Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Summer of ...

Some of you know about my crazy themed summers, but I thought I'd do a blog today about what we're doing this summer. The reason is because the kids and I made "Summer Journals" for them to write in every day. I probably won't join them every day because Sean still needs a lot of help, but I'm doing it today.

Two summers ago, it was the "Summer of Swimming." We go swimming weekly during the summer anyway, but that summer the kids spent a lot of time at the pool. They got so tan, and I got jealous. :D It was loads of fun. Last summer was the "Summer of Reading." We joined the Summer Reading Program at the Orem Public Library, and the kids read (with some help from me) a TON! Bad news, we got so many late fees I cannot even tell you. We went every week, but because they were so excited to show off their reading skills, we misplaced several books. We'll probably do it this summer, too, but we've started reading chapter books; and, thanks to Nina, we've got tons to read. :D

So, back to this summer. I decided that we would do the "Summer of Diversity." Recently, the kids have had a few opportunities to learn about other people and what they believe, so it seemed fitting. Last week, we got to go to our neighbor's First Communion. It was a great time to talk to Reilly about how there are other churches that believe differently than us. We talked about the similarities and differences during and after the service and she got to know her friend a little better. Then, on Saturday, our youth at church got the opportunity to volunteer at the Special Olympics at BYU. They said all friends and family were welcome to come, so I decided to bring the kids. Sean, however, had other plans, so he missed out and got to go to the stinky dump instead. (That story would be a blog all by itself...) Reilly and I enjoyed cheering for the soccer teams. While everyone else cheered for every player, we decided it'd be more fun if we rooted for opposing teams. Reilly and her friend would pick one team and her mom and I would take the other one. It was fun to trash-talk with one another while getting excited about our teams. The experience was great. They played so well! I was amazed at the abilities they had. Even for "regular" players, they had impressive skill and determination. The goalie of one team has some AWESOME saves! I went in thinking that we were going to watch a slow paced game and got exactly the opposite. It was great for Reilly, too. After the last game, we went to congratulate one of the teams and they all shook Reilly's hand. She had fun and walked away with a little more tolerance for different people.

Today, we're writing in our journals and will do it every day throughout the summer. Hopefully, we'll get more opportunities to become a more diverse, tolerant family. We plan on hitting several of the festivals in our area. We're not stretching much for the Scottish Festival, but the Icelandic and India Festivals should be very diversifying!

Hopefully, I'll keep you posted as the kids journal.