
How do we push through May’s shenanigans and finish the school year strong?
We don’t.
In our house everything after Derby weekend is hideous. School assignments are only quasi-done and then pushed off to the side, marked as “good enough.” Rehearsals, recitals, concerts, parties, field days, and projects fill the final days of May, only to be usurped by daily swim team practices and meets that we cram in during the infamous “free time.”
It is on days like these that I daydream about summer. Glorious summer. The time when we don’t worry about school and assignments and the usual academic year extracurricular activities. I mean sure, Zella has just as many therapy visits (if not more), but things slow down so much.
I will lay out by the pool.
I will drink Coke Zero with a splash of cherry grenadine.
I will eat chips with salsa and queso.
I will read copious, vapid books with pink and aqua covers.
I will be tan.
Stretch marks will no longer exist.
Clearly fictional. I have never encountered a summer where I wasn’t cursing myself by the second week of June for over-scheduling the kids…again. And all the rest? Yeah. Nope. This summer I *am* making a couple changes, letting the kids opt out of a few of the usual camps and activities, but laying out by the pool with my chips and queso and Coke Zero is most assuredly not plausible.
If you, like me, are spending every last second of free time in May dreaming of June and July, take heart. I’ll leave you with this Family Beach Vacation Packing List printable so we can avoid our responsibilities together and long for better days by the shore…days that don’t involve the words “field day” or “car line.”

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