Summer Vacation

Today is the first day of summer vacation for us.  Liam has been out of school for about two weeks, but Lilia's final day of Kindergarten was yesterday.  I'm looking forward to summer vacation, sort of.  The weather being what it's been, I'm a little afraid it will mirror winter in there's five of us trapped in a small house, but for the most part, as long as it's warm and sunny, we have a huge yard for the kids to play in.

Mei loves books too!

Summer rules are in effect, much to Liam's chagrin.  No tv in the afternoon, until after dinner.  No reason to turn it on, there's plenty to do outside, right?

Today was fun though.  After a morning playing outside, we all went to get hot dogs from the vendor near the Herkimer Library, something my husband has done since he was a child.  Then we went to the library, even Mei.  We picked some books to bring home, (*ahem* because we lost a book last year and haven't paid the fine yet, used books they were selling...), the kids played some computer games, read a little, played games and did some puzzles.  It's something we'll probably do at least once a week.  And maybe next week, we'll walk there, instead of driving.

After the library, we went home for baby nap time, and magically (yes, I do mean it was magic...) 4 year old nap time.  Liam was laying against Daddy, and next thing we hear is *snore*.  Almost two hours of peace and quiet, and it was hard not to daydreams of a peaceful summer vacation.

Today's journal entry- Lilia haved a hot dog.

While Liam slept, Lilia and I worked on her writing.  She loves to learn so much that I decided to continue working with her on her reading and writing.  She has a little workbook, and a journal from Kindergarten, plus papers and books.  She did some worksheets, practiced writing her name and address and phone numbers, and wrote in her journal.  She was so excited to do all this.  Her favorite part was her list of words.  It's a list of 100 most frequent words in books for beginner readers, and my understanding was that her entire class was working hard at learning all these words.  We went through the first fifty, and she did pretty well, with only three or four words spelled wrong.  And I have to admit that I had a lot of fun quizzing her on those words.  It's pretty awesome to watch your child display the skills she's learned.  It amazes me how well she can read at this age.

Liam's blueberry topped pancake

After our quiet nap and study time, we decided to go out to dinner and celebrate our first day of summer vacation more.  Not the healthiest of meals, but we hit IHOP, as the kids love pancakes.  And being kids eat free night, the entire meal was less than $20 bux.  After that, a trip to the book store (the library and the book store on the same day...) where we read more books, and then headed home.  It was a perfect summer day, though it might've needed a little gardening fun.  (Dad mowed the lawn, does that count?)

Of course, I'm guessing by this time...next week, maybe?...I'll be ready for them to go back to school.  And by September, I expect I'll be kicking them out the door.