School's out for summer!

Yesterday, at 3 pm,  marked the official start of summer break for my children and I.  My son finished 1st grade, my daughter finished fifth and i finished my first full year at the same school.  I am a substitute instructional assistant for the same school district my kids attend school through.  This was my fourth school year as a sub and being a sub isnt the funnest thing. But this year, i ended up getting hired for the year and there is a good possibily for next year as well.  I really like the school i was at this year.  The school holds alot of history. It was originally built in 1889 and has grown from a handful of students to over 650 in the 127 years since. There is a giant bell out front that has been in place for decades.  Kindergardeners ring it on the way in on their first day and as fifth graders, ring it on their way out on the last day.  Its a great tradition!  The staff is very caring and all work hard to provide a quality education in a fun and interesting environment. The staff and students all welcomed me in and we had a great year that flew by.  Going to work isnt really like going to work at all.  Work is fun and isnt really work.  As a mom, being around kids is what i do.  The day flies by, usually without the opportunity to realize im tired or bored. And when i walk out the door, the smile on my face represents the great day i just had (and i  got paid for it !). That being said, i will miss going to work everyday, but at the same time, im super happy summer break is here! One of the reasons i will never do another job but work for the school district, is the schedule.  Having summers off is amazing.  Two and a half months to chill, sleep in (a little), plan activities for the kids, clean and organize my house, garden, craft, and camp.  I will be able to cook more, do more blogging, and product reviwing. The down side to summers off is i do not receive paychecks. Somehow we always get through.  After doing this the past 3 summers, we know what to expect financially and are somewhat prepared this year. Like always, we will get through it and plan to have a good summer.  We have two camping trips already planned and booked. One is next weekend for four nights. The other one is at the end of july for seven nights and includes my wedding anniversary and (fortieth) birthday. Im planning a day of white water rafting for my family during that special week. I need to get four more trips planned and booked.  We really like camping and now that summer is here, we want to go quite often. (I want to do alot of camping blogs this summer) We started going camping as a family last labor day weekend.  We stayed in a cabin that first time and loved it.  We started going camping almost every weekend until it got too cold in mid october.   This past march, we started going again and have already been about five times and summer isnt even offically here yet. I pack alot of stuff to keep us warm so im excited to not have to worry about all the exra cold weather gear in the warmer months.  Two weeks ago we went camping while it was 100 degrees.  The packing took alot less time and we had more room in the Forrester. We did bring a fan, which im glad we did. Even without the rainfly, the tent was hot. There was also alot of bugs.  Even still, im looking forward to camping in the summer and need to start planning some more trips.  My kids both have summer school starting soon. I dont want them losing everything they just spent nine months learning so they both will be going to summer school for a few hours a day for four weeks.  I plan for some much needed ME time to relax, clean, blog and review, and
Prepare for whatever i come up with as activities and outtings for my family.  Today, the first official full day of summer break, is my mother's sixtieth birthday and we are celebrating with a good old fashioned summer birthday back yard bbq.  Im making baked beans (stay tuned.  Im making this recipe for the third time in eight days so at this point its screaming for a blog of its own.  I will be posting that soon). I also have a few tricks up my sleeve regarding the decorations for her party.  ( i am planning to post a diy blog about that soon as well).
So as the birds chirp and the sun rises, im off to water my garden and prepare for this wonderful first day of summer break.  This day comes once a year and im going to make the most of it.  Happy Saturday!