The Last Day of Summer 2010

Some days I wonder about myself. I get all in a dither over how to create traditions with the kids around Thanksgiving and Christmas when we live so far from family, but have no trouble completely fabricating an end of summer hurrah that has now taken on a life of its own in just three years.

The idea, of course, is to really enjoy that last day before I have to go back to work the following Monday. The reality is that we leave the house in the morning and don't come home until bedtime, redoing as many of our summer adventures as possible. So far, no parent has joined me for the entire Last Day of Summer. Last year one of Sydney's friends made it the whole day, but his mama had to go to work. This year, various friends came and went through the day and honestly, I think it worked best that way; Sydney got to really enjoy each friend for a while and then move on to the new activity with a different friend (who was refreshed having not just been through the whirlwind of fun Sydney was caught up in).

We started the day at the Children's Museum with Jenny Ford. I know that Jenny is really my friend, but Sydney has not figured that out, yet. She thinks Jenny came for her and that's just fine.

Sydney and Jenny got to play all over the museum as I followed Jack about and Jenny was very into doing the activities with Sydney. I think Jenny would have stayed the day with us, but in the middle of the Children's Museum there was a frantic call from a frazzled co-worker and after lunch Jenny was off to work.

Lunch was, as traditionally done on the Last Day of Summer, at Red Robin. Jeremy and Paul Ford took their lunch breaks from work to join us; Jenny had lunch before going to work; the Hazens joined us at Red Robin in between naps.

After lunch, the Fords and Jeremy went to work, Kara took little Danielle home for a nap, and I took my kids to Kiddie Acres. In honor of the Last Day of Summer (and a heat index over 100 degrees), Sydney got a special treat: a flavorless Snow Cone. She thought it was very tasty and refreshing.

Sydney rode rides at Kiddie Acres for over an hour. Her brother only rode a couple, so this is the one ride I got a picture of both of them riding. Mostly, I sat with Jack and Sydney ran up to me to get tickets and then ran off to ride rides.

Since it was so very hot, after Kiddie Acres we went over to the Hazens and they joined us in their neighborhood pool. The pool was so refreshing and it was so nice to have an environment where the little ones were enjoying quietly being held in the water and the older ones were self-entertaining, that I forgot to take a picture while Kara and her kids were there. At the car, after all four kids were buckled, I said, "Um, Kara, you don't have to go back in with me or anything, but I forgot to take a picture and it's important to me, so can I borrow your pool key?" So there it is, in the picture, in my hand, as I am already in my swim cover-up and although you can't see it, Sydney is wearing her swim shoes and we were really ready to go. So ready, in fact, that when we got back to the car after this quick picture, I realized I had left it running. We'll call that "all's well that ends well" and move on, eh?

Our final stop was Jungle Java. The Hazens had to stay home to get dinner going and have Danielle ready for bed on time. Fortunately, Andrew, who couldn't come for the rest of the day since his mom had to work, was able to join us at six o'clock for the end of the day. Sydney and Andrew ran all over Jungle Java, laughing and playing and having a blast. Andrew's mom did notice, though, that for the first time in their relationship, Andrew was having to wait for Sydney to catch up and not the other way around. I guess she may have been tired.

Or possibly completely worn out. But I do know that she is starting to understand why I do this day. She told me in the car that this was our "last adventure" and although she's right in the sense that the adventures are over for a few weeks during the back to school crunch, I promised we would still have adventures during the school year, just not daily like we did in the summer.