Check in on your parents, your friends who are parents, any other adult who is in charge of a child while they’re on summer break, your siblings, your friends, and all those who you care about.

Rather regrettably, wildfire season has kicked off in brutal fashion where I live, and this state is basically in a constant state of drought to begin with, and summer only technically just started, so it is dry and hot here. Mercifully, we might get some rain this weekend, and the temperature takes a pretty daring plunge, so hopefully, we are in for at least some semblance of relief. Keep our firefighters and other first responders in your thoughts, in the meantime!

My kids have officially been out of school for a month now. It’s the first time that either of them has actually been on a summer break from school, yet for me, it’s another Thursday! Having been a stay-at-home mom for their whole lives so far, this period of time kind of returns things to normal, in a weird way. I suppose I’m still more used to being at home with them than sending them to school. For the most part, I’ve tried to stick to my routine at the gym, which means we added child care to our membership. We’re very fortunate to go to a gym that offers that! The boys can get some exercise, do a craft, play games, or watch a movie while I stay on schedule.

On my rest days, there are obviously still things that need doing, yet I’ve tried to make it as “choose your own adventure” as time and money allows. The library has played a huge role ever since my husband and I renewed our library cards. I’ve taken the kids there just to get them out of the house, we’ve checked out books of course, but I think, so far, we’ve benefitted the most from borrowing DVDs. It’s been fun to let our boys pick things out for themselves, and Kevin and I have been working our way through an ancient list of movies and TV shows that we’ve wanted to see over the years.

We also live in an area that has a lot of playgrounds and other kid-friendly venues to take the boys to and keep them active and busy. We usually get to these places by car; however, we do take the time occasionally to use the bus and ride the train and light rail when we get the chance. Pack provisions and our deck of UNO cards, and we can make a pretty good day out of utilizing public transit. That’s not something I got to experience myself as a kid, so it’s been great to have these resources and show our kids what’s possible!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost July. I’m excited to see and write about everything that’ll take place for the Fourth of July this year! Fireworks? Uh, probably not for us, given the state of things as I described earlier. Although we’ll find a way to mark the occasion, as we always do!

Want to see and hear some patriotic things in the meantime?

• I’ve really been enjoying following the Relay for America. It’s a group of runners and support teams carrying the same, sole American flag without stopping until it arrives in Washington D.C. on July 4th. You can track its progress here!
• Just about anything surrounding the U.S. men’s soccer team and our international friends being here for the World Cup has been a delight to follow as well.
• Blast Ray Charles’ version of “America the Beautiful” on the best speakers you have. It’s moving every single time I hear it. If you haven’t listened to it before, thank me later.