Summer Fun Club 17: End of Summer

Last Tuesday was a slow, sad day for me.  It was our last day of summer break.  I tried, I really kind of did, to make it a happy, or at least exciting, occasion.  But inside I was slowly disintegrating.

It has been the BEST summer EVER.  Me and my girls, my girls and me.  Poppy's not too young, Hazel's not too old.  We did a TON of fun stuff, illnesses and power outages aside.  You know some of it from the Summer Fun Club posts, but we did so much more.  Hazel and Ginger both rounded corners in their swimming skills, and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  The TV was off almost all summer, with the exception of a few DVD's from the library, including when we ordered pizza and ate it picnic-style in the family room and watched "The Secret World of Arrietty"...twice.  (We are now reading "The Borrowers.")  All three girls rediscovered the dollhouse.  And the box of ponies.  And the blocks.  And combined all three into an imaginary world that lasted for weeks...and is still going.

I fell behind on my housework - the laundry, cleaning, bills, etc.  Blogs, obviously.  Dinners were quick and simple.  We kept our schedule stacked with activities, not wanting to waste a day.  It felt idyllic to me.  Even when I saw the end nearing, I ignored it.  No new clothes, shoes, or backpacks - we had all we needed.  School supplies had been ordered through the PTA last spring.  Teacher letters came, and I set them aside, to be given a quick glance the morning of the first day.

But last Tuesday, we slowed down.  We went to the library in the morning, to return our summer books, and turn in our reading logs for the library Summer Reading Program; they each earned a free book.  We also revamped our breakfast chart for the new school year, and illustrated it:

 

In the afternoon, for Summer Fun Club, I took about 10 minutes with Ginger and Hazel, separately, to write in the journals I keep for them, and have them tell me some of the things they most want to remember about this summer.  I wrote what they said word for word - love my language samples!  It was so fun to hear what, in their minds in that moment, was most memorable.  And while they both mentioned different things, see if you can pick up on a theme.

  

Ginger's list:

• Family vacay to Massanutten with "the cousins" in June 

• Atlantis water park with "the cousins" one Saturday in July
• SFC paper snowflakes
• Utah trip - Ed's grandfather passed away so he and Ginger went to Utah for the funeral - an alone trip with Dad = BIG DEAL
• Receiving her first chain letter

Hazel's list:

• Going to the beach at Assateague with "the cousins"

• Running in the sprinklers at Grandma's house
• "Cousin" birthday dinner at IHOP
• Another "cousin" birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's
• Open house at school to meet her teacher

When Poppy woke up, we went out to the party store and bought balloons for our Back-to-School dinner. 

 Miraculously, they agreed on their favorite meal - spaghetti with homemade sauce, Parmesan breadsticks, and salad with only the things they like (lettuce, cucumbers, carrots).

AND of course dessert - banana splits with Magic Shell and marshmallow sauce.

Next I'll post "first day" pictures.  They were cute.  And they were ready.  But I wasn't either of those.