105 Ways to Give a Book

A Summer Inventory

At the end of the summer it is so easy for me to fall into the despair over what we didn’t do. The summers just don’t seem long enough. The days don’t seem long enough. And every year, before I know it, the kids are back to school again. I miss them.

We didn’t pull out our tent and go camping. We didn’t get to any of the four amusement parks in a two-hundred-mile radius. We didn’t go the pool nearly as much as I thought we would. Yet we didn’t have many of the long, lazy days I remember from my own summers growing up. We were so busy. But with what?
  • Three trips to Virginia Beach
  • One trip to Lake Anna
  • One trip to a wedding in New Hampshire
  • Two weeks of drama camp
  • Two weeks of Rec Center camp
  • One water park outing
  • One Nationals baseball game
  • Three movies (Cars, Over the Hedge, and... Garfield)
  • One day of school supply shopping (thanks to Target for the $0.20 glue)
  • One day of outlet mall shopping (thanks to Limited Too for the $5.00 discount for a good report card)
We went to the public pool a couple of times a week, and often took a friend. We saw all three of our brothers and their families. We visited my New Jersey cousins and aunt and uncle. The kids saw all of their grandparents, most of them several times. They read lots of books and played lots of computer/video games. They caught fireflies in their bare hands without going “Ewww. Bug.” A shining moment, no pun intended.

As for me, I did a lot of reading, starting the summer off with the 48 Hour Book Challenge. With the new additions of teen literature to our library, I read about forty young adult/older elementary books. I also read about ten to fifteen adult books over the summer. I blogged about maybe half of them. I’ll remedy that later. Hubby and I saw a concert (Bruce Hornsby, who was amazing) and a comedy show (Patton Oswalt, who we joined for drinks after the show). Two nieces joined our family in the middle of June.

Next summer we’ll cut the Rec Center camp, I’ll take off more time from work, and we’ll have more time to just hang out. For now, we’ll focus on an exciting school year. My oldest’s teacher loves children’s literature, so that should be a great match. My youngest’s teacher is the dynamic, wonderful teacher I requested for her, so we should see some progress in the second grader’s school skills. I’ll be a leader of the Juniors girl scout troop for the next two years, and I’ll help with the drama club at school. And of course, I’ll continue as a blogger for the foreseeable future.

Happy New School Year, everyone.
Category: 5 comments

5 comments:

fusenumber8 said...

Woah woah. Back right up there, missy. Did you just say you joined Patton Oswalt for drinks after his comedy show? Come again? THE Patton Oswalt? Oh. My. God. I LOVE that guy! He's second only to Eddie Izzard in my book. How the heck did you get you have drinks with him? And next time he comes to D.C. can I join you too?

MotherReader said...

My husband knew him in college. So after the show (which was wicked funny), we waited around outside and then went over to a nearby bar/restaurant for drinks with him and some of his other local friends (he's from Northern Virginia). You'll be more amazed that after drinks, we drove him to his hotel. I mean, it was on our way, so there was no point in calling a cab. But next time he's in town, I'll shoot you an email to join us.

Bill said...

Well, probably not the next time he's in town, which will technically be next week for the DC stop on the Comedians of Comedy tour. Unfortunately, we won't be able to make the show, which naturally reduces the odds of our being able to arrange a meeting.

But he usually does a solo show out here every year or so. Just a little something for the hometown crowd.

fusenumber8 said...

Wow.
Just... wow.
Last Christmas we drove to North Carolina to visit the in-laws. Said in-laws gave us the uncut version of his live album and I think I pretty much came as close as I ever will to nearly killing everyone in the car (while driving)when Patton launched into the Paas routine.

Let me know next time he's in town (aside from next week), if only to just see his show in person. You can't get to see him in NYC due to the fact that everyone and their mother buys tickets here.

Kelly said...

Sounds like a great summer, MR! Here's hoping the school year is just as nice :)