Days Two and Three

Ahhhh - The Weekend

Weekends in the summer take on a whole new meaning... they mean, I have help. Although Colin was still his usual high energy self this weekend, I think the novelty of the last day of school had wore off. Thank goodness! Plus, I think we tired him out by taking him to the drive-in movies Friday to see Pirates of the Caribbean, and thus making him stay up late. Since the movie didn't start until it was dark around 9:30pm, it was super late when we got home. He fell asleep in the back of the car before the movie had finished. I couldn't figure out if it was that he was tired or that the movie was stupid. I mean really stupid!

Saturday night, the three of us went to the wedding of a dear friend from college. She finally got hitched! Actually, I'm thrilled she waited all this time, because it seems like she landed a pretty nice guy. Colin didn't really appreciate being invited to wedding. Go figure! I guess there was no Yu-Gi-Oh! theme happening. He did rather enjoy the quite lovely portable toilet trailer parked outside the reception hall at the golf course, as he kept asking to go outside to use the bathroom. He did also enjoy the berry infused punch that they were serving and made many trips to refill. Hmmm...

Sunday started out pretty low-key. Colin went to a friend's birthday party down at the park by the lake where they got to play some baseball. He had a fabulous time. Shortly thereafter things got a little wild. We had a thunderstorm roll through our area that rivaled a good storm from back east. (And, I know, cause I was just back there!) It got very dark & windy, and the rain & hail was coming down in sheets. The thunder and lightening were right on top of us and you could see the lightning bolts right in front of you striking all the way to the ground. They even issued a severe thunderstorm warning on the radio, which I have never heard before for our area. Everybody was like, "cool!" Apparently we northwesterners are very easily entertained.

Later that evening Colin went to spend the night at his friend's house for his very first sleepover! Wow! Matt & I are left with much time to ourselves. Whatever shall we do! Party! Our idea of a party, you ask? Watching three, count 'em three, DVD's at home. I know, all too crazy! Honestly, it was shear bliss not to be interrupted or have to wait until after Colin's bedtime. We watched Stranger Than Fiction - good, The Queen - excellent, & Casino Royale - OK.

Ok, I get it! Lots of sleepovers... I just might survive this summer after all. Of course, the key is to remain sane when the gang sleeps over at my house.

Day One

Today is the last day of school for the year or otherwise known as the last day of sanity as I have known it for the past 10 months. Even at that, it was only a half a day of sanity since the kids got out of school at 12:30. They didn’t even serve them lunch! My guess is the teachers are set and ready to boot them out the door, as the moms are most likely grabbing for that extra dose of valium as we speak.

What’s most funny is that you wouldn’t even need to look at the calendar to see that it’s the last day of school. Just watching these little crazy monkey people from mars expend enough energy to power an entire city is making me dread the next ten weeks. Summer camps… oh how I love thee.

Somehow I have had the pleasure of hosting the ad-hoc end of the year hyper fest. First it started with one neighbor boy coming over to the house. Then the doorbell rings with another friend wanting to play. Three’s a crowd in my smaller-sized house without a basement, so I sent them outside. Now there’s a crowd of 10+ neighbor kids hanging out in front of my driveway, all fighting over some game they’ve made up using a toy stomp rocket. Even the home-school kids are on fire! Have I mentioned yet that I’m the only mom out here?

As I am sitting on my porch planning my 5pm cocktail, I’m noticing that the gang of five 8 year olds that live in and around the cul-de-sac have taken up a gentle round of "smack the heck out of each other with light sabers". Something tells me this should end well. (if no one ends up in the ER!) Yep, first casualty has run into his house crying. Glass of wine or maybe I’ll just open up that bottle of Kentucky Bourbon.