Celebrating a Year of School

Yes, whilst looking at Instagram pictures recently I came to the realization that Wildwood Halls of Ivy had no End of School Year tradition.

(Kind of like I needed a kick to get to a Field Day.)

No tradition to celebrate conquering the arbitrarily assigned magic number of 180 days?

That would never do.

I like traditions.

I like celebrating.

I gathered the kids.  Passed out blank sheets of paper.  Tossed pencils at them.

“Every one write down one food and one activity that you think sounds awesome.”

And so they did.

It was like an audition for traditions.

A try out.

We compared notes – if more than one person suggested it, that choice was a sealed deal.

We decided also to just try to fit in the rest as well as we could so everyone could have everything they wanted.

An ambitious hope, I am aware.

For breakfast – we ate donuts!

And then we took advantage of an outdoor activity I’ve always wanted to try since first relocating to Travelers Rest.

We biked on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

(Maybe not a big deal to the world at large – but a giant deal to us.  Sweet Mo-Town has been asking to ride her bike on that trail for years!)

After lining up our sorry collection of rag-tag yard sale bikes we loaded up the ones that made the cut and headed in to town.

Our fabulous friends at Sunrift helped us fill in the gaps with a rental or two.

London was tall enough to need an adult bicycle.  (As if having her complete fifth grade and proudly declare herself a sixth grader wasn’t heart pain enough for one morning.)

Piper and Otto had a luxury ride in a trailer behind Kevin’s bike.

After a happy and painless rental experience (seriously – thank you Sunrift!) we hopped on the trail.  (Yes, hopped on the trail.  I’m not afraid to make that overused joke.)

In total, we biked about fourteen miles I think.

That’s what I’m claiming anyway.

I didn’t care for traversing the several major highways we had to cross.

And I don’t care for the manner in which my posterior end aches and reminds me of my ever-increasing age.

But, goodness, I do enjoy biking with this family of mine.

When once we returned home we had the oddest dinner choices combined – per our children’s written requests.

Homemade mac & cheese.  Mashed potatoes.  Watermelon.

Yes.  That was our dinner.

Hoorah for the last official day of school on the calendar.  (Not that we wont be learning all summer – of course.)

Hooray for guilt-free sleeping in.  (Not that I didn’t sleep in before, but I just felt guilty about it then.)

Hazah for days of board games and road trips and puzzles that take days to complete on the dining room table.

Yippee for the magic that is summer!