Weekly Wrap-Up: Summer Edition

I have taken a bit of a bloggy break both from writing and even reading blogs this summer.  But now I thought I'd join back in with the Weekly Wrap-Ups over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.  Check out the other wrap-ups over there as well!

I was gone from home 27 nights from May 4-July 12.  That is almost four weeks in about a 10 week period.  That was a bit much for me.  I think I already blogged about some of those times, so I'll start with the June vacation.

We went to Washington, DC for four nights and the Yorktown area for three nights.  It was a wonderful vacation.  Our children are AMAZING travelers!!  We do not use a DVD player in the car, and they just play, read, color, listen to book, and entertain themselves soooo well.  We love all of the interaction that we just don't think you'd get if they were glued to a movie.

One day in DC we walked for over seven miles!  They did not complain a bit.  I was about in tears at one point (but hid it well...DH didn't even know until I told him later), but they were total troopers.  Lauren did cry when she got locked in a bathroom stall under the Lincoln Memorial, but I would cry too if I thought I might have to crawl on a public restroom floor, wouldn't you?  I did save the day and managed to unlock the door using a quarter.  I am obviously the female MacGyver.

We had a nice surprise at our hotel in the Yorktown area.  Upon arriving, the clerk said, "There was a problem with your room, so we had to upgrade you."  Well, DARN.  We ended up in a fabulous two bedroom, two bathroom suite with a nice sized living room and small kitchen.  It was AWESOME.   The girls made these signs for the door to their bedroom so that they could watch TV in peace.  We were happy to oblige so that WE could watch TV in peace!  We have just an antenna at home, so TV anywhere else is usually is a treat.

Our July excursions took us to both grandparents' houses, a two night summer camp for Lauren (while the rest of us were at Mimi and Papa's) and then our annual family reunion/camping/Christmas in July event with DH's Mom's side of the family.  Always a very enjoyable time....NOT your typical "let's avoid it if we can" family reunion.  While camping, Ashley learned to ride her bike without training wheels, plus we saw the resident bald eagle AND its nest.  The nest was HUGE!

And the big news of the summer....da-da-da-daaaaaaa...

I'm quitting my job!  Yea!!  (Okay, how many of you thought this was going to be a pregnancy announcement?  Ha, ha!)

I have only two more evenings left to work.  Hip-hip-hooray!!  I have been working 9-12 hours a week for the last two school years, including the summer months.  I tutor children at a local tutoring place that specializes in helping children with learning difficulties.  It's not your typical homework tutoring at all.  We address a lot of different issues and get lots of referrals from a local neurologist.  ANYWAY, it was just weighing so heavily on my heart that I needed to quit, so after discussing this with DH and praying about it, we decided it was the right thing to do.  The girls are THRILLED (my boss, however, is not thrilled and keeps telling me I have time to change my mind...it's nice to be wanted), and as DH said, "Well, I'm not going to complain if you're home more in the evenings."   Yea!  Again! 

So, we'll be tightening the belt a little bit more around here.  We did not rely heavily on my income, but it sure allowed us a lot more freedom to just do things....like take a big trip that included eight nights in hotels.

We start school next week because DH starts school/work next week, and the crazy fall schedule of school, soccer, and cross country will be off and running!