Right after our house guests left today, returning to their home in Missouri, The Redhead says to me, "now our summer begins." At first, I feared she was being rude, after all, her grandparents had come a long way to see her. And we certainly had a fabulous time visiting Yosemite with them. But that wasn't what she was implying at all. School ended last Wednesday, and less than two hours after the bell rang at 12:10, ending the school year, we were on the road heading to Yosemite. We went straight from school to our vacation. And now our summer routine really begins. That's what she meant.
Our summer last year was complete and utter chaos. And I'm not exaggerating. School ended earlier then, back in our former life. I was still working nights, and she had our beautiful and wonderful sitter. I officially quit my job on the 23rd of May, and just as we thought our focus would be shifting from packing and visiting some of our favorite places for the last times, The Redhead had a marathon fever, ending the majority of our Kansas City plans. No last visits to Deanna Rose Farmstead. No Johnson County Museum. No Powerplay. No last minute Royals Game. No Lego Discovery Center. No more Science City. And that didn't even include the play dates, sleepovers, and field trips with a community program that she was looking forward to. She was crushed and I was exhausted.
And then we made it here. Our days were spent waiting for our belongings to arrive, unpacking, shopping for items for the new house, and just being lost. We did see a movie each week. But it wasn't like how we used to spend our summers. We've always been the adventure duo. We never stayed home. I used to call myself the stay-at-home mother who never stayed home, back before I insisted upon joining the workforce again. We spent our days at movies, children's museums, the petting zoo, crafts at Michael's, and anything else we could find. Those were the days.
But those days don't have to be over. We just need to find new things to do. We started today by seeing one of Cinemark's summer movies for kids. They had Ice Age: The Meltdown playing at 10 am. Every week, movies will be playing, and we went ahead and paid our $5 a piece for ten movies. Such a bargain that it won't matter when we don't make it to all of them. We also plan to stop by John's Incredible Pizza, as they have a deal this summer, $34.99 a person for 5 buffets with drinks, a $5 fun card, and one full hour of rides. That means The Redhead gets $10 worth of credits and two hours of rides each visit. It's a huge savings, as the buffets aren't cheap, and it's a fabulous excuse to go.
As for anything else, well, we hope to finally discover this area more. But whether we leave the house or not, I've challenged myself to make sure we do at least one "fun" thing each day. What that fun thing would be is still in the works, but The Redhead and I have been discussing funnel cakes, pancakes for lunch, Minion cupcakes with Twinkies, different crafts, and a series of science experiments. We'll have to see how well this actually goes. But I'm optimistic. After all, I will be spending my days with my favorite person.
And so summer begins.
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