Dreaming of Summer

I am a special education aide, which means I help students with special needs who are included in their regular classroom. This can often be boring, since I'm sitting in another teacher's classroom for 7 hours a day. A lot of that time is spent while the teacher is lecturing the class or teaching them a new lesson. Lately I've found myself daydreaming of summer during those times. Today was especially bad since it warmed up to 50 and is supposed to be in the 60s all weekend (woohoo!!!)

Here are all the things I'm looking forward to...this list is so long that I bet no one will read it. But it makes me so happy, and really makes me look forward to 2 or 3 months from now!

1. A 12-week break from work! I get paid hourly, but they stretch it out so that I get paid year-round. It's not very much money by any means, but it will be nice that this summer I will be lounging around the pool and still getting a paycheck every other Thursday! (don't worry, I really do plan on doing more than just lounging. But it sounds nice!)

2. Being able to wear summer clothes! Flip-flops, skirts, sundresses, t-shirts, tank tops, shorts, capris...these things are all just begging to be brought out from hiding! And I can't wait :-D

3. Enjoying my parents' pool. Thank goodness they live a few seconds down the road!

4. Camping with Luke's family and getting to use our new tent! We got it from my parents as a wedding gift, and never got a chance to use it yet.

5. Celebrating our 1-year anniversary on July 12

6. Luke's church softball games. I love sitting on the sidelines chatting with the other wives/sisters/mothers/girlfriends, etc. We do occasionally take a break in our conversation to watch the game ;-)

7. Going to the Dairy King (that's right, King, not Queen) after the softball games for flurries, and then taking a late swim with our friends and the team afterward. There's nothing better than church family :-)

8. Going to the drive-in. We bring pillows, cushions and blankets and sit in the back of Luke's truck with a couple of friends. We love ordering some fried food from the snack bar, getting cozy, and watching a couple movies until WAY too l ate into the night. If you've never been to a drive-in theater, you should go!

9. Fireworks on the 4th of July. I'm talking about the illegal ones that my husband and all of his friends spend way too much money on, and then set off themselves. It's a tradition: the men set off the fireworks while the women sit and watch and pray that no one loses a limb. Last year Luke promised he wouldn't set off too many big ones, because it was a week before our wedding! I didn't want him to be injured for our special day! ha!

10. Summer barbecues. Just thinking about it, my mouth is watering for burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, corn on the cob, and baked beans.

11. Helping at VBS. This year I'm in charge of the crafts for the pre-schoolers. We are expecting about 40 or 50 preschoolers alone this year, so it's a pretty big job! But I love to help and spend all morning with the adorable kids for a week in the summer.

12. Water skiing and tubing at Lake Milton. Or just relaxing on the boat getting a tan.

13. Picnics in the park. Luke works for the parks department in a town near where we live. I told him that he's taking me there for some picnics this summer because we didn't get to last year!

14. The possibility of getting a puppy since I will be home to train it. Not sure about this one yet. Gabby (our adorable cat) really likes to have all of our attention, all the time!

15. Baseball! Luke and I love going to Cleveland Indians games and watching them on tv. We especially like to go on fireworks nights. Watching the fireworks while sitting in the stadium with the city skyline in the background is always amazing.

16. Trips to Cedar Point. I wrote about this one the other day, but I had to add it to my list!

17. Working on our yard. We moved into this house in November, and the yard (as small as it is) is UGLY. I'm so glad I married a landscaper! I'm expecting Luke to make it beautiful this summer :-) Unfortunately there's not enough room for a garden, but in our "forever house" I can't wait to plant my own garden and have fresh fruits and vegetables (especially tomatoes...yum!)

18. Church picnics. It seems like church ladies really do cook the best! Who doesn't love a potluck meal followed by a game of sand volleyball or a walk around the lake?

19. Hiking, canoing, and other outdoorsy things that you can't do in the winter.

20. Matinees! I never seem to find time to go to a matinee on the weekend, but during the summer I can go with my mom or friends during the week, and only pay $2!!


There are SO many other things I love about summer, but I've written quite enough for one day! I will leave you with a few summer pictures that make me smile :-D

Here's my wonderful husband in Myrtle Beach '07. It was his (extended) family vacation, and we were engaged, so I got to go with them for the first time that year! I have at least 20 pictures of Luke and his bro-in-law trying on hats from that week :-P

Here I am with my sister-in-law, Maria. The sun is shining so brightly!

Here are the beautiful Smoky Mountains. This was taken in July on our honeymoon to Pigeon Forge! I long to see blue skies and puffy, white clouds like that again!
Yay for roller coasters! This was taken from the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island last year. In Cincinnati, not Paris :-P Nothing screams summer like amusement parks!
And of course a beach pic is in order! I was on Luke's shoulders trying to get a nice picture of the sand sculpture he had made of the Ohio Stadium. Seriously. Yeah, he's a little obsessed if I haven't mentioned it before :-P

All right, I know ya wanna see it. I'll leave you with Luke's Ohio Stadium sand masterpiece:
Click to make this picture larger, and you will see that Luke even included script Ohio inside the stadium. He's a true fan, that one!

And THAT was the longest post ever :-)