I love to read!

One thing I totally love about summer are the extra opportunities to read. Extra days off work allow for reading during the day. And it means I can stay up later at night and read. Days at the beach or the pool mean sitting in the sun and reading. Lots and lots of reading.


For the most part, I'm not reading anything of earth-shattering importance. I read a lot of journals and blogs that relate to my profession, but I'm not working my way through the non-fiction best seller list.

Of course there are some books to help plan our trip to North Carolina.

And I read a lot (a LOT!) of blogs just for fun.

But mostly I love the fiction. Murder mysteries. Horror stories. Creepy stuff. Funny stuff.

At the moment, I'm reading the second book in Dean Koontz's Frankenstein trilogy. Before that, I was reading a book about werewolves. The books in this photo are just a small portion of those I've worked my way through this summer. And I've still got about half a dozen sitting on my bedside table just waiting for me.

I love to read!

Where did he go?

Camping! And more camping. And swimming and kayaking and basking in the sun. And don't forget sleeping late. And napping. And eating tons of good food off the grill. And reading. And a bit of mini golf.

And then I started over and did it all again!

The best photos definitely come from the lake. The early morning trips on the kayak when the lake and campground is quiet. There might be a few columns of smoke up in the trees from someone cooking breakfast over a morning fire. But other than that...peace and quiet on the lake in the early morning.

And when I go out later in the day, Daughter14 is always eager to
jump in the other kayak and go along for a paddle. The rest of the family prefers a more leisurely ride in the paddle boat.

So what's next on the schedule? Well I gotta come around and visit your blogs...see what has been going on.

And we've gotta do a little work around the house and a bit of back to school shopping. Which seems so wrong cause school has barely ended and now we are buying backpacks and new clothes for the upcoming year. Too fast!!

And then, in just ten days, we'll be leaving for our family vacation. Now what makes this one so special? Because we have not taken a real family vacation in fourteen years. Yep, 14. My work schedule wasn't conducive to it. And sometimes we just couldn't afford it. And the reality of a kid with special needs is that it can be very difficult to travel, stay in hotels, deal with unpredictable schedules, etc.

But this time, we are out of here! We'll be heading to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and all the kids are coming along and we can hardly wait!

But for now...home for a few days...and I'll be around to visit soon!

So what to do when it rains?

That's right...the 60/80 conundrum yesterday left us wondering what to do for fun. And all the kids said bowling! Something we had not all done together in years. But we headed to the lanes and had a great time!

Son21...

Daughter14...

and Son17 all showed off their styles.

And they all thought they would kick dad's butt. They didn't! Na na na na na na! But trust me, my score was nothing to brag about. In fact, I have photos of the electronic score sheet. But its my blog and I see no reason to embarrass myself by posting that! :)

60 or 80?

Does it even matter? Our plan for the three-day weekend was to head to our camper, enjoy playing in the lake, use the new kayaks, sit by the campfire, etc.

But it rained. And rained some more. It rained so much we didn't even go yesterday. Even when it wasn't raining, it looked like rain. It was cloudy and cool. Not great camping weather.

So we stayed home yesterday. Watched some good DVD's. Took a nap. Took the kids out for dinner. So not what we had planned but not a bad day.

But today we planned to get up and get right down there and make the best of the two days left in the long weekend.

When we woke up, it was raining. The weather channel says an 80% chance of rain and thundershowers today. Going online it says there is a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Who is right? And does it matter? Do either of those numbers sound like the forecast that would beckon you to put on your thong and jump in the water? How about building a fire and roasting some marshmallows? Hard to keep a fire blazing in a downpour.

Do we go camping? Or do I break out that new book and spend an afternoon reading and relaxing? Either way will be fun. But seriously...can we have a bit of sun sometime this weekend!?!

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Note: To relieve those chills you've been having since paragraph #5, I don't really wear a thong swimsuit. So you don't have to cover your eyes and keep the kids inside. I do have a new swimsuit with a very cool Hawaiian print, though. :)