What I Was Hoping to Do This Summer (& How That All Turned Out)

A few months ago, I made a list I called "What I'm Hoping to Do This Summer." Now, treasured reader, I give you my end-of-summer report card. Because I'm rather lazy and also on account of the results of #1, I'm just going to annotate my original list. Thanks for checking in!

1. Sleep. Oh, sure, start with a fail. Note to self: put this on the fall list. (As if.)
2. Not pack school lunches. Done. Or not done, as the case may be. 
3. Not administer after-school therapy to my daughters. Check.
4. Not quiz my high-schooler on her biology notes over breakfast. There was no biology on our summer breakfast menu.
5. Eat ice cream. Repeat. Done. But there is always room for more. 
6. See Michigan's Mackinac "Mighty Mac" Bridge. Possibly while eating ice cream. Saw it--and admired it, as always. 
7. Eat s'mores by the campfire. And remember: if you only have one, it's not a s'more. It's only a some. Don't settle for some. Had some. Had s'more.
8. Hang out with my girls someplace other than in the van. Yes, ma'am. On the beach, at the campground, in our living room...

 

9. Try that "family dinner" thing I've heard so much about. Check. Even better: my girls made one of those family dinners themselves. I know most moms cook with their kids from birth and that their children make family dinner on a regular basis. But I am an underachieving mom and a control freak and a neat freak, so I never cooked with my daughters. WHICH turned out to be brilliant. I waited until they were old enough to choose a menu for themselves, shop for themselves, prep for themselves, and clean up for themselves, and THEN told them to do it. Genius, in an I-didn't-plan-it way. 
10. Listen to "Trust in You" and pretty much everything else by Lauren Daigle. Oh, yeah. New favorite? "Come Alive (Dry Bones)." Love, love, love.
11. Read. Possibly a novel. At least a magazine. Nailed it on the magazines. "Read," via CD book, the fabulous Delicious, by Ruth Reichl.
12. Go the lake. Stop for ice cream on the way. (Recurring theme alert.) We went, we stopped, we licked.
13. Go camping with my parents. Their philosophy is, "We'll do all the work! You just relax." Yes, I am spoiled rotten, and no, they are not available to loan out. In the memory books. See "And the Award Goes To: A Summer 2015 Bests-Of List" for more on just how great this turned out.
14. Do Bible studies with my girls. (Full disclosure: totally shameless plug for Sweet For Your Soul.) Done! Thank you, GALS (Girls and Ladies) Sunday School class on the book of Esther!
15. Hang sheets on the clothesline and inhale the clean-air scent when I slide into a freshly-made bed that night. Joy upon joy. Oh, yes, I love my clothesline.
16. On one of the season's hottest days, slurp Peppermint Patty Frozen Hot Chocolate while watching Frozen with my daughters.  No central air? No problem! Not yet. But apparently some of the hottest air of the season is coming for us here in Michigan, so maybe we'll squeeze it in. (Looking for the recipe for this A/C in a glass? Here it is!)
17. Tie-in to #16: listen to The Piano Guys 100% fabulous version of "Let It Go." Am listening to it this very minute under the "better-late-than-never" clause. And mama, if you've never heard this, click the link right now. It will bring you joy, it really will. Want proof? My teen just walked by and heard this playing. "Oh my gosh, is that the Piano Guys' 'Let It Go'? I love it!" I promise: you'll love it, too.

Coming soon: "What I'm Hoping to Do This Fall"! What would you put on that list? Let me know, and I'll include it from the get-go. If you're a blogger, feel free to leave a link to your site, under the "share-the-love" clause.