It's The End Of The World As We Know It

You can call me crazy but I'm excited for the fairly loosey goosey summer that begins promptly at 1 pm on Friday afternoon (hear that Mother Nature?). Really, you can call me crazy no matter what you think about my summer plans -- it's true; reality and I become less acquainted with each other with every passing day and I'm cool with that. My loose screws and I have a few weeks with just our normal (really, mostly Molly's) extracurriculars -- yoga (have I mentioned her sainted yoga teacher before? If I haven't, well, I should. This lady gets a gaggle of kids to be calm, focused, and DO yoga. It's amazing for my less-than-focused first-born), gymnastics, library -- and some planned play dates before my parents come and we go on vacation. When we get back, and before we go on our easy coast pilgrimage, we are only swapping gymnastics for swimming lessons. When you consider that any kid activity lasts only 45 minutes max, it's really not a lot. But these are the types of summers that I remember and loved -- the super relaxed, spontaneous, see-where-the-spirit-takes-you summers. I am fully, fully aware of the luxury of this set-up and I also know the incredible attachments that friends of mine had at camps (and we may very well do that some day), but for me, this year, at this time, this is a plan that makes me smile. The best part is that Molly and Jack look at me like I have two heads (which I may. The mirror and I are becoming less acquainted as well) when I talk about summer vacation. It's such a foreign concept to them since this is their first year of real, structured school. That point was driven home when, despite this adorable little end of the year, final class that Jack's teacher very clearly talked about on Monday, he was still wondering why I wasn't bringing him to school today. Luckily, my boy likes to hang out at the train tracks so off went to see the big diesels roll past us this morning and all was good again. Annnnnnnnd, I'm off track (ha ha)... This is all to say that while my little people aren't really aware of what the next two and a half months will look like, I have a sense and I'm really looking forward to slower mornings, wacky adventures, drop-off summer preschool (just kidding. No I'm not.), and spirit-moving good times. This isn't the right recipe for everyone, I know that and am all good with whatever people have up their sleeves, but as long as Seattle delivers on its sunshiny summer months (yes, for real), it's right up my alley.

Just to drive the point home for future Jack... Here's his last day:



Please notice that Jack has no shoes on and that his friend, Margaret, also has no shoes on. Jack is what you would call a bad influence in the clothing and footwear department. Not only does he regularly try and make circle time be dance off with your pants (and shoes) off parties, he instigates others to do the same. It's great to witness him bending down, trying to pull other kids' shoes off their feet.




Also notice that Jack surrounds himself with ladies. He has no use for boys his own age, though he adores older boys, but loooooves the lassies. Too bad he outweighs most of them by at least five pounds so his "hugs" turn into "tackles".




A blurry picture of Jack receiving his end-of-school necklace from his teacher. He did, maybe, three pieces of artwork all year long. Three might be a stretch. The necklace-making, though? He was all over that like white on rice and made two. Who knows.



Proudly showing off his necklace and soon-to-mangled-by-love flower.



Every good year deserves a chocolate-covered final ending. Here's to summer!