The school year ended in a delightful and excellent way - lots of fun activities, uniforms optional, lots of pomp and circumstance ceremonies. My children have learned and matured so much this year (dabbing away tears of pride) and are officially rising to their next grades.
I cannot believe what a lovely summer we are having. Since my last post, I have been spent most of my time with the following pursuits:
1. Managing the family.
2. Keeping the home.
3.Trying new recipes - many with success!
4. Making progress on that Rooster Needlepoint project that haunts me.
5. Reading books & blogs re: homekeeping, child development, summer fun, couponing, looking cute and appropriate, playing American contract bridge.
6. The most time consuming has been working part-time in the education and care of children as well as continuing research and activity (IE, altering resume as needed and applying for jobs) in an effort to gain employment/earn regular income. I am still so amazed and fully disillusioned by the reality of my having slipped into the status of what they call a "displaced homemaker." But, that's a stressful story for a different day.
Of course, this is not a complete list but it represents about 85% of my time since February.
Since mid-June, my boys have been out of school and it's been great! They seemed to have tired of extra TV and screen time within the first week. Yay! They actually prefer real life pursuits. I love that they will say, "There's nothing good on" and turn off the tv. Sometimes they come to me for something to eat immediately or to get an idea of something else to do. Usually they go for a ball - soccer ball, baseball, tennis ball. Sometimes "messing around outside" which might mean climbing a tree and acting like wild animals or digging holes in the ground for lost treasures. Sometimes just having a Luigi's Ice out on the deck is all they need before maybe taking a nap, calling/skyping Grammie or helping me prepare lunch or dinner.
We have met friends for rollerskating. They have been swimming countless times at a local indoor pool and at our neighborhood pool. We have visited our local library and selected books for the whole summer. They have done lots of nothing (IE, poking around in the backyard, lego-building and lego stop motion movie-making) and a bit of something (IE, yardwork, folding towels and clothes, general neatening).
On the 4th of July, we attended our first every Major League Baseball game. Well, first for the sons and me. We took the train in to DC and saw the Washington Nationals take on the San Francisco Giants. The Nationals won! Hurrah!!!
The next phase of summer took us to a family reunion weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Marriot- South Park was quite nice and the reunion activities were just right.
Now we are summering at our place in South Carolina at last. It NEVER disappoints. I am typing at the dining table as ceiling fans spins, the children pick up pine cones from under the palms outside my window and I await random family visitors to appear on our porch. (My husband is from this area with many relatives withing a 25 mile radius. Last evening we dropped in on his octogenarian aunt and uncle. This aunt ALWAYS has some kind of home-baked deliciousness at the ready. Isn't that just southern hospitality up and down? Well, last night, she asked if we would like something called Heavenly Pie that was made of fruit cocktail and whipped cream on a graham cracker crust. It was soooooo delicious and refreshing. Loved it. The boys went out to their "garden" which most people call a farm. They picked fresh (sweet delicious!) tomatoes and a variety of squashes. It was super fun. We've already decided to go back and get more tomatoes. Soooooo sweet. This is living.
We've been here for a few days. This year we decided to get library cards at the local library. What a fun experience that was. It's interesting to see a completely different selection of books. The fact that there are may older families here is reflected in the libraries offerings. Seriously, every popular British series since 1970 seems to be available there. And the cookbook selection is simply beyond. I checked out way too much.
The boys found some good DVDs most based on books.While the husband, found some terrific genealogy resources (his hobby).
After the library, we went to a little place the locals call "The Drive In" which is actually a little restaurant that has no drive through or walk up window at all. The fried chicken, french fries and onion rings we ordered were AMAZING. And the sweet tea that washed it all down - just right.
In a little while, if those silly rainstorms hold out, we will go to the driving range at one of the local clubs - it's just wonderful that we have access to two award winning tournament golf courses and a brand new tennis facility that will no doubt become an award-winning tournament tennis club in the very near future.
The guys are out taking a walk right now and expect me to be ready to go to the club for lunch upon their return so I'd better get my things together. I plan to post some pictures from this year's summer very soon.
I trust you are enjoying your summer as well.
~ Sylvie
