Other summer things to do

There's only a month left before Daniel starts kindergarten, and there's so much I want to do before then! For example:

Camp out: We have a tent (and an air mattress) and I want to sleep out under the stars with my kid. It's one thing this dry weather is good for - star gazing. He wants to stay up late, I want him to notice the big picture. Win-win, especially since I plan on setting up the tent in the back yard.

Make a scrapbook: I've taken a ton of pictures this summer. I plan on having my Creative Memories consultant pin me to the dining room table until I get all the photos in an album. But I also want to give Daniel a disposable camera and make him a small album so he can have his own memory book from our summer. Get a jum start on those "What I did on my summer vacation" essays. If the photos are all right there, the kids can just flip through and write what they see.

Ladybug Day at the library: We are so lucky to have a library system that encourages our kids to become readers. By drawing them into the library with storytelling times and rabbits, bugs, snakes, birds and so on, our librarians make the books accessible as well. So July 19, I'll be taking Daniel to Ladybug Day.

Practice kindergarten skills: already I've noticed a degeneration in his chicken scratch - I mean handwriting. So every night, while I cook dinner, he practices writing his name, address and phone number. It gets him used to the idea of homework and will (hopefully) whip that penmanship back into legible format!

What are you doing with the kids this summer? What do you wish you had time to do?

--Misty