I always anticipate the end of summer when kids go back to school and I can get back to a routine, but you know what, this year I am looking forward to summer and three months of no real routine. I’ll probably eat those words somwhere in the middle of July but right now I am looking forward to it. The reasons why are simple:

1. I want to sleep past six for a few months.
2. I’m tired of making brown bag lunches (our school doesn’t do hot lunch). I usually like making the lunches but the problem is as we wind down the school year that I have run out of anything creative to fix. I know that sounds silly, but I like the kids to have something different every so often. The really hard part is being married to a personal trainer/nutritionist guy is that I know what all those perservatives in all those little snack bags of foods that make making lunch easy can do to a body–nothing good. I have actually had my kids complain about their lunches being too healthy! So, I have tried to balance that with an occasional chip bag or godlfish bag, even a cookie here and there. But to tell the truth, I’m over making lunches.
3. I want to go to the beach. Yep. I’m ready to pack the snacks (healthy of course) and head off to the beach. I know this will mean that my writing will slow down, but that’s okay. I’ve written plenty in the last few years and if it means I write half of what I normall do over the summer then I am okay with that. Spending a ton on camps isn’t feasible and the beach is fun. It will likely be just me and my little one and maybe one of her friends headed to the beach this summer because my oldest is getting a job and my middle one likes to go to the skate park.
4. Things seem to slow down during the summer and I like that. Dinners get on the table a little later, we play outside, friends stop by more often and everything has a more relaxed vibe to it. I like to play Bob Markley while I cook on summer eves and just playing Bob you can’t help feel a bit more relaxed.
5. Summer fruit. Need I say anything else?

The countdown is on. Although today we have the May grey so it’s cold (I’m even wearing a turtleneck), I know that around the corner are dog day afternoons and warm evenings. I for one can’t wait!

Cheers,
Michele