Summertime

In Connecticut, we have a "No Child Left Inside" policy which encourages families to take advantage of everything Connecticut has to offer. And let me tell ya, we took advantage of it, which explains why I've been m.i.a. I've missed you. I even sent you a greeting card with a basket of assorted fruit. You should be receiving it any minute.

But anyway, back to me and my making my children bake in the sun for 16 hours a day allowing my children to enjoy the wonder of the outdoors this summer. Rain or shine, these kids were out and about and while I didn't quite reach my goal of ZERO tv for the summer, I came pretty darned close.

They've spent countless hours on the trampoline, put hundreds of miles on their bicycles, lounged by the pool until their skin turned to brown leather. They are covered in mosquito bites, scrapes, bruises and tan lines. They've seen everything from the valley's of Pennsylvania to the sand dunes of Cape Cod and enjoyed every minute of it.

Locally, we took advantage of the free passes offered by our local library and enjoyed art museums, science centers, play houses, historic buildings, zoos and aquariums. They played soccer and baseball and perfected their golf swings. We enjoyed Connecticut's state parks, ponds and amusement parks and spent such few time indoors that they often times forget the layout of the house and wander around aimlessly. Although that could be because they are catatonic from exhaustion.

School begins next week and while we still have a few things to finish up this week (we're going to another science center and visiting another state park), we are about done with sun saturated fun. I think we've successfully extracted every last drop of summertime fun and we have the melanoma to prove it.

Here is a little slide-show from some of the thousands of summer pictures.

I hope you have all thoroughly enjoyed your summers. School starts for us next Monday and while I'm looking forward to some well-deserved time alone, I am also going to miss these kids like crazy. I have some updates that I want to share with you all for fall but in the meantime, tell me what you did this summer. Did you see anyone famous? I did. Well, I don't know if she can be counted as "famous" but she's on TV.



We met her at the Maritime Aquarium and my kids played with her kids. Because I hob-nob with famous people in my spare time :-) Her name is Jean Louisa Kelly and she played on a sitcom called "Yes, Dear". She was also in "Uncle Buck" a looooong time ago.

So, how was your summertime? Do tell!