End of Summer Traditions

Tuesday was our last official day of summer vacation. I was exhausted from our trip and all the unpacking it entailed (which I admit still isn't completely done...) and there was a 40-50% chance of thunderstorms, so we didn't tackle a big outing like the zoo or anything. Instead, as a last minute decision, we had a picnic at a playground...in the rain for a few minutes, which was part of the fun. I'm glad I got myself out and about to have one last "summer adventure" with my kids, even if it kinda wore me out!

A tradition I started last year when Molly(4) first began preschool was that the night before her first day, we took a night time walk. It's kind of a time to say good-bye to summer and reflect on the special times we had. Our walk this year was very fun and memorable: Molly kept pointing out all the "huge long grass" in peoples' yards and we helped a neighbor find his cell phone he'd lost in his car by calling it with ours. It's fun to walk outside with flashlights and listen to the different bugs and sounds and try to guess what they are. I think at one point Molly said she heard a baby bunny...?

Another "tradition" I have is a mini tree in my house that I decorate all year long. It's actually about 5 feet tall but it's skinny and doesn't take up much room. My mom always has had a tree like that in her house too and I try to decorate it for each holiday or special occasion, but I can't keep on top of it as well as my mom does. For the first day of school this year, we decorated it with small foam numbers and letters meant as a bath tub toys. Many of the letters just stick on with a single branch poking through, but others we had to wrap a branch around to hold it up. It was fun to name off the different numbers and letters as we hung them, and Ben (1) even got in on the action and tried his best to decorate with us. The tree was a fun background for Molly's picture on her fist day of school.