Vacation on the brain

I dutifully packed my laptop and all the necessary cords when we left for the beach. When we had the pop-up set-up and organized, I plugged in the laptop. Once I even tried to get on the wi-fi, but it didn't work immediately and I put it away again. Only after we got home and Dad made me upload the pictures from his camera did I get around to uploading mine. I was just too busy not being busy to worry about it.

It's been a great vacation time. Lots of chances to be busy mixed with lots of chances to be lazy. The beach was fun and the pop-up was a lifesaver since it was HOT! Actually, the first day was miserably hot. The second, we spent the morning on the beach and the afternoon roaming around town so it wasn't nearly as bad. The last 2 days were really very pleasant with cooler temps and more breeze and we had learned not to visit the beach in the heat of the afternoon :-) It was fun to do all the summer activities the campground offers - VBS, water slide, parties, etc. Even still, I think I'll reserve the beach trips for our traditional early fall time frame when it's much cooler and MUCH less crowded.

Once we got back to our house, we've slowed down even more and have done really nothing more than hang out and cook. Since my parents are here, we've been making all our favorite foods and trying out new recipes like these meatballs and this corn. I have to say that fresh creamed corn has changed my life. A-maz-ing. My dishwasher has been working overtime with the cooking extravaganza, but it's been worth it.

My mom and the girls and I headed out to the mall yesterday and had to detour around some road construction which took us past the new fire station. The grand opening was yesterday so we stopped and got there just in time for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The girls got to help cut the ribbon and ended up right next to the fire chief and got their 1.5 seconds of TV time. They were excited when we watched the news last night and they got to see themselves.

Today is one more lazy day. My parents have gone for a drive through the mountains and we're just hanging out here. Tomorrow morning, my parents start their long journey home, but the girls and I aren't letting them get away that easily. We're following them to the stateline and camping with them a couple of nights in the Smokies. It's been years since we've been there; K wasn't even 2 the last time. It's such a neat place to visit.

When we get back, life starts again and there are many things waiting on my time and attention. The biggest is getting ready for school. L's curriculum arrived on our doorstep last week so I have that to look through. K's curriculum I have to map out myself. I have books to read, questions to write, projects to design, pacing to set. Some of it is done for me, but not reading and history and I want to get a really good chunk done before we actually start school. Surprisingly, I'm really excited about doing it. Now that she's in 4th grade and I've got a few years experience with this elementary thing, I'm more comfortable. With the first few grades, I was worried that I'd totally screw up and she'd never learn to read or add. K's past that stage and has proven that she's pretty smart, so we can get to more fun stuff. Like real books in reading and pirates in history. Did you know Blackbeard operated out of NC? I didn't. I'm going to learn a lot in history this year.

But only after vacation is over.