We’ve been on our “summer break” for 6 weeks now. How the time flies! I’ve had so much on my to do list that it seems that a year-long summer break wouldn’t be time enough to get it all done.
I’ve been working on my children’s year-end evaluations, purchasing books for next year, writing plans for history and filling our science experiment boxes. This is my once-a-year opportunity to clean–I mean really clean. If junk drawers and closets aren’t organized now, they probably won’t be set right until next summer. Everything must be wrapped up from this year and then prepped for the new year before we start back to school in a few short weeks.
My kids had a different idea about summer break. They came to me the other night, in the tearful realization that our break will soon be over. “Mommy!” they cried. “We haven’t done all the things we said we’d do!”
The things they were thinking about were things like geocaching excursions and Wii bowling tournaments. And the reason we haven’t done these things is because mommy has been so busy working that she forgot to take time to play. What a dull mommy, indeed!
The very next day all work was set aside. We did our geocaching excursion, and found 3 caches! We were so proud that one was a microcache (very tiny) and one had a trackable device, which means that someone is following its progress as it is moved from cache to cache around the country.
Every cache had little trinkets in it, and the boys had fun choosing items to take and replacing them with things we had brought. I admit that on at least one occasion they took what I had brought instead of getting something from the cache…I guess the stuff I brought was pretty cool! They each came home with baseball cards, flashlights, cross necklaces, rubber bracelets and a marble.
While we were out geocaching we found time and opportunity to take a little train ride! We also got out on the water and did some paddleboating. We finished off the afternoon with a stop at our favorite pizza place. What a refreshing day!
It is easy to get so busy doing things “for our kids” that we forget to take time to do things “with them”, especially when our homeschool is not in session. I’m glad I remembered what summer is supposed to be about, before it was too late. This week has been completely different, full of swimming, watching movies, reading The Hobbit together, dominoes, playing “puppies” with my preschooler, and making snowcones.
The work still gets done, albeit at a slower pace. It will always be there tomorrow, you know. But these opportunities to make memories with the children need to be seized now, while the getting is good. Don’t let your summer fly by without stopping to enjoy the little things!
