Some Summer Time Fun

T-minus three days until the first official day of summer! It's not like it hasn't been summer-hot already, and for many in our area, summer started last week with the end of school. Still, I love the first day of summer, especially because it's the longest day of the year, and I sure do love long, sunny days.

The first day of summer, is, coincidentally, Gabbie's first day in her new room at day care. This morning while we were putting on Gabbie's sandals, I told her that I was a little sad because she is growing up so fast. She responded by patting me on the back, squeezing in for a hug, and saying, "Sorry, Mommy. S'okay, Mommy," which was just about the cutest thing I've ever witnessed.

Gabbie has been two for almost a month now, and earlier this week we finally made it in for her 2-year well-child visit (*sob* it's now "well-child" instead of "well-baby"). She's still as tall and skinny as ever, measuring in at 36 inches, and very nearly 23 whole pounds (22 lbs, 13 oz). Although, I do have to admit I cheated a little on that by feeding her some cookies and milk right before we left for the doctor. I mean, it was her regular snack-time anyway, so it's not really cheating, right?

Anyway, I have been thinking long and hard about some fun things that we can do with Gabbie this summer now that she's much more mobile and much more kid than baby. So, I thought I'd make a list of things I want to do with her this summer, her last summer of being an only child, and her first summer as a real kid.

Gabbie's Fun Big-Girl Summer List

1. Go to the zoo.

We have a small zoo here in town that's not too bad, but I think I want to take her to the Detroit zoo if at all possible.

2. Eat an ice cream cone.

Gabbie has plenty of ice cream-eating experience, but always out of a cup with a spoon. This summer sometime we're going to let her strip down and get as messy as she wants to with ice cream in a cone. Plenty of pictures will follow, of course.

3. Take her to a swimming pool.

She has been in one pool, when we were in Florida, but it was kind of chilly out and the experience lasted at total of about 5 minutes. Some weekend when we're at my parents' house, I want to take her to the neighborhood pool and have a few hours of splashing fun.

4. Catch fireflies.

This may be less than successful, since Miss Gabbie is all girl and a little squeamish about bugs. However, we typically get a ton of lightning bugs in our area, and I think this could be a fun treat, letting her stay up until it's dark out at the very least.

5. Watch fireworks.

She liked them last year, but has gotten to be a little more of a fraidy-cat so we'll see how this goes over. This is kind of related to the next one:

6. Go to a baseball game.

Again, she did do this last year, but she'll be so much more aware this year. Plus this is one of my favorite activities and I want to make sure we go at least once.

That's all I have so far, but I'm sure I'll come up with many more. Hopefully, with all this fun planned, this summer is going to rock!