The Summer Begins...

As school ended last week, I was full of a combination of excitement and nervousness. "Yeah! The whole summer to hang out with my son" followed by "What in the world am I going to do for the next 10 weeks with a 2 year old?!?!?!"

Well, I am happy to say that 2 days into it, we are both still alive and happy!

Yesterday's fun began with the Aquarium (we bought a family pass, so we'll be there often, I suspect). As we walked through, I was cataloging its various positive/negative aspects. Not a huge place, so it doesn't take very long to walk through, but it's mostly inside, therefore quite cool (so, a place we could actually go in the afternoon), plus there is a nice grassy area for a picnic if we are so inclined to think and pack ahead. There is also the "touch" section, which is oh-so-important and fun. Next time I think we'll even try the little audio tour phone things. We have been passing on them the past few times we went, but I think it might add to the overall fun.

The negative, as with so many destination spots is the darn gift shop with the twirling, squeaking, fuzzy and otherwise overly-attractive-to-a-toddler items all shelved too close to the walkway on the way out. Ok, it's hard enough that I just told him that we are leaving, now I'm also having to wrench a little plastic seal out of his hands as he begs "mommy, I wanna take the seal hoooome" and when I say no it's followed by the most pathetic, "puuuuulllllleeeeeease!?!" How can I tell him that "please" is the magic word when it clearly doesn't work magic on his very own mean mom?

But besides that, the aquarium is great and will be visited often.

After the aquarium and a nice nap, we went to the pool. That was a blast, too. We started swim classes today, so I wanted to make sure he'd be OK in the pool, since most of his water experience has been in the ocean, and it's different--getting in and out of the ocean is easier and you can be 1 inch in the ocean, as opposed to a pool--it's either in or out.

Well, I am glad that I was concerned enough to make the journey. After nearly 30 seconds of coaxing, Alex reluctantly jumped into the water like he was actually part fish and proceeded to paddle, kick, splash and blow bubbles. This made me less nervous about the lessons and actually made me wonder if we needed lessons at all.

We swam, cleaned up and then went to stroller strides. Alex likes to play with the other kids while I work out and chat with the other moms, so this is a great time for both of us.

When we arrived home, it was bath, dinner and straight to bed. What an exhausting day!

And the summer has just begun!