A Full Summer Day

I had a vague notion that I wanted our summer days to consist of outings in the morning (if any outings were to be had) followed by a lazy afternoon of naps, movies, and ceiling fans.  Yesterday was one of those days.  It began with a gathering of all the various items needed for an outing:  bags, books, drinks, extra clothes, towels, stroller, camera bag, etc.

It started with the public library (Oh, how I love the public library!) where I signed us all up for the summer reading program.  The man at the children's desk yesterday was so friendly and helpful as he explained all the programs going on through the summer.  Between the library and free summer movies we have a lot of fun (and free!) things to keep us busy.  Not even the first full week of summer, and I am loving it.  I almost just said, "Roll Tide!" to all those good things.  I am being sucked into the culture of this city at long last.

There are about 9 weeks of the summer reading program, so I pledged to read 55 books to James. (Oh, my!)  Ella pledged to read 29 books, and she thought 11 would be a good number for me.  

We found the first four Kit Kittredge, American Girl books yesterday, and she was thrilled, even waking me up from my nap to tell me she'd finished chapter 1.  I was thrilled for her, but I also tried to explain what constituted a good reason to wake Mommy up from a nap.

Upon leaving the library, we made our first visit to the River Walk splash pad.  Fun.

Then it was McDonalds and Wal-Mart, where I learned, AGAIN, that giving in to a child's incessant demands for a milkshake will end with, "I can't drink all of this, mama, or I get sick."  Forcing me to abandon my carefully constructed meal plan to finish his milkshake.  I just couldn't let half a milkshake go to waste...

We had our quiet afternoon, I cleaned the house while the kids played a new Wii game checked out from the library, we ate supper, and then they wanted to play kickball.  Those kids are pretty cute and hilarious.  I started out just rolling the ball but had to go inside for my camera once James started his full-out sprints across the yard.

I refrained from snapping pictures of James' tears of agony when he got out.  It didn't seem like the kind thing to do.

Bath time, Wii time, allergy medicine, bedtime.  A full day.