An old fashioned summer

It has been a really old fashioned summer this far and I think we like it this way.  There was a lot of free play outside, swinging in the hammock, digging in the sand and drinking lemonade.  There was bubble solution making and bubble blowing, some art projects and tinkering around the kitchen.  Very local outings, eating ice cream, reading stories, doing word search and crossword puzzles.   I bought all kinds of art supplies and all kinds of interesting things to color - there is an Israeli company called BUKI that puts out great and creative coloring and activity books that my children enjoy.  There were some great geography games that we played.  I finally hung up our blackboard in the new place so everyone enjoyed chalk activities.  We made lots of paper airplanes and paper boats(something tired mothers can do sitting down).  I printed out and cut out paper dolls with  beautiful wardrobes that everyone here has enjoyed.  We went to a petting zoo, we'll go for a day trip to visit family in a different town, we'll go to a concert hopefully next week.  But mostly we've been keeping close to home and taking it easy and playing it by ear and even with all that, things  are never quiet or boring around here.  We enjoy the one year old's cute antics and the three year old's funny expressions, the big boys made  "camp"  for the littles, we did do some light academic work just to stay in practice, we discuss many different things and look at books together, we bought some new school supplies.  I am making plans for the coming academic year trying to take all the different interests and learning styles into account as well the things I'd like to accomplish in the coming year, keeping in mind al the upcoming changes here, G-d willing(more on that in a separate post).  I get a real pleasure watching our children growing and changing and learning and despite the many real  challenges in the past months, I think over all we are having a good and meaningful and enjoyable summer for everyone here.