Finally! The Last Day of The School Year...

The snow days this past winter really did a great job in ruining the beginning of 'summer'. The kids last day of school was supposed to be May 20, but it's today instead. It will be a short summer this year. The next school year starts on August 15. Crazy.

And don't get me started on the 9 month school schedule (or 9 1/2 month school schedule in our case.) In this day and age there is absolutely no need for a school schedule that revolves around farming. My kids have never planted in the spring, worked the farm all summer, and then started school after the last harvest. Sorry, but year round school seems to make more sense to me.

We don't really have any plans for a vacation this summer. It's always so darn hot when we go anywhere, we spend most of our time at the hotel pool... And gas is expensive again. I remember 3 summers ago when gas was so high, we spent more money on gas than we did on hotels. That's pretty sad.

I don't know if my daughter will be up for too much activity/excitement. She has mono (mononucleosis) which is just the funnest thing ever for a 13 year old! Not. She's doing pretty good now. She still sleeps 13 hours a day. The not feeling good and running a slight fever comes and goes depending on how much sleep she gets. And she missed the last month of school. The teachers sent all of her work home, so I had the joy of basically home-schooling her. More fun. She didn't have to do any finals, so her grades aren't as good as they could have been.

First Day Of School

Monday, August 16, was the kids first day of school. For some reason they seem to think they are too old for the annual 'drag us onto the front porch and take a picture of us on the first day of school' routine. They're not too old. They were willingly reluctant. Reluctantly willing? Eh, I got them both on the porch at 6:22 am and snapped a few photos.

This was not them happy either. I was being goofy, and I told them to hug. She backed away because boys (especially brothers) have cooties. He laughed so hard at her that she started laughing.

AND I was warned I better not put any photos of them on my blog. I promised not to. I lied. Oops.

Super-Duper Mini Vacation

Can you still consider it a vacation if you are only gone for 52 hours? The kids talked us into going to Branson for 2 days. They just wanted to get away from home for a little while. 'Little while' being the important thing here, since they really don't like being away from home for too long. They do love staying in hotels though. I guess just because it's different than their home.

Here is how our 2 days went:

Did some gift shopping for the friend, the not-my-girlfriend, and the neighbor who fed our cat while we were gone. We shopped while waiting for a rain storm to end. Then we played miniature golf.






Swam in the hotel pool. This was in the back of the hotel. The hotel also has a really nice and new indoor/outdoor pool and play area across from the front door. We spent some time there also.



Watched these 2 crazy young men on motorcycles inside a 12 foot globe. That was crazy. We saw them do their routine twice. It was dark at 10:30 pm, so they had these spotlights shining, and it looked even crazier than it did when it was still light out.



The kids talked us into seeing this show. We saw the same group of people when we were in Branson 2 years ago. They've changed up their routine since then, and the kids enjoyed it. It's hard finding a show that the adults can enjoy that the kids will go to without complaining. They are obviously doing YMCA here. They change costumes a LOT!!



Go carts!!!



Why does the drive home always seem to take longer than the drive there?

My Baby... er, I Mean My Big Boy

Right before Christmas my 15 year old son suddenly had a girlfriend. She came out of the blue. Wait, she didn't come out of the blue, she came through the XBox. Sad, but true. He 'met' her through his friend's girlfriend. The 4 of them went to the movies once. And my son went ice skating with her. Then I found out through his MySpace that he had suddenly and unexpectedly dropped her like a rock. Turns out he met a girl in his math class when the new semester started at the beginning of the new year. So with this new girlfriend comes other problems for us, his parents. I've always held firm in my belief that my kids won't be doing solo dates or any kind of alone time with no parents around. Especially at each other's homes. I will not relent on this. He has been wanting to spend his weekends with her, so we have to be sure we talk to her grandmother and make sure an adult will be present when they are there. And I am always home when the kids are here, so they won't be alone when I'm on duty.

Any other mothers out there with kids this age? Anyone have any advice or comments on my parenting skills?

Oh, the photo up there is my son this past Saturday night. He and his girlfriend went to a school dance. I think he looked very handsome!!

My husband drove them to and from the dance. I also have firm rules about my kids riding around with strangers. Or at least riding with people I don't know very well. Maybe I am too controlling, and I am definitely a worry wart, but I want to know that my kids are as safe as they can be.

Forest Park Balloon Race