SUMMERTIME!!! and the living is easy??

Summer. 
Vacation.
 Summer Vacation.
Remember those words and how they affected you when you were a child, a teen.
I remember those words, singularly or together and a HUGE smile would come across my face.
I LOVED SUMMER!!!
Those carefree days of not having to get up early to go to school. Of riding bikes with friends. Of hide n go seek games and steal the bacon in our neighborhood.  The fun of slowly eating a popsicle-the best kind being the ones you made from KoolAid and froze them.
My siblings and I sold our popsicles in the neighborhood for 5 cents.
Another family sold candy that were in jars.
We both made some money that we probably spent at the others houses.

Summer was magical.
Every year we would spend 4-6 weeks at my grandmother's beach house in Ventura. I learned how to dive thru waves, and then how to body surf and finally how to surf. We went looking for shells each morning. We walked along the beach from one end to the other. We met and played with friends we would have all thru our childhood. I had my first crush at Solimar.

Then I grew up and had to get a job in the summer during college vacations. 
Well, that wasn't so much fun.

But then I got married and had kids and got to experience summer vacation all over again through the eyes of my children.
I was never a mom who dreaded summer. I loved again, those carefree days. I loved spending time with my kids. For years we had a beach day every week where we would go to Santa Cruz for the day and my hope was to give them a love for the ocean as much as I had.
We had season passes to Great America and often went when Scud got home from work and most of the crowds had left for the day. 
I loved letting the kids have friends over to play.
It was just a blast for me. I hope they thought so too.

Today I read two things from 2 of my friends at Woodleaf that were very meaningful. Sarah is having a "YES" day with her kids. Anything they want she said YES to. They had some premade parameters: because we live in the mountains, it had to be physically feasible, safe and affordable. Those kids will have a blast today and have gone thru a number of things on this list already as i write.
Sarah and I talked about why don't we always have "YES" days for our kids. I remember reading something by Chuck Swindoll when our kids were in elementary school about only say no when you absolutely have to. That too often we say No out of convenience to us, but why don't we say Yes more??
And if we said YES more, how would that influence every part of our lives.

My other young mom friend, Christine, posted an article from another blog about saying these six words to your kids:
                " I love to watch you play"
How awesome is that??
I loved watching my kids play. Whether it was baseball, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, football, playing the piano or even playing video games. 
We NEED to take the time as moms to stop and ENJOY watching our kids play. It will do wonders for us. We must take the time to stop, slow down, put the lists away, get off Facebook or blogs and take the time to ENJOY our children. We need it and so do they.

So for you younger moms who have your kids home now for the summer.
ENJOY them. PLAY with them. HAVE FUN with them.
All too soon, those carefree days of summer will be gone.
I miss them and am almost certain you will too.
Living is easy in the summer; if you have the right attitude.