Can almost taste it…

Summer looms. We’re in the days of “lasts” for the preschool and school-aged kids. Last day of Running Club: check. Last Brownie meeting: check. Last, last, last…

With ends come beginnings! Pool season has begun. We’re perpetually soggy now, with our 3-4 time a day habit. It’s an addiction now!

The kids, who seem to lack nerve endings in their epidermis, have been dipping in for weeks, but I admit it: I am a cold water wimp. Everyone except Cole teases me about how I enter the pool. Step by step I tip toe in, then if the water is not warm enough, I generally chicken out before that cold water hits my stomach. I can’t stand that feeling. It’s pretty bad when your 4 year-old is coaching you on how to enter the pool. :)

However, we were gifted some second-hand solar rings, and they may not have awesome reviews on Amazon, but for FREE, and honestly only about 10 minutes of work each day (5 to remove, 5 to replace), we really can see they’ve helped warm the pool to a very enjoyable temperature. No more ‘old lady entry’ into the pool for me. ;)

Also, I don’t have anyone in my arms in the water for the first time in years and years! Carter was surprised I can swim! The last time I could get in the pool and swim without constantly holding a child I was pregnant with Carter, crazy as that is to say. It’s been so liberating, enjoying the water as much as my kids. Fun is good.

Carter is becoming a real swimmer, finally. Playing games with him and slowly helping him push his comfort zone has been so rewarding, and, again – fun. Seeing Bunny and him playing and racing and diving is joy.

Cole is still anxious in the ‘big water’ and prefers to stay on the steps. He’ll need more time, but, at his own pace, he will progress through the season. Meanwhile, he does his thing, and sometimes sneaks inside for a little snack…

… I couldn’t help but laugh from deep in my belly when I walked in to check on him and found this scene. He was drenched with sweet, sticky juice, and happy as ever. My happy, happy, boy.

I have been in the mood to set easy goals. A fun-do list. Our days are often littered with the mundane dos of household hunting and gathering, and those lists clutter my mind: what to cook, when to be someplace, what I should not forget to pack… it’s easy to forget to plan for the good stuff, the stuff that transforms all the must-dos into stepping stones on a great adventure rather than an endless treadmill of routine-routine-routine.

A working fun-do list:

Have a bonfire at the beach (check!)
Have another bonfire at the beach
Paint a living room wall yellow
Dinner outside twice a week
Plant tomatoes (check!)
See a beach sunset
Lie outside on a blanket with my kids and look at stars
Catch fire flies (check!)
Pick berries with my kids (partial check!)
Weekend hikes once a month—at least!
Finish my cookbook cookin’ project
Take Bunny to the T Room (check!)
Hula hoop (learn how)
Midnight swim
Breakfast outside
Go Camping
Otter Pops, many, many Otter Pops (check, and many more to come)
Lots of twilight walks around the block
Plaster of Paris sand casting on beach

That seems like a nice start.