Summer Vacation

When I was a kid, the first week back at school always started with writing the dreaded report about what I did over the summer.  We never did anything or went anywhere as far as I can remember.  No picnics, no camping, no vacations.  I begged my mom to go to Disneyland like all the other kids, but was just told, “Let’s not, but say we did.”

Perhaps this is why I love to travel now.  Sitting around doing nothing makes me crazy.   This is also perhaps why my son’s summer schedule doesn’t look anything like mine did as a child.  If I were to write a report about what he did this summer, it would look like this:

The week after school was out Kaleb spent a few days with a friend then we were off with 16 others to volunteer for a week at an orphanage in Mexico.  Kaleb spent most of his time painting.

On the way home from the airport, I dropped him off at University of Washington to attend a week long international conference for those who study the ionosphere, as he’s been doing research in this field this past year or so with a physicist from Johns Hopkins University (above).  They displayed their work and Kaleb answered questions about those findings.  I must admit, I’m pretty proud I have a 15-year-old “published” scientific researcher in my house.

The next ten days or so our family was preparing for the “Norwegian Invasion,” as we had 15 relatives come and stay for two weeks.  There was much cleaning and yard work to do to say the least. 

Our weeks with the Norwegians passed by all too quickly, especially with a jaunt to the Oregon Coast for four days in the middle of it all.  Days before I drove them to the airport, Kaleb and Kory were on their way to Boy Scout camp for the week where Kaleb learned blacksmithing skills and made some pretty cool stuff.

Kaleb missed his last two days of scout camp because I had to take him to a “Secret Sojourn” trip with the youth from our church.  They had no idea where they were going or what they’d be doing.  It’s good thing we are people of faith, as it took a lot of faith to let 30 kids go into the unknown with six leaders for ten days.

The group flew to Denver to work with some disadvantaged kids, spent quiet time in the Rockies talking to God, drove to Moab, Utah where they repelled off 120 foot canyon walls, spent two days river rafting and slept out under open heavens by the side of the river, which would have been very nice if it hadn’t rained so hard that night.  They drove to Las Vegas and volunteered at a thrift store then offered to pray for people who needed it.  They spent time in the desert in California praying for one another, then went homeless in Los Angeles for 24 hours so they’d understand a bit more about that culture.  It was a life changing experience for most of them and they all came home ever so thankful for little things like a hot shower and a soft bed.

Days after Kaleb got home from that trip, he entered a birdhouse he’d made for me in the Skagit County fair and won a blue ribbon.  Days later we were on a plane to Norway to visit family for a few weeks.  We bopped down to Poland for a few days to visit a concentration camp, as Kaleb’s taking world history this coming year and I thought it was important he experience that part of it up close and personal.

We are back home and summer is over and as a homeschool mom I won’t require any reports out of him, but I’m fairly certain when he grows up and has kids of his own, his ideal summer will just be sitting around doing nothing but reading books, and going nowhere.