I cannot believe there are only 8 weekdays of summer left. School starts so soon!
One day I was making jokes about starting a paper chain to count down the days until school starts again, and the next day I am facing the reality that in a few days I will have no children home full-time. Granted, this is our choice. Ezrie will start all day Kindergarden, Levi will be in First grade and we choose to have the kids go to preschool. Jaiden will be in preschool four morning a week. The kids are growing up.
It is so bitter sweet. As I snuggled with my little ones tonight I had the thought "oh please stay exactly how you are" followed immediately by the recognition that progression is what this life is all about. We are all meant to grow. They are meant to grow. And that means grow up.
We have had a great summer! There have been fun days and special times. There have been hard days and hard times. But I was thinking tonight about how much time I have had to be with the kids and learn more about their personalities. I have learned more about how I can help them. I have thought a lot about all the things I need to do more of and do better. And bit by bit we will do better.
Today I took the kids last minute to the zoo. I got on the website and saw that they have twilight hours until 8 pm. When we got to the zoo at 4:40 pm, I found out the splash park was open until 5:30. So we RACED over and the kids had a ball. When it closed, we went to the playground and had our sack dinners. Then we started meandering our way through the zoo. It was the perfect temperature and we had a fabulous time. They have a new seal exhibit, and as the zoo was quieting down, we got to sit and watch the seals swim around all by ourselves. It was absolutely beautiful.
And we continued on. I noticed we became all alone in the zoo! How fabulous to walk around with the kids, with a cool breeze blowing and to feel like we were in our own private park. An employee came up to me and ask me if we knew the way out. "yes, what time is it?" He said, "it's 6:25." So I replied, "okay, we'll make our way out in an hour and a half." I quickly discovered that twilight hours had ended the week before and the zoo had actually closed 25 minutes earlier. Whoops! So the kids and I made our way out of our own private zoo expedition =). The kids thought it was hilarious - though Levi was a little worried they were going to lock us in with the animals! It's one of those moments that even as it is happening, you know you are always going to remember. Watching the seals swim with my kids nearby was a unique and precious moment to me.
There have been lots of precious moments this summer. I hope to cram more in during the next few days. I am good at cramming. Here's hoping you all are enjoying these last days of no schedules and a relaxed lifestyle.
