Summer Survival

It’s official.  The last day of school has come and gone—the whole 1 hour of it.  Summer has begun.  Since both Kelsie and Brandon did so well and actually graduated to the next grade level this year, I wanted to start the summer off right.

I am a strong believer in long, lazy, summer days—after jobs are done, of course.  Summertime is a magical time for kids to be outside, explore, get dirty, be creative, and have lots of fun.  I’ve found that with lots of other distractions (t.v., video games, computer games, etc.) I sometimes feel like I am pushing, almost bribing them (I’ll let you have another popsicle) to play outside. 

So, on the last day of school, just when the asking about said computer games started, I presented them with their very own

SUMMER SURVIVAL KITS

The kits included all the summer essentials:

• shove and pail, beach towel, and goggles (for when we go to the beach)
• a flashlight for those late nights playing in the backyard and for when we go camping
• sidewalk chalk, mini clipboard, and a florescent pad of paper for any inspiration that may come to their minds
• first-aid kits complete with antibacterial cream and colorful band-aids for all the scrapes and falls they’ll get
• The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls
• bubbles, because you always have to have bubbles
• walkie-talkies because they’re just fun
• bug kits for catching and examining those little tiny creatures
• sparklers and poppers for the 4th of July (which have been saved for that day—don’t worry!)

And finally, homemade cards from Wally and I telling them how proud we are of all their accomplishments this year.  We really are going to have a great summer and while there is time for the t.v. and video games, I was just really happy that they spent the majority of the afternoon talking in code through the walkie-talkies and looking for bugs.

Yes, my friends.  Summer has begun.