Summer fun check list so far...

Not that I make such a list, but for a record, I wanted to write what we have done so far...(to later convince my children that summer vacation is NOT boring, we did A TON of stuff. Ok, J?)

We, so far, have:
- gone strawberry picking (which kids lasted for about 1/2 hour...)
- gone to a beach with cousins
- bought a 34-year-old pop-up camper and gone 2 night camping trip to a lake
- gone to a spray park, well actually twice so far
- joined our local library's Summer Reading Program (we are in lever 3)
- played with cousins at their lake-front house
- (this was only J and me) gone to a special event where you could experience flying a remote control airplane. J got to control a remote control airplane. We made rocket ships out of papers too.

Here is Josh learning how to use the remote control by simulation - Man, those kids with hand-eye coordination in computer games...*sigh*

- sent off their cousin flying out from an airport
- played at different parks for hours (so Mommy doesn't have to see the pile of dishes)

And of course, we have logged many hours of computer game, TV watching, popsicle  and ice cream eating, and plenty of whining and fighting time as well.

We still would like to:
- go to a local ice cream stop (I know, those who are local, we haven't done it this year yet!!)
- go to our favorite beach about 2 hours away
- go more camping trips

More to come!

Let the Summer begin!

Officially, Summer has began. 

Day 1: we played with play dough.

 J's blue Jay and her eggs.

 

M's Robin and her eggs.

J said her Robin looks like Angry Bird - M was not so happy about that....

 

And the fun with play dough ended by 9 am. 

Yes, 9 AM!  

(Phineas and Ferb, please don't tell me there is 104 days of summer vacation...)

 *sigh*

We decided to go to a spray park in the early afternoon before K's nap (no photo).

Kids had fun. They splashed, took breaks, went sliding, while I sat in the shade reading a book.

It was a nice afternoon.

Then, K got splashed (yes, we were at Spray Park where you should be sprayed by water) on his face, M fell from a slide on wood chips and scraped her knee, and their friend hit her head with one water feature. 

It was time for us to go home. 

A couple of more girls joined us in the backyard and played in the sandbox, with water. A lot of water. (again, no photo, due to my policy of not showing kids' face much on public...)

After 7 wet/sandy/muddy kids later, I had a little quiet time....

No, oh no, we are not done yet. 

 

Because my husband took older 2 monkeys to Summer Festival!

 

 They got to ride

 

and ride

 

and ride.

By the way, this was the gift for my son J's teacher Mrs. R. She was a wonderful teacher.  J asked what her favorite color was one day - it was red. So I made a pair of red themed earrings (no photo). The package and card were scraps of my paper supplies, but I thought it turned out cuter than I thought! Thank you, Mrs. R!

 

Today, on Day 2, we are taking easy. J and M are at their friends' house for a play date (Thank you, M!). K is napping. And me is trying to keep record of this precious moments. 

Happy Summer!

Now I understand...

Some of the things my mom did that I didn't understand before I became a mom:

 

Here is my mom working on her Etegami piece (December 2009)

 

Mom was able to work around the house long before eating breakfast.
That was probably because certain things had to be done before she was able to sit down to eat, like packing my lunch and ironing my school uniform.

Mom was always the last one to choose a piece from assortment of cakes.
That was probably because she loved her kids so much that she wanted them to pick their pieces first.

Mom would tell me sometimes at dinner times when we had rare delicacy, "Oh, I don't like it. You can have it."
She may not have really disliked (or maybe she did) whatever it was. She probably wanted us to have it more than she did.

Mom was always learning new things and taking lessons in cooking and crafts. I remember her working late at night.
That was probably her sliver of "Mommy time" to enrich her life and to escape from the mundane task of housekeeping. And if things need to be done, then late at night can be the only the spare time which may cutting into the precious sleep time (ahem, it is 12:25 am on my clock...).

Mom would tell me that I needed to take a nap even when I thought I was not tired (and of course I fell sleep after a while). It may have been the summer I was in Kindergarten. I remember lying on a small mat feeling cool summer breeze.
She probably knew that I needed enough rest.

Mom would tell me I needed to be quiet while she took her 15 minutes power-nap after lunch before she headed back to work.
She most likely needed it, because I know I need it sometimes so that I can make it through the day.

Thanks, Mom. Super belated, but Happy Mother's Day.
Some things are easier to write than say in person.
Hmm, maybe that's why mom writes me letters....*light bulb*