Summer is here, days of no schedule, and the kid’s home all the time.  Sounds blissful and relaxing, right?  The truth is I think it takes a couple weeks to get used to being with your kids all day everyday.  During the school year the family has such a tight schedule and routine that I appreciate all the time we spend together.  In summer, it is just togetherness….a lot of togetherness…maybe a little too much!

Aristotle said that “patience is a virtue”, and I have to admit patience seems to be a virtue I am sorely lacking.  Over the first few weeks of summer, with my children by my side all day I came to the conclusion that I really have a lot of personal work to do.  This was especially apparent at a barbeque when my friend Carlos looked up with a shocked expression after hearing me bellow at my son from across the yard.  He suggested that I call my next column, “Summer Memories”, and then laughed at his own joke.  But he was right, I did need to take a moment and relax a little bit about my kids.

The first couple weeks of summer started out big.  First of all, we went on a trip to our family’s cabin in the Sierras for two weeks.  This was an eight hour drive.  Two things to know about us.  First my husband doesn’t stop the car for anything.  Anything.  Second we never turn on the DVD player for the kids.  I know, I know…crazy!  But we both have some sick sense of old school parenting pride that the kids can sit in the car that long and entertain themselves.  However, our five year old daughter has come into her own and by that I mean, for the eight hour ride to the cabin, Delaney talked the entire time.  About five year old stuff.  We were so exhausted by the time we got to the cabin.  That night I had dreams of made up songs about fishing and donuts.

The talking did not end there.  Daily as we would trek through the woods to the rec center for swim lessons, Delaney would walk behind me singing and talking, and talking and singing.  She reminded me of that Monty Python movie, The Holy Grail, where the jester gallops behind Sir Robin singing about how Sir Robin was a coward.  And because it is your precious child that you brought into the world, you can’t just yell, “SHUT UP”. 
No, you have to ask patiently for quiet, suggest quiet games, and take long quiet walks by yourself just to detox from the constant noise.
But I digress. 

Eventually I began to relax.  The Sierra’s are beautiful, we had no schedule, so vacation became all about the kids.  Our son is happiest in water, so all he really needed was pool time everyday.  We learned that Tobey can tread water for hours and hours, which signifies a potential career in the Navy or Coast Guard.  My daughter signed herself up and won the cannon ball contest at the rec center on the 4th (she had good form), and every evening we would take a nice family walk though the woods.  Eventually we got used to the sound of constant chatter, and as a blessing in disguise my husband’s dad and step-mom arrived in the second week and Delaney had a new audience to hold spell bound. 

Maybe starting summer off with a bang of togetherness has made all the difference in learning to relax and enjoy my kids…all the time.  I am pretty sure learning to be patient is going to be somewhat of a life long quest, but in the meantime I am becoming a little more easy-going about things.  Delaney, in her sweet, well intentioned way, has interrupted me countless times during the writing of this article to talk about paintings, toys, and potential play dates.  I can hear her now in the back yard singing to her dad while he does some yard work.  The truth is we already laugh about how funny she is, and are really lucky that we do get to spend so much time with both our kids…truly the best summer memory of all.