Friday Favorites - Sum Sum Summertime!

Yesterday one of my girls asked me what my most favorite day of the year was.
Christmas Eve? My Birthday Eve?
Not even close.
Without a moment's hesitation, I replied, "This one."
The first day of summer vacation.
I love it.

This is me for the next three months.
(tumblr.com)

The entire summer stretched out before me...all those lazy days that haven't even happened yet but are thisclose...there's nothing like it.

Unless, of course, you live in a place where the weather on that first day of summer vacation is a brisk 54° and gray and raining -- which is no different from the previous 10 -- and  then you contemplate putting your head in the oven or just crawling in your bed with a bottle of wine and watching the entire series of Dawson's Creek.
I'm guessing.

But you don't (yet); you keep the faith that the sun will come out tomorrow and you will, eventually, get a real summer, and you go about your summery business as if it is 80° and you're wearing shorts instead of sweats and as if the flowers you planted on that lone 97° day back in May have not all shriveled up and turned brown and sad and refused to bloom.

And here's a few things you do.
A few things that, despite the sucky weather everyone in Minnesota is sick of living with and everyone who reads this blog is sick of reading about, are still my favorites from this week.
They have to be.
Otherwise you're gonna find me in that oven sooner than you think.

It's okay, Dawson. There's room in there for both of us.
(mrwgifs.com)

Last Day of School Traditions - 
As the Things have gotten older, the pomp and circumstance over the last day of school has waned just a bit (as is the case with much of traditions as your kids get older), but a few things have remained constant.
Chocolate cupcakes (obviously)
Gift cards for a pile of books for summer reading (a favorite and expected treat since they learned to read)
and the neighborhood ice-cream social.

This year the pouring rain didn't dampen the middle schooler's spirits (see what I did there?) and they had a blast running around and getting soaked while the moms stood shivering in the garage feeding our depression with copious amounts of ice-cream.
I contemplated bringing over a bottle of wine so we could make Cabernet floats, but thought I'd save that idea for when we're still in sweats on July 4th.

Last day of school cupcakes.
I ate three plus all the leftover frosting with a spoon. 

100 Things to Do This Summer -
I saw this pin on Pinterest the other day, and after about a minute and a half of getting excited and mentally cataloguing every other item on the list, remembered that 1.) my kids don't like to do a lot of this stuff anymore and 2.) neither do I.

Source: blog.landofnod.com via Michelle (You're my favorite today.) on Pinterest

But then I took a closer look, and you know what? Two or twelve, seven or seventeen, four or forty-(*cough), there's a handful of things on here that are awesome at any age! 

Bowling! except I hate bowling

Badminton! except I suck at badminton. And so do my girls (sorry, Things, you know it's true)

Play tennis! ditto

Twister! I used to crush my girls at that game before their arms and legs got as long as mine -- good times, good times

Mini Golf! This is one we make sure to do a couple of times a summer and one that at least once, someone (me) gets injured at while playing. Don't ask. 

Breakfast for Dinner! Since that happens about three times a week in this house (cough...Captain Crunch...cough), I'm not sure I can get away with including it on my list.

But seriously, there are a lot of great and easy ideas on here for all you mamas, regardless of the ages of your kids, so feel free to repin (clicking the image above will take you directly to Pinterest. Cool). 

I'm keeping it handy.
It's a lot better than the one I'd already made.

Mall of America -
Let me be clear about something.
Going to the Mall of America isn't usually ever my favorite, as you can read about right HERE, in this post from last summer that will surely make you want to pack your bags and plan a vacation to spend a weekend there with the other bazillion people who visit each day.

But yesterday the Things needed shorts (just in case it ever gets warm this summer) and since MoA is much more fun (to them) than our boring old local mall and since it was the first day of summer and they deserved a fun day for all their hard work this school year I'm the best mama in the world, we went.

And you know what? Since we got there right after it opened, it wasn't so bad!
Until 11 a.m. and I swear to god there must have been busses unloading thousands of people in matching shirts and I started getting claustrophobic and I swear the mall took on a whole new, unpleasant, smell (armpit and popcorn butter) and everyone I passed looked like a suspicious terrorist.

But the Things were in fine shopping moods (which isn't always the case) and we were on a strict schedule so it was actually pretty painless.

Unless you were my AMEX card.

Come back on Sunday.
There'll be pictures.

And for those of you who might be curious as to how my Bachelor Casting creeping turned out?

Stay tuned.

But I'll give you a hint.

There will almost surely NOT be a future Bachelor contestant who hails from the apparent lame ass Bachelor watching state of Minnesota. 

Don't get too excited.