Winds in the East: August 2013

Oh, these sneakers. They've learned a lot of things. They know things.

They have been brand new...this is the weekend we got them in anticipation of first grade. She broke them in at the Greenville Drive game for the Summer Reader Parade. Shiny and super purple.

She wore them to heft the giant pumpkin up the front steps to welcome Fall. She's an ant. That pumpkin was at least half a ton.

She wore them when her training wheels came off.

We staged the 1st grade Sock Hop poodle skirt around those sneakers (no matter how crooked that poor skirt actually turned out. I don't sew. Want to, but it's not my gig).

And those sneakers have gone all summer to day camp for a ton of adventures.

Even Meg hates to see them go. Or she's hoping I'll get distracted so she can eat them too. Oh Megsy.

Time for new year, new shoes...

...never know where those shoes will take you.

The one thing those shoes do know is GO TIGERS!

I love summer. I love surprises. I love making plans (even indefinite ones. They may be the best kind!). So when my super cool sister-in-law pinned this on Pinterest, with the idea to make it a summer passport for kiddos, I was all over it.

The link appears to be broken, so I was just able to show y'all the image of the original idea.

This is such a brilliant and super quick way to get excited about something. Summer, the Christmas season, a big trip. It was the perfect start to our summer though because we knew we'd be doing smaller outings and long weekend getaways instead of a full week away this year.

So about a week before the last day of school, I got a little blank book and started making a list of fun summery things to do. Go on a picnic for dinner, go out for ice cream, movie matinee, dinner at the pool, etc. The one fancy idea was a weekend at the beach (we had booked it months ago, but chose to keep that little tidbit of information from Homey). Such a cool start to her summer!

The last day of school arrived, and Homey's parents of the year sprung into action. We do that sometimes, when we can pry ourselves away from daily Porch Down time. I had secretly packed Homey's things by keeping them in folded piles in the laundry room. I had groceries ready and bagged, and we stole into the night (to the garage) to collect beach toys, chairs, and coolers. I mean, we even packed our coffee pot because this little guy would never do.

Have Cuisinart, will travel!

Since I had to put a few hours of work in that morning, the Mr. packed the car and got us ready to hit the road. The greatest part of the plan was picking Homey up and just driving East without telling her where she was going. So far, her biggest excitement was being a car-rider as opposed to going to after school camp.

Hello! I am now a 2nd Grader!

So she hops in the car (filled to the gills with bags, road trip activities, boogie boards, etc.) She didn't seem to notice. I gave her the Summer Passport, and we read through all the fun things we'd try to stamp through this summer.

She still didn't really notice that we'd been on the highway for a while. We asked if she wondered where she was going. "Nah, *yawn*. I'm just glad to be going somewhere." Ha!!

Well, go somewhere we shall! We got all the way through the "All Beaches This Way" signs, still nothing really phasing her (and we were 4 hours in!) FINALLY, we go over a hill and see the beach in front of us. Her response? "Is that the beach? Can we stop and see it?" Um. Yes. We can.

After being thrilled about getting to stay in a hotel (add to list of Homey's favorite things. "It even has hangers and an ironing board!" Impressive, I suppose), she got to geek out about the sugar cereal that we never have at home.