Ahh, summer. It’s actually starting to feel like summer around here! Things are busier than ever at the church, there are kids out of school everywhere you look, and I can’t run Charlie for even a mile before I’m pouring sweat. Ahh, summer!

As you might remember, Wes spent last week at the inaugural event of our summer — children’s camp. If you’re not from Oklahoma, the legendary “Falls Creek” means nothing to you, but here in the land that is grand, Falls Creek is the camp to end all camps. They run mostly youth camps all summer (we’ll be going with our youth group in a few weeks), and they have two sessions of children’s camp at the very beginning of the season. Wes was there for this year’s second session and had a great time, excluding the evening that a few of our ten year old boys bought energy drinks from the snack bar and drank them at nine o’clock at night. Hysteria ensued, which you can imagine, what with the combined weight of three of these boys equalling the weight of a grown man. Fun times! Despite this, everyone returned home in one piece, and Wes is still catching up on his sleep.

All was well here at home, with a surprise visit from my parents at the end of the week. I don’t know how you military spouses handle deployments, but I didn’t realize how much I had missed consistent adult conversation until my parents got here and I talked their ears off the whole visit. So thankful for them! (And I’m also thankful for the Mother’s Day gift they gave a while back — a bit of money to spend on meals out on those nights I just don’t feel like cooking. I finally used part of it last night on pizza and ice cream. Mmmmm… thank you, Mom and Dad!)

We’ve been spending a good portion of this summer walking Charlie, playing fetch with Charlie, amusing Charlie, keeping Charlie busy, etc, etc. He’s a great dog and has been even better with all that exercise. Perhaps I’ve been so good to him lately because I feel so guilty about the fact that he has a date with destiny this week. No, destiny is not the name of a really cute female German Shepherd. In fact, after his date with destiny, Charlie likely won’t even notice cute female German Shepherds, if you catch my drift. I’m under no illusion that this will calm him down at all in our present tense, but I’m very hopeful that it will make for a calmer adult dog one day. He ate one of the screens off a window in the playroom while outside the other day, but knowing what he COULD have done instead (chewing through the wiring on the air conditioning unit, chewing the propane tank on the grill, chewing the actual deck), I count it a very small loss indeed. (Besides, most of those screens were in pitiful shape when we bought the house, so he’s just helping us clear it out! A big thanks to you, Prince Charles!)

We were invited to go swimming at a church member’s house this week, and the girls could barely contain their excitement over “swimmin’ in da pool.” (To quote Emmy.) Once we got there, though, they both kinda freaked out. And by kinda, I mean that they totally freaked out. Wes was finally able to drag each of them out into the water, and after much hollering and wailing, Emma was actually just holding onto his fingers and kick, kick, kicking her way around the pool in her floaties, totally in her fishlike element. Ana, on the other hand, screamed from the time Wes took her off the steps until he put her back, screeching while even kick, kick, kicking. She continued to scream until he got her back to the steps, where she immediately cheered up and told me, “It’s a good day for swimming.” Yeah, swimming and screaming like a maniac, apparently. I can’t fault Ana her erratic and illogical behavior since I myself am NOT a swimmer and know her fears all too well. But that’s even more of a reason for me to do what I did today — encourage from the middle of the pool, trust Wes to teach them, and rejoice that ALREADY they’re both better swimmers than their dear old Mom. (And, yes, Wes has tried to teach me how to swim. I may trust the man to provide for our family, be faithful to me forever, and raise our children, but the trust ends when we’re in the deep water and he’s trying to pry my arms from around his neck because “I can keep you afloat!” No WAY, buddy!)

Anyway, I’m encouraged about the girls’ swimming progress. After what we saw today, I’m convinced that Em will be swimming on her own in no time at all and that Ana will be swimming by the end of this summer. Here’s hoping! We went window shopping through Wal Mart’s garden center a few hours after swimming, and while we were in the flower section, Wes asked Ana what are backyard needed. “It needs a swimming pool,” she answered. See? Already getting better. (She was also quite miffed when we left the store without any purchases and kept moaning, “But I need to BUY something!” Oh, consumer, thy name is Ana!)

How about you? How are you enjoying your summer so far?