on duty

I would like to to submit Tuesday, June 26 as my first official day of summer vacation - and as such my first official day on 100% mom duty.  Though my last day of work was Friday the 22nd, I spent Saturday and Sunday rushing around feeling like I had other school work to do.  By the end of the day on Monday I was able to mentally b-slap myself into believing that it was, in fact Summer!  It was here, and I was missing it because I felt the need to work ahead on a lesson plan or make a to do list!  And this is how Tuesday became the first day of summer vacation.  The first day that I woke up without a to do list.
Okay.  That's a lie.

I had a to do list.  I always have a to do list.  At this time it has been modified to contain piecemeal cleaning projects, updating this here blog-a-rog, making the art camp lesson plans/tags/schedule/samples... But on TUESDAY (which, you'll recall, is the day in question) on Tuesday the only thing on my list worth my time was to take the kids to the park for the day.

The weather in the early part of the week was cooler than we've had in some time.  The highs were the in the upper 70's and the mornings made it too chilly to swim, or splash in the sprinkler, but the sunny skies and crisp wind made it perfect to play on the playground (even if that crispness had a distinct fall like feel that kept sending me into tiny fits of panic.)

While the kiddos watched sesame street I cleaned up breakfast and then packed a little picnic bag to take on our adventure.  Once all cargo was loaded in Big Red (no small feat, I can assure you) we cruised the 3 local jaunts before settling on a smaller turf that was - amazingly - completely empty.  This little park was too small to house a summer program, and while I do think it's good for the 4 monkey's to be around other primates, the knowledge that I would only have to monitor their behavior in relation to each other was too much to resist.  And, as a bonus, the parking lot is directly connected to the grounds, which means wrangling them back into the tree car would be less painful.  Don't judge... it's baby steps for me.

You guys it was such a great morning.  They played for nearly 2 hours without incident.  They ran with pinwheels, climbed rock walls, slid down slides, created imaginary animal habitats (at one point Emma ran up and said:  "Mommy!  We're playing my favorite pretend game - Unicorn babies!"  This was immediately followed by Bella skipping my and calling:  "See me mommy?!?  Sissy and I are pretending to be Penguins together!")  I never did figure out what animal they actually were - but they were all sweet and charming for the duration.

Ater lunch and another round of sliding all of the kids were starting to get tuckered out - we brushed off the extra mulch and quickly loaded up into that great easy access car.   At home we changed diapers, washed up, and got the men settled for naps.  While the girls painted I got dinner ready, we dusted the downstairs - and then rested for a few minutes after the girls were settled, knowing that in only 30 minutes the boys would be back up.

Tony was back home after the kids were started on dinner, and while I'm sure he could attest to my exasperated expressions, a few "knocking upside the heads" (to which he calmly says "brain damage"), and a singular "you talk to him - I'm off duty for a potty break" I still feel that the day was super positive.  Emma will tell you that she misses her Auntie and Nono, and rightfully so.  I did make the girls help me dust after all, we didn't leave for the park until every toy was away, and they had to clean the table, chair, and floor after painting.  But I feel that's all in good parenting mode... We need to readjust to being a family of 6 again.  In fact, the one thing I found myself saying over and over was "you are a part of a family and we all need to work together".  The kids need to adjust to mommy in charge, and I, quite frankly, need to adjust to mommy in charge.  (I promise not to call the amazing Auntie and Nono in desperation... they managed a whole school year long on their own and I can do it too darn it!)  But the kiddos will adjust.  I will adjust.  And with only a few head knocks in the forecast I think the summer is just what the doctor ordered for us.

Wouldn't you agree Emma?