Summer 2014 will be remembered as the one where we stayed home. We’re taking a big vacation later in the year so, in an effort to save vacation time at work and some money, we opted to spend most of the Summer enjoying our backyard. Which, I have to admit, was a nice, relaxing change. 

At least it was until the kids went back to school. Now, suddenly, I seem to be suffering the after effects of not having a break from work and life. While our vacation seemed to be approaching quickly over the Summer, it now seems painfully far away.

So, in an effort to extend the feeling of a Summer break just a few weeks longer, I’ll share some of the highlights from our three month stay-at-home adventure.

2014 was the first year that I was forced to sit down and fill an entire 3 months with Summer camps for the kids. In past years we’ve filled at least some of the time with travel, so the idea of finding something to occupy two active boys for an entire summer so I could continue to do my day job was a little daunting. Still, I think I managed to find opportunities that exercised their brains as well as their bodies and, most importantly, ensured they had no trouble getting to sleep each night even when the sun refused to set until 9pm.

They built rafts, swam in rivers, played soccer at Providence park, visited farm animals, created art, joined a rock band, whittled sticks in the forest, explored the zoo, learned stealth and survival skills, pounded Taiko drums and sang Let it Go from Frozen in Japanese.

Now that I list it all out, it sounds exhausting. When I asked them what they enjoyed the most, Rock Band camp topped the list followed by any camp that gave them the opportunity to play soccer. One of the cheapest camps was a favorite because they were afforded a lot of free play time. I’ll definitely need to sign them up for more of that next year. Activities are great but free play was an important part of Summer break that we were lacking this year. Oh, and soccer, more soccer.

I wasn’t able to capture photos at every camp, but here is a small taste of what they experienced. 

Cheers to Summer adventures and also the ability to once again settle into the routine of school and life. Now, if I could just take a nice long nap…

From this…

To this…

My baby, my child, my firstborn turned nine years old today. We only have a party on even year birthdays so his wish this year was just to have a soccer game with some friends at the park. Portland delivered some amazing weather, our local park kindly provided live reggae music thanks to an event that was happening at the same time, and I provided cupcakes and drinks for the thirsty players. They played non-stop for two hours. It was perfect (despite the fact that I put the wrong date on the invitation and had to do some last minute scrambling to make sure everyone turned up).

Other highlights of the day included french toast for breakfast (made by daddy), a trip to Toys R Us to use his $5 birthday coupon and some of his own money to buys some new lego (of course) and pizza for dinner which we ate in front of the TV while we watched a soccer-themed movie. The kids enjoyed the movie but I was distracted by the fact that one of the lead characters once played a creepy vampire in an episode of the X Files and the lead female was Kevin Arnold’s sister but, this time, spoke in her native British accent. Oh, and Steve Guttenberg. Still, it was a fun and relaxing way to end a great day of celebration.

At nine, Thomas is:

• Sensitive and sweet, often surprising me with little acts of thoughtfulness like offering to check to see if all the lights are off upstairs or helping his brother with something when he can see I have my hands full. 
• Responsible and clever. The hardest thing for me right now is giving him a little more freedom. It took everything I had just to ask him walk up to his classroom by himself today. It helped that we were running late and I had no other choice, but it hurt.
• Obsessed with soccer. It’s all he wants to do and all he wants to talk about. The four games he played over the weekend kicked off his ninth year perfectly.
• A voracious reader. I can’t believe I was worried about his reading a couple of years ago. A friend gave him a book yesterday and he read it cover to cover before going to sleep. It was a graphic novel, but it wasn’t a short book. 
• Curious, smart, funny, cuddly and simply a great kid.

Happy ninth birthday, Thomas. We are so proud of you.

The boys passed their Karate belt tests last week – Samuel to moved up to yellow and Thomas to green. They worked incredibly hard to move up and I’m so proud of them. Yes, they can both kick some ass, but only in self defense of course.

Today marks 13 years since I married my best friend. I’ll be sending him my love from the other side of the country so celebrations will have to wait until the weekend.

To my wonderful husband – I love you and miss you. Happy Anniversary.

Eagerly anticipating Spring, a little more daylight and a little less rain. Still, our house does look pretty in the dark.