Top Ten Tuesday - Reasons I Love Summer

10. Having a structured schedule with the kids. This might sound strange, but we ( and by we I really do mean the kids, too) love having mornings for chores and bridge work (school work to keep them fresh) then afternoons for fun.
9. Going to the Library once a week and doing the summer reading programs.
8. Corn Festival at Mom and Dad's with all the nieces and nephews
7. Going to the river every Friday (every Friday that it doesn't rain)
6. Long days. I start counting down after winter solstice and enjoy every minute that the days get longer. I dread those early sunsets, especially living where we don't get enough sun as it is.
5. 4th of July in Manzanita with the Thayers. We go to the local parade and pancake feed. It's a small town like ours and we love it.
4. The (mostly) annual visit from Beck's family. I hear they aren't coming this year and I am taking it very personally. What happened to spending the month of August here?
3. Very few birthdays to plan. From March to December we only have one birthday kid, and she's right in the middle of July. It's a nice break.
2. Road trips. As a wanna be trucker as love the road trips. I love them more when I get to listen to Neil Diamond instead of a Disney movie that I can only hear and not see, but I'll take what I can get. Chris isn't a fan of the road trips, but does agree that our best vacation ever was renting an RV and driving to Salt Lake, then Vegas, then Phoenix, then home. It was all I could have hoped for and more.
1. Having ALL of my kids here all day. Being a blended family that gives up Saturdays is rough. We feel like we never get fun time, we just get the homework and car pool time. Summer is the best because we're all together every day. This year Kiki will be gone alot with her various activities so it won't be quite the same, but still better than the school year. I don't know why they won't all let me homeschool them so we can be together all the time.