Summer Bucket List 2011 #1 - check

This year, I made a bucket list.  Basically, it's stuff I want to do this summer so I don't get to Labor Day and think, "I wish we had...".  List item #1 was to watch our friend Rob & the guys from our church play softball.  Rob and his family vacation "way up north" with us in the UP every year and Rob is always sporting his latest team championship t-shirt.  The joke is that Rob ONLY packs shirts that say "Softball Team Champs" 2008, 2009, 2010... etc.  I wanted to see him win the 2011 t-shirt in person.

I decided (as part of my rigorous exercise regime) that I would bike the more-or-less 2 miles to the park with my daughter in the bike seat while my hubby & son met us there via the Ford Freestyle.  The game started at 8 and we were pushing the bedtime meltdown time, but willing to tempt tantrum fate. I started putting Lena in the bike seat, but only to her protests:  "No, mommy.  I no ride on yo bike.  I ride with daddy".  Then Sam, my newly empowered biking-without-training wheels 6 yr old say, "I'll ride with you!!".  I love my kids, but I know what to expect from this kind of proclamation... "I'm tired".  "This hill is too big".  "Can we go home?".  "I can't do this".  So, with a sigh and a bit of dread, I said in my super-encouraging mom voice, "OK, bud... let's go!!" while giving my husband a look and grabbing my cell phone just in case.

What a joy it was to ride with Sam as he biked over and across the hills of Ada.  He didn't complain, he trucked along and did just great.  I try to remind myself that a) summer is fleeting and b) my childrens' childhood is even faster fleeting so... c) savor the moment.  I took a deep breath and smelled the summer air and really seered the memory of bike riding on a beautiful, not too hot summer evening with my best boy.  It was lovely!

The game was fun, even though the TECC boys lost on a "mercy score" of being 10 points under the other team.  It was a beautiful evening with a full moon coming on and a special time with my little family of 4.

Sam biked back home without complaints and got to pet a lost baby raccoon as a fellow biker (the serious type that wears bike shorts) tried to get the little fella back into the woods.

Bucket list item 1 - done. check. Plus I got some really special time with the boy I love the most.

Summer 2011, here we come

The summer of 1992 was the best summer of my life.  I signed up to be a camp counselor in Scotts Valley, CA (near Santa Cruz).  I hopped on a plane and took off for quite the adventure.  I met some amazing people, served God and led a few kids to accept Jesus.  The reason that summer was so great (besides not having a mortgage) was that we spent the summer PLAYING!  We sang silly songs, went swimming, rode horses, went to the beach every weekend, made s'mores, slept in sleeping bags outisde on a big field and created the world's largest slip and slide.  I can't truly recreate that feeling of freedom, but I can do my best to recreate the magic for my kids.

For that reason, I've created a summer bucket list of things to do.  I used to tease my mom for doing the same, but you know we all evenutally become our mothers. Stay tuned for photos & updates as we attempt to fully embrace summer in Michigan and all its splendor.  We spend the other 9 months inside with colds & flaky skin, so you better believe in June, July & August we CARPE DIEM!

First on the agenda is to set up our slip & slide.  It may not be the world's largest (it came from a box from Target), but my kids will love it just the same.

Summer, we're glad you're here.  Welcome to Michigan.