With Summer in Sight

I can remember the end of the field trips I went on as a kid pretty vividly.  They were only day trips, which my mom generally chaperoned, or a trip to Six Flags, but as a kid they were the thing you looked forward to all year.  And so, this week led me to Boston for a few days as the chaperone for the 7th graders of my school.  They are the kids that worked incredibly hard all year to earn the chance to spend a few days, all expenses paid, in a beautiful city, taking in some pretty awesome sights they wouldn't get to see otherwise-and good ‘ole Ms. Doyle with some of my coworkers-turned-familyish friends got to go along for the ride.  Now granted, as fun as it sounds to be in a city I adore, it means leaving my own baby girl and my favorite guy, which never sits right with me but, thanks to FaceTime, I’m able to get by.

I am officially on summer vacation beginning Sunday evening, after we say farewell to our 8th grade kids.  While the trips were always awesome, it was the summers you really lived for; the promise of weeks of freedom are what pushed you through the last long weeks of school.  This is still very much the case and there is a certain little girl that is responsible for my longing for this week to go by.

Having a little taste of what our days will look like has me rushing this week by even more.  Waking up later and hanging out in our pjs longer than is socially acceptable, playing in the backyard and sampling the different playgrounds our neighborhood has to offer, waiting to hear to sounds of the ice cream man, going to the movies, and avoiding shoes at all costs- these are the things Kennedy and I live for.

So each time she excitedly asks me how many more days of work until I get to stay home with her, I get a little closer to my happy place.  But first, I must survive these last few days of school where I will pretend to be a 5th grade English teacher while the second round of End of Year trips take place, which I plan to do with copious amounts of Kennedy kisses and when all else fails, wine.