summer? just around the corner

with all this cold weather I don't know that I can say Summer is just around the corner, but the kids only have about two more weeks of school.
they are all ready for it. Emma has even been having a hard time staying on task with her homework.
I'm not sure how I feel about that (meaning vacation being so close at hand). On one hand it's nice to not have to wake up with an alarm (though I will most likely still wake up early anyway). but the flip side is that there will be a lot more arguing noises around here for three whole months. uuuuh

we will have a new twist to our Summer... actually all of the time now.... Tim's work is rotating days off.
I'll explain. starting this week they are having a couple of people each day take the day off and then they will alternate their days off.
that is not any clearer, so for example: Monday I would have off. then I would work the rest of the week. the next week I would have Tuesday off and work the rest of the week. then the next week I would be off on Wednesday and so on and so on...

this means that we can plan for trips to the Arboretum in the middle of the week when fewer people will be there and we can feel more like it's our own little get away.
over the years the arboretum has become more and more popular and with the popularity comes the crowds.
last year we didn't get up there at all and it was kind of a horrible year - lots of fighting and lots of being couped up and not enough rejuvenation and wonderful nature. the kids really do get along much better when we run away to the arboretum. it's everyone's favorite place
you know how when you have a huge mess and you get it all cleaned up and you feel so great, then that place is suddenly your favorite place to be... it's kind of like that