How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Top 10 List (2016 Edition)

So this is a recurring post I do every year when the times rolls around for summer vacation to come to an end.  As a teacher, I love assigning myself the classic "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essay each year.  I was reminded to do it today when last year's post popped up on Facebook's "On This Day".  I love "On This Day", btw.  It almost always reminds me of something good.  Well done, Facebook.

Some of the items on this list have been mentioned in previous "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" posts, but if you don't know I'm heavy on tradition by now, you never will.

The Summer of 2016...here we go!

#10 Just a few days after the school year ended, I interviewed for and was offered a new job teaching second grade in a different school in my district.  I was simultaneously thrilled and terrified.  I have taught second grade for 21 years, but this is a different school with different people.  I will say it has sent me into a revival of sorts about teaching.  If change doesn't revive you, not much else will.

#9 Movies
Yes, this is a repeat.  We have so much more time in our schedule to hit movies in the summer, and I love it.  I just wish there had been more we could have seen as a family.

#8 Berries (Both Straw and Blue)
Okay, another repeat.  What can I say?  I am a creature of tradition.  And fruit.  Man, it was hot on both of those days.  Totally worth it.

#7 thredUP
I discovered the ultimate way to shop secondhand this summer. So. Many. Cute. Things. Let's just say I had to purchase more hangers.  Three times.

#6 Watching my kids kayak
For vacation, we stayed in a cabin on a little lake in Southern Illinois.  My kids have never been in a kayak before, but they both took to it like fish to water.  (See what I did there?)

#5 Flowers
I love these flowers.  They are sold at my local Farmer's Market.  This year they offered a subscription.  I was all about it.  Luckily these will continue once I go back to school

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#4 Dance Recital/Father's Day
I wrote a whole post about this here if you want to read it. This year the girl's dance recital was later than usual.  The last performance day fell on Father's Day.  We were able to have a family get-together afterwards which is hard to pull off these days. 

#3 Books
Again, a repeat.  But if you read my blog at all, you know how I am about reading.  There's so much more time to read in the summer!  And listen to podcasts about what I should read next.  And make trips to the library.  You get the drift.  Some of my faves this summer: The Swans of Fifth Avenue, Truly Madly Guilty, The Girls, and Love That Boy.

#2 Wrigley Field
I love, love, love the Cubs.  This is the year.  I made it back to Wrigley after too many years and got to see my husband and kids experience it for the first time.  Oh, and the Cubs won that day.  Here's the entire post about this trip.

#1 The Hobbit House
We took a three day anniversary trip in June to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary.  I don't like to plan ahead for trips, but I actually made this reservation back in December because I wanted to stay in The Hobbit House so badly.  It was magnificent

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It always makes me feel good to look back on the summer.  I'm incredibly lucky to have all this time to do what I want.

Kim