Tuesday Ten - Things I'm Looking Forward to This Summer

This is my girls' last week of school.  The year has just flown by.  As the girls get older, each year gets busier and busier.  This year, I am more than ready for summer vacation, so I thought I would make this Tuesday Ten all about Summer Vacation!!

<a href="http://www.the-golden-spoons.com" target="_blank"><img alt="The Golden Spoons" src="http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b552/lspoon1/smallTuesdayTenjpeg_zpsad8292e4.jpg"/></a>

TEN THINGS I'M LOOKING FROWARD TO THIS SUMMER

1.  No schedules - The girls have a few camps scattered here and there, but, for the most part, we are free and easy going.  There are no after school activities.  We don't have to have dinner at a certain time each evening in order to make it somewhere else on time.  Bedtime is flexible.  Everything is just more relaxed.
2.  Sleeping In - I've admitted before that My Kids Are Sleepers and, coinciding with the whole no schedules thing, we ALL get to sleep in most days during the summer.  It's blissful, really!
3.  The beach - When I married into this family, I also married into the tradition of spending a week at the beach every summer with my husband's family.  To some, this may sound torturous, but I love it.  I get along great with his family and I love the beach.  We always rent a big house together and have a great time.

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4.  No packing lunches - During the school year, packing lunches and planning meals is the bane of my existence.  My three girls are all picky, but in different ways which makes packing lunches a scientific/mathematical equation that even Sheldon Cooper couldn't decipher!  I'm so glad I'll get a break from at least the packing lunches part of that for 3 whole months!!!!  Yippeeeee!!!

5.  Hanging out with friends - We are fortunate to have a pool at our house, so ours is the hang out spot in the summer.  We have friends over often.  The kids get to splash in the pool while the parents get to sit back and relax!
6.  Time to visit with family - My parents and older brother only live about two hours away, but with crazy schedules from September to May, it is hard to find time to get together.  The summer gives us time to see each other more often.  My brother and his wife have three kids about the same ages as mine, so the cousins always have fun together and I enjoy visiting with my brother, my sister-in-law, and my parents!
7.  The mountains - Often, those times visiting with my family are spent, at least in part, in the mountains.  I grew up going to the mountains of NC, so I find something very comforting in going back there and I am glad to share it with my girls, too.  There's just nothing quite like a day in Blowing Rock!

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8.  Grilling - I am not the griller at my house.  That would be my hubby.  I love when he can grill, though, because it means I am only partially responsible for dinner and the clean up afterwards! ;-)

9.  Thunderstorms - Given the recent severe weather in Oklahoma, I hesitated to put this one on the list.   Fortunately, we don't get much severe weather here - nothing like the terrible tornadoes they have in the midwest. It's usually just your run-of-the-mill thunderstorm.  I just love to cuddle up and watch the lightning flashes and listen to the rain and thunder.   

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10.  Spending Time with my Girls - I'm sure that, at times, we will drive each other crazy and, by August, I will probably be counting down the days until they go back to school.  But, right now, I am looking forward to just hanging put with my girls this summer.  I hoping to make a summer bucket list with them soon.  It probably won't have 100 things on it like some do - maybe just 25-30 - but it will give us something to accomplish together and something to work on when we they get bored!

So what are you looking forward to this summer???  What's on your summer bucket list??

Next Week's Topic: Ten Thing I Learned From My Dad 

(Remember, Father's Day is June 16!!!)