First day of summer

The task now is to relax into the rhythm of the summer now that my kids are out of school. That's more of a problem for me than my kids. They seem to have it down. As we speak, my older son is immersed in his computer games while my younger son blasts a CD. Ah summer.

We tried to get into the spirit of things yesterday afternoon with a long walk into town for ice cream with two other families followed by a play date, then out for pizza. The parents sat outside enjoying a post-pizza beer, while the boys went running around playing their own version of hide and seek. We had some rare moments of sunshine before the sun dropped down into a pink sky and then twilight. I started to feel like it just might be summer.

Today we all were happily sleeping late before being woken by the blood curdling screams of my older son R. who was stung by a yellow jacket. My husband dispatched the offending bug and R. spent the rest of the morning on the couch. Is this a sign? Probably not. If anything it's a sign that summer isn't all strawberries and ice-cream but I think I knew that already.

I have a host of jobs to do around the house but I'm in a bit of a first day of vacation fog myself. I suddenly find myself unemployed for the summer after my class was canceled. That means I'm free to do all those projects on my plate, including writing. Unfortunately, I still find myself pulled in all directions: clean the house, hang out with the kids, work outside, plan the kids' birthday parties. My leisurely summer is never quite so leisurely as I imagine and maybe that's a good thing.