Summer, Family Vacations, and In-Laws

One of the best things about being a teacher is having the summer off. Anyone who is or has been a teacher understands that summers off is a necessity of this occupation. It's a release from having to deal with all the "wonderful" kids and even more "wonderful" parents all school year. It also gives me a taste of what it's like to be a stay-at-home mom. I love love love my daughter to death and really wanted to do something just me and her this summer. So I signed her (us) up for this really great class at the local The Little Gym. Since my child has been a tumbler since her time in utero, I thought this class would be perfect for her. And it is...she LOVES it! She gets to practice walking (NO she's not walking yet at 14 months and if another person asks me and then gives me an "I'm sorry" face after hearing my response, I'm going to get violent), tumble, and spend time with kids her age. It's a great class for her.

Another joy of summer I have is reading. As a high school English teacher, I don't get to read for pleasure during the school year, so summer allows me some downtime to check out some great books. Currently, I am reading Not Ready for Mom Jeans by Maureen Lipinksi. Totally relate to this book! The main character talks about how hard it is to balance work and family while listening to the opinions of others about both. Highly recommend to all moms who work! Makes you and your feelings seem normal. I have to credit the main character with giving my newly found desire to blog - since she runs a blog in the novel.

Talking about leisure activities during summer naturally brings me to family vacations. I like to travel....scratch that....LOVE to travel. I sometimes regret not taking a position right out of college as a chapter consultant for my sorority - it required living out of a suitcase for the better portion of the academic year. Oh well....be that as it may, I enjoy being in other places. The only shitty part about traveling is that it involves packing. The only thing I hate worse than packing is unpacking. Two small prices to pay for the joy of traveling. I can deal. The first vacation we took was back to our old home in Wilmington, NC for a combo anniversary/Father's Day long weekend. We stayed at the Jameson Inn - for their free and awesome continental breakfasts. Since the first night we were there was our anniversary, my husband and I had our daughter, CSC, stay with our friends. The wife happens to be CSC's Godmother and also has a 2yr old little girl herself. The wife does everything just about the same way I do when it comes to raising our daughters, so I felt as comfortable as I could leaving my child with another person who was neither myself nor my husband. Now, on a side note, I don't give a rat's ass what other people have to say about when is the appropriate time to leave your child overnight with anyone. If you are a mother, you understand that no time is a good time. Having a child is really like having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body. (I can't take credit for that saying since someone else said it first, but I have no effing clue who they are) So The Husband and I went to the fondue restaurant and had a couple of drinks in Downtown Wilmington. Did I have a good time? Yes. Did I wish I was going home to my daughter? Abso-fucking-lutely. I didn't sleep one wink that night and was ready to go retrieve CSC by 6am. Needless to say, having her staying away someplace for a night won't be happening anytime soon. Just an FYI, our friends lived, oh 10 minutes (with traffic and lights) from the hotel, but it was still too far from me for my taste. 

Now we are at my parents' "beach house" in Delaware. I say beach house loosely since the house is friggin' huge and could easily shelter 2 of our house back in NC. We have come to embrace what has become the annual 4th of July trek to the Delaware Mansion.

The next vacation we plan on taking is to Nashville for my husband's family reunion. For which we will drive, with my MIL, to said destination. That should provide good blog-worthy "fun."