A Journey through Summer

I wonder if any consideration was given when deciding to end the school year right before a holiday weekend.  I realize there is probably no perfect solution, but taking kids out of a very structures environment and straight into a holiday schedule is a recipe for less than happy kids. The youngest is convinced he has infinite energy and doesn't need time for rest.  Mommy begged to differ today, so the household was given a mandatory quiet time hour in one's room.  Of course everyone slept except the youngest. In preparation of our first summer adventure, we loaded up the van for our first family shopping trip in forever.  'Mr. I don't need a nap' was asleep before we reached out second stop. Sigh. Venturing out doesn't feel as intimidating as it did a year ago.  We are still wearing masks even though John and I are vaccinated.  The places we shop; we make use of curbside pickup or stores still requiring masks.   We appreciated this truck

It happened again.  We survived another round of school.  A lot more impressive this year than some as we worked out way through the many logistics of living in a pandemic.  But we did it without a single sick day for the kids. Now our family is 50% vaccinated and looking forward to a summer full of 'yes' to items that were a 'no' last year. Summer this year is 76 days long with little brother along for the ride this year.  Masks are still required but that shouldn't stop our fun.  After wearing masks everyday at school, this has become their normal. So enough preamble, here is what our first day of summer looked like. Everyone finds their own breakfast in the summer.  Everyone was awake by 8am.  While I attended via Zoom my Friday Bible study, the kids were tasked with putting all their school supplies away.  After doing this myself for many years it was good to pass on that responsibility. After lunch we went to a playground between rain sh