Summer's Here!

Well, what an exciting summer we have planned! As with last summer, it hadn't even started before it was all booked up. We have a few breathing days (one of which is today), but not much. It should be pretty happy, though.

We started off with Eric's 38th birthday on June 1. It was lovely. We went to a Tampa Yankees game (professional, but not Major League). It was a fun time. We invited his parents along and it was just a beautiful (albeit hot) afternoon. One of his Youth, Joey, was baptized that day, too. Nice present for a relatively fresh Youth Guy.



Let's see...after that, the boys had their last day of school (Kindergarten and Third Grade) on June 4. Yay! Ethan is all As and Bs and Seth is doing fine, except his report card says he needs improvement in writing, which he does. Actually, he does just fine with writing when he can sit still and stay focused long enough to put something down on paper, but he rarely does that. And when I say 'rarely', I mean about twice a year. Suffice it to say that we're ALL glad school is finished for a while.

On Friday and Saturday, Eric ran sound and I coordinated a wedding for the daughter of a lady who goes to our chuch. It was a lovely affair and went off rather smoothly (for a wedding). They're a good couple and I hope they stay married forever! This wedding is the reason that our camping trip in my May 9 post didn't come to fruition. I had forgotten about the wedding that had been planned months earlier. Sort of felt compelled to keep my prior commitment.

On Sunday after church, we went bowling with the Cub Scout Pack at PinChasers in Zephyrhills. Rachael smoked us all. She didn't like the bowling so much, so I rolled the 6-lb. ball with her in my other arm for most of her frames. Oddly enough, I managed to beat myself empty-handed. Haven't quite figured how that works.


So this weeks starts my three weeks of standing in for our Children's Pastor on Wednesday evenings. But the cool thing is that on Thursday, June 19th, our family is leaving for a long weekend at Melbourne Beach. It's on the Atlantic coast not too far from the Space Center. I'm so excited. We got a great hotwire price on the Hilton there.

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! This is our official Family Vacation for the year because even though the kids and I are going to Maine in July, Erc won't be going with us because he has Youth Camp with the kids from the church. We're all really looking forward to it! Except Rachael. She doesn't know about it yet. But I'm excited enough for the both of us!

After we get back from the beach, we have less than a week before Camp Extreme, Part One starts. This is a lot of work, but it's fun. I'm helpin to cook for several dozen children and about a dozen volunteers and then running the craft cabana for all of the children. There just aren't words to describe how a woman feels after several straight days where a full hour each day is given to "Miss Julie, Miss Julie, Miss Julie, Miss Julie, Miss Julie, MISS JULIE". It's absolutely endearing and makes me so happy each and every year that I'm not the full-time mother of SIXTY!

Then there'll be Fourth of July. This is where I'm really going to miss my BFF who abandoned me last week. We always met up at the Lutz parade and usually spent the rest of the day together until fireworks were over in Temple Terrace at about 10:00. So our plan this year is to continue the Lutz parade tradition without them and go over to my Grandma's to celebrate her 86th birthday and maybe go up to Dade City to watch their fireworks.

Then we have four days to get ready and pack up for Maine. I have to figure out how to travel alone with a busy 2-year-old, a challenging 6-year-old, and a compliant 9-year-old. (Poor Ethan.) We have to leave the house at 5:00 in the morning. This is not funny to me. I anticipate lots of complaining and lots of audible whining. And I can't imagine how much worse the kids will be than I!

But the good news is that my Mom got me a kayak on a yard sale up there, so part of our plans will include water. I'm really excited to have fun, but I'm really anticipating that I'll miss Eric a lot!

So then we get back on the 22nd of July. Five days to mentally (and otherwise) prepare for Camp Extreme, Part Two. More cooking. More crafting. More fun. Then we have about two-and-a-half weeks until school and Bible Study start back up and summer will be a beautiful memory of time well-spent.

Since you've stuck wih me this far, I'll reward you with some bonus pictures of my cruise back in April.