Ahhhh, Summer.

School’s out, school’s out, teacher let the monkeys out…

Ah yes that lovely refrain of old.  The best day of the year, was the last day of school.  No more teachers, no more homework, you got to sleep in as late as you wanted, and stay up as late as you could.  MTV was the place to be, and Atari 2800 was the system to be playing (Pac Man!).  Summer.  I loved summer. 

Days spent at the pool, actually swimming, not trolling for guys. Running amok around town, buying 100 pieces of $.01 candy, such as tootsie rolls and butterscotch hard candies.  Creeking for crawdads, frogs, and turtles and screaming like the child you were when you actually found one.  Stealing first kisses with David P. across the street and being shy afterward.  Hmm, I wonder where he is today…..  The neighborhood games of hide and seek.  Every kid on the block would play and you had the entire street to hide in.  Fence walking.  Roof jumping.  Willow swinging.  Kids everywhere and every one of them friends.  The streetlights would come on and you knew it was time for you and every other kid to go home for the night.  Rainy days were spent lonely inside, waiting, hoping, praying for the sun to come out as no kids were allowed in houses without an adult home and no adults were ever home during the day.  It was great. 

Now?  Summers are not the same.  Kids are stuck locked inside to keep them safe and then we activity them to death.  I am sadly finding myself one of these parents this year.  Not the locked inside part, but the activity part. 

My oldest now is working, and working about 30+ hours a week, plus she is spending time at the barn riding and stall cleaning, and don’t forget the rest of her time going to movies with friends and hanging out.  I never see the girl except at night when she is sleeping. Or if I am lucky enough to catch her awake she is a grouch.  I fear it’s going to be a long summer with my almost 17 year old. 

My little one (okay 10 is not exactly little but…) she is a would-be dancer.  This summer she is taking on Ballroom/Salsa/Latin dance.  This was supposed to be our only dance commitment this year, but that is not what happened.  She has decided that she is ready to try out for competition dance this fall.  I was hoping to wait one more year.  Alas, that is not to be.  So that means we had to also take the summer dance classes at the studio where she dances.  This consists of three days a week of ballet.  Okay fine.  I can make that work.  Then, we have softball.  Oh yes, we had to add in a sport too.  Cause, well cause I’m a glutton for punishment apparently.  Add in another two or three days a week of practice and games and taaa daaaa you have one tired Seren and Courtney. 

When we are home all we want to do is lay around and be lazy.  No bon fires, no smores, no flashlight tag, no backyard sleepovers, just tired parents and kids.  What have we done to our summer people? 

This year, I still plan on trying to get my family out and about and doing some of the free things in life that are wonderful.  Park walking, lightening bug catching, fishing, and walking, and biking, and just having real fun.  Not activity fun.  Not sports fun.  Just plain ole seat of your pants, no real plan of action, spur of the moment fun. 

Now I just need to find the energy to do this.  It’s here somewhere.  Maybe I left it in the fridge from last year…