It's Been One Week

since the kids' last day of school and I must say, it has flown by.

We were kept busy with end of year parties, final soccer games, cleaning for our bi-annual inspection and just trying to not be driven nuts in each others' company. I have a feeling come August I am going to wish the summer hadn't quite flown by.

We have a ton of tentative plans for summer vacation. We already went to Adventureland once and I think we may make another trip some time later this summer. The library is offering a ton of free summer events including crafts and movies so that will keep us busy for at least a couple hours. Going swimming is also a free activity since we have two friends with pools. We already found out that our two youngest are little fishies in the water. Put a life jacket on them and let them go! They are little pros.

Jacob and Kadie are going to Ohio at the end of the month for a fun-filled week with Grandma Kim and Papa Don. They are going to play baseball in the yard, go fishing, go to a Mud Hen's game and do lots of other fun stuff. They cannot wait!

We will all be going to Ohio the first week of July and Lexi's friend Ashley and her family are meeting us there! How exciting! We will be going to Cedar Point, the zoo, and definitely making a stop at Bob Evan's. You know, no Toledo trip is complete without that traditional Bob Evan's meal. We will probably make a trip to Tony Packo's too for some fried pickles that we did not know existed until recently. Yummm!

When that trip is done, Lexi will head back to Georgia with Bonnie, Ashley & Tyler for three weeks. She has flown before, so I don't doubt she will be fine but she will be a UM on the way home. That is an "unaccompanied minor" and that makes me a little nervous. Thankfully it is a non-stop flight and she is a very independent, smart and mature 9 year old.

After Lexi comes home from Georgia it will be time to meet my friends from all over the country! It's the annual Spunky meetup, only this year we invited the RCC girls along too. I cannot wait! We have plans to go to Chicago, the Mississippi Valley fair and drink lots of yummy stuff of the alcoholic variety.

I am hoping to make a trip up to Des Moines for the Iowa State Fair to see Jeff Dunham for John's birthday but nothing is definite yet. It would be a total blast and he definitely deserves a great birthday treat. We will see how that goes... it would be a great end to a great summer though. That is for sure.

Two and a half months with all 5 kids at home while the hubby does his Army duties sounds a little bit like torture but when I put it all out there... I don't see much time for being stressed... let alone enough time to hog-tie and gag 5 kids while I rock in the corner sucking my thumb begging for my mommy!