Commentary by Heather Kestian
The first day of summer is one of my favorite days of the entire year. The weekend prior to summer camp season beginning is a weekend filled with complete exhaustion from frolicking outside for hours on end. I love everything about that particular weekend, including the answer to the question: Why is it so quiet in this house? Likely because the children fell asleep on the couch, or floor, or wherever their little, worn out bodies gave up the sleep battle. It was time to throw in the proverbial blanket.
This year was no different. Soccer tournament, lunch, summer allergies from flying cottonwood (who plants these trees and why?), and running in the sprinkler. The day is capped off with grilling on the barbeque and children asleep before the sun sets. My favorite part of summer might be carrying completely passed out children upstairs. In short, I love summer.
I have high hopes this year of enjoying some summer fun as we venture out and about in our fine state. We have plans to pick our own strawberries. I figure this will be a wonderful lesson for the kids. I believe you enjoy your food more when you know it grew so close to home.
We need to see what our state has to offer in terms of amusement parks as I have been remiss in my parenting duties thus far in life.
And if we have not eaten at least three gallons of ice cream by the end of summer, I will likely declare that the summer of 2014 was lost. For the record, we are on pace to meet this goal thanks to Oreos, vanilla bean ice cream, and a manual food processor. I will let you all know the outcome of this lofty aspiration in September.
Why is this summer so filled with events and fun-to-do lists? A dear friend of mine recently watched her youngest graduate from high school. She mentioned that she missed the weekend trips and kid-filled family outings. Things are different now. I took this as an invitation to seize the day – every day – that this summer has to offer. Some day, when the kids are grown, I hope we look back on these days with fondness and say, we had so much fun when we “fill in the blank.” I hope we have many blanks to fill in this summer, and for many summers to come.
