Back to summer and the myriad of topics at hand. The abbreviated version of "what I did on my summer vacation" is as follows:
- 1 week of Vacation Bible Xperience (back in my day...VBS). Lots of noise, fun and complete exhaustion by the end of the week
- 1 weekend trip to St. Louis, MO for an annual business meeting with hubby's company. Fun experiences traveling to the top of the arch and attempting to find Maddie in the City Museum. Such a surprise that she did not stick by our sides in that massive place and managed to get lost!
- 1 week long trip to Mother and Father's and M-I-L's (Mother-in-law) in Seattle, WA over the 4th of July. Way too much fun with family and friends.
- 1 week back at home with just enough time to realize my house had not been sufficiently taken care of and was in need of serious cleaning, de-cluttering, etc. But, oh well...don't have time because I'm off to another adventure.
- 1 week long trip on an amazing Mediterranean Cruise with the girls. Nick stayed home to hold down the fort and a job in addition to attending tennis camp. One of our stops was Ephesus which was truly an emotional experience. What an opportunity it was to see where Paul, Timothy and John preached...and even where Mary spent her last days! It was so nice of Nick to inquire as we were returning home from the airport if we were planning to stop somewhere on the way and eat. I thought he was truly concerned about our well-being while he simply wanted to know how much time he had to get the house back together!
- 1 1/2 weeks at home to assess how bad the deterioration of the homestead had become. Unfortunately, between gymnastics camp and other activities, housekeeping did not improve. What a pit!
- 4 day trip to the Willow Creek Leadership Conference sans hubby or children...just great girlfriends! What a grand time for absorbing, learning and processing new ideas.
- 3 day whirlwind in preparation for school beginning. Is it me, or does it seem a sin for school to begin on August 13? Again, back in my day, school officially begin after Labor Day. Our family did, however, manage to sneak in a trip to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari after the first few days of school. I'll just slip in a little Maddie aside here. As we were preparing to leave the house, I showed Maddie the pajamas she had left on the floor of her room. "You need to put these away." "Oh, mom, just put those in the hanker over there." "Hanker?" I replied. "You mean "hamper", don't you?" Just another word mishap in the life of Maddie!
That's it in a nutshell. My summer recapped in the short and sweet version. Many are breathing a sigh of relief even now that I didn't relate the interesting details of each port of call we visited on our cruise. They are clapping for joy that I didn't discuss the highlights of each of the speaker's topics at the leadership conference I attended. You can thank me later for sparing you the saga of my summer including the laborious details of juggling the car between my son and me in which most of my brain cells are now permanently fried due to the intense mathematical equations required to determine workable scenarios. It's okay if that last sentence didn't make sense. I'm convinced my hubby could probably commit me to the mental ward because of this car drama!
It's a great thing that I am not in school any longer to write the annual, "What I did on My Summer Vacation" paper. Either the teacher would fall asleep in complete boredom or recommend me for some serious counseling. In all honesty, my summer was exciting and fast-paced, and most definitely too short. I enjoyed time with friends and family as well as much-needed unscheduled time hanging with my children. Thus, I would say that these short few months were rich in relationships, and that's all that matters.
