10 Things that I have learned this Summer

1. Summer vacation is short, about 12 1/2 weeks. Make the best of all of it. Best of all plan some down time to do nothing.

2. Do plan on free activities around the area. At the beginning of the summer I went through the community calendars and found several free, and not so free activities for our family to be apart of this summer.

3. Anticipate major weather events to interfere with those free activities. The Sunday of the "500 year flood" or whatever they are calling it, was also the McNader Arts Festival. We did not make it because we were either glued to the TV or were walking down to the river. We were prepared to be evacuated if necessary, but also missed the arts festival.

4. The dog likes a sandbox that has rain water in it. Oh boy. When it was hot, the dog would roll around in the sandbox, and actually kick the sand out so he could have more water! Yeah. We got out the pool for him that same day. He did manage to sneak in there a few more times during the hot days.

5. My children would rather help clean the house then their own room. Zoe helped Tony clean the house several times... (Caitlin was at summer reading camp).

6. Buy stock in sunscreen and bug repellent. I have two redhead girls with very fair skin. Caitlin swells up were she gets bit by the pesky critters... Should have bought stock.

7. Dollar store toys last only a short time - buying the more expensive higher quality plastic or even wood version will save you time in shopping for toys next year. Best part? They will last many years in stead of many days.

8. Along with the weather issues, the fair can turn into a disappointment because of poor planning on the boards account although they did pass the buck and say it was the carnival company's fault.

9. Wet laundry in the washer stinks twice as soon as wet laundry in the washer in the winter. Who knew...

10. Having a DVR helps you to forget about time when you are doing something fun. The DVR came in handy several times through out the summer. It also is nice to have something to watch when you feel like chillin'.

Well I probably could add more, but would you continue to read it if it was 100 things I have learned this summer?? lol