking a tightrope. One wrong move and you fall off. Between end-of-year tests, end-of-year parties, end-of-year recitals . . . there's more than enough to fill every waking moment of most of the sleeping ones, as well.

But it's a fun month, and then we have summer!!! I love the summer - having my children home from school every day, getting to play and do fun things with all of them, planning activities and swimming. We've already booked a lot of the calendar.

In June, we're going to the Outer Banks for a week on vacation. We have a place on Hilton Head Island but, for years, I've been wanting to trade it for something right on the beach. We love our timeshare - it's perfect for us, but it's a good ways from the beach. We plan several beach days while we're there, but it's not quite the same thing as rolling out of bed and running out to the beach. So, I put my request in with our Exchange Company when we realized we couldn't go to Hilton Head this year due to timing. They discouraged me, nearly promising that nothing that met my requirements would be banked. I wanted a 3-bedroom that slept 8 privately right on the beach but not too far a drive from us. I called frequently to check on our request. While the kids and I were in West Virginia visiting Don's folks, he called one night and said RCI had called about 15 times and left messages that they had a match for our vacation request. When I called them, it seemed perfect for us. I was willing to settle for something much less nice than our condo to be on the beach, but I needed accomodations for 8 so we could take Don's parents with us. They found us a 3-bedroom with two queen rooms, one room with 2 twin beds, and a queen sleeper sofa. It's ON THE BEACH and the date was perfect for us. Although it's a bit of a ride, we're excited.

We leave early in June for a week. Once we get home, we have Dane's 7th birthday and we're planning a camping trip for the week after our vacation. Next up is Vacation Bible School at church and I've volunteered to help again this year. That takes care of June.

Deanna's wanting to attend Horse Camp and we want to make another trip to West Virginia. Deanna usually spends a week alone with her grandparents, so we have to try and schedule that, also. The summer's booking up quickly.

But, first, I have to get through May. I just have to remember that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Summer's coming, and so is vacation.