Dreaming in Summer

 

Here we are spending the last day of July.  The summer break reached a mid point and I am still feeling doable and durable at this time.  I started the infamous back-to-school shopping online and started to look for Alyson's big girl backpack that would fit a binder and art works for kindergarten.  The prices of backpacks haven't fallen as yet and I am waiting for the right price.  Alyson vaguely understands she is going to go to Sean's school and they only speak in English.  Her English is getting better as she spends more time with Sean during summer, so I am sure it will be fine.  Sean's first grade teacher, Miss Lowy, is  going to be teaching kindergarten this year, so I think she will be Aly's teacher.  That would be great.  Sean liked her and she had an impressive positive attitude and organization skills!

I upped a notch in playdate frequency from the past week since I was starting to get bored myself.  I even organized a multi-family playdate at my house for kids from Noah's morning school.  Only a few showed up, but we had lots of fun chatting and getting to know each other.  I think I had a playdate every single day last week!  I need to contact several of Sean's former classmates to see if they are interested in doing playdates.  They had a group playdate at a park this evening, but the weather turned sour.  I wonder how everyone else is doing.  Funny, I hardly see anyone walking around outside like I usually do during the school year.

I am very excited that I am going to California next week to see cousins, Dave and Marge.  They live in Sacramento and we used to visit them often when we lived in Tracy, CA.  I am going to drive there with three kids and will be spending a night in Oregon both way.  I am hoping to visit Tracy and see some of my old friends and neighbors there.  I already can smell the sweet life Mike and I had in California.  We thought at that time, how great it would be to have children and dreamed of becoming parents one day.  The very house we found out we were pregnant with Sean...  If I do take the kids to see the first house in Tracy, I am going to tell Sean how we cried and hugged each other the moment we saw the "pregnant" appear in the pee stick.  The life has taken an accelerated path since we arrived in Bellevue and we are loaded with joy of having four children.  I wish I could slow down and enjoy every moment like I was able to during pregnancy and first two years of having one child. 

Some day, we will return to Australia to see friends and show kids where we used to live as well.  Just thinking about it lifts me up to a very far place away from the cluttered breakfast bar.  It would be so marvelous to show children how Cockatoos fly around in the city parks like pigeons and take them on a boat ride to Manly from Circular Quay passing the glorious Opera House reining above the blue shimmering water.  That would be my wish before my children leave the nest.  That would be a trip of a lifetime! 

Now that my brain feels airy and light from a pleasant imaginary trip across the pacific, I will go to bed now.  Maybe I will dream about Australia if my thoughts do not get clouded by those objects around me that are shouting my name.  I don't mean kids, but you know those things that are out of place and need someone to pick 'em up?  I think I will just keep my eyes about 20 degrees above my natural eye level!