First day of school 5th grade essay

I love summer because during summer I can actually enjoy my children.  No meetings to get to.  No Bible Study to lead.  No preschool to drop off and pick up.  It doesn't hurt that I've trained my kids to sleep in until 8:30.  Yeah, we have playdates, swim lessons, and Dinosaur camp, but these things are not the norm and are simply minor breaks.  Henry enjoys summer because he is actually able to play with his toys and is not stuck in the car running endless errands.  We can go to the pool, the zoo, the children's museum, the movies--but mostly, we like to simply hang out at home build legos, do crafts, and read book after book after book with nowhere to be. 

Every June I feel this way;  I vow to not put as much on my plate for the next school year.  And every August I somehow end up volunteering for umpteen different things.  Part of it, I am certain, is that by nature I am a homebody.  An introvert.  Yeah, I know.  It's a shocker for most people to hear that.  But whenever I go somewhere with other people, after a few hours I am drained.  Girls weekends and women's retreats, though fun and important, usually end with me exhausted, grumpy, and suffering from gastro-intestinal distress. 

During the school year, I do a lot of talking about living, thinking about living, and preparing for living.  In summer, we just live.  And when we just live, we do cool things like transform the sunroom into a playroom and turn boxes into trains...