It's Summer!

Summer has officially begun for our family.  May was a long, long month full of illness for most of us -- and it really threw me down for the count! I haven't taught in weeks and have slept more in the last month than in 10 months prior. I'm so glad that I finally am healthy again!  On a positive note, I've read a ton of books and was able to watch many movies on Netflix Instant View while I was getting better.

I just finished up the Steig Larsson trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed them!  I felt that the beginnings of the books dragged a bit, but then when I was about 1/2 way through I found it hard to put them down.  I definitely loved my Kindle, since I simply ordered the next one when I was ready and waited less than a minute for it to download.  I read that Larsson had planned at least 10 books, and I'm sorry that he died before writing more.  I wasn't sure when I started The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but I'm glad I kept going.  There are some questionable parts (and evil) in all 3 books, but they are thrilling and kept me on the edge of my chair.

The boys start an "open gym" program this week, and I'm eager to hear about what they think! It works out well, as I'm back to teaching this week, as well as training with another company for a traveling trainer opportunity. 


I feel topsy-turvy as we're solidly moving into a new direction for our family.  I've worked, but we continued to homeschool.  As my work commitments have increased, we realized that something had to give.  The boys will begin full-time public school this fall, so I'm committed to doing my best to make some awesome memories this summer.  Not that we don't always want to make awesome memories -- but I am nervous about this new change.  I told Bo that it feels like I'm turning my universe upside down since I will no longer be a "homeschooling" mom.

This summer should be great, though!  We went to Vegas last week, and have at least 2 more trips planned this summer.  Nate just finished an awesome soccer camp and both boys started basketball yesterday.  We have been swimming for about a month, but the pool is finally warm (enough for me) so I envision many evenings after dinner in the pool.  My schedule is packed for the next couple weeks, but it won't be that way all summer, so I plan to make plenty of museum visits.

My sister and I also want to spend time trying out recipes (mainly sweets, I think) that avoid all of her allergies.  I had fully intended to make a cake for her birthday this week, but I ended up buying a vegan triple chocolate cake from Whole Foods.  They had 3 vegan options available -- which means that they meet the dairy-free requirement. Unfortunately, the other 2 flavors were banana (she's allergic to bananas) and carrot cake (which has orange juice in it and she's allergic to citrus.)  The cake was very good, though -- rich and chocolate-y and definitely yummy.

School starts early here, so we have about 2 months before a totally new schedule goes into place. What are your plans for the summer?