Summer plans

Summer break is sneaking up on me. Ani reminded me this morning that she only has 9 more days of school. I'm not on top of things this year - I haven't sat down and hashed out what the kids will be doing all summer. Although I work for a college, unfortunately I don't have a 9 month appointment. I'm hoping to work 7-1 most days, so we will have the afternoons to swim, visit the library, and do some fun stuff around town.

I have signed them up for tennis lessons and swim lessons in June at Southwest, and I think that will be enough considering they will want to take it easy for a bit after getting out of school. In July Erika will be going to sleep away camp in the Ozarks again for a week - she had such a blast last year. They will also do a week or two of soccer camp here on campus in July. The week Erika is at sleepaway camp - I hope for Annika to attend an Art League camp. I think by mid-July she should be ready to do something indoors, out of the heat! Erika is supposed to go on a mission trip to Chicago(I'm jealous - maybe I can talk her into letting my chaperone) at the end of July. I also like for them to spend a week at Camp MUDD, but honestly don't know when that will fit in.

August is family vacation time! We usually are fed up with Missouri summer heat and seek cooler temperatures. This year, vacation will hinge on whether we sell our house or not. We typically drive and camp on our August vacation, which keeps costs low, but this year gas is SO expensive. We have headed for the mountains the past couple years, but this year I think everyone wants to head up to the Great Lakes. We haven't been there in a few years and the kids have fond memories of the sand dunes, picking wild blueberries, collecting rocks, and playing in the frigid waters of Lake Superior(funny how they seem to have blocked out the biting flies and mammoth mosquitos). I put a few pics up of our trip through Wyoming the summer before last. We had such a good time and saw so many amazing places. We hiked and camped in Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, saw Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and The Badlands. I had never been to any of those places before, and it was wonderful to be able to see them for the first time together with my kids. Maybe we should just repeat that trip - it was a good one, and I totally didn't need the bear spray I feared I would need(but I'm sure glad I had it-just in case!)!