Yippee!

We're smack dab in the middle of the first full week of summer vacation.  Honestly, there was a moment or two mid-June when I thought we'd never get here, but now the school year has ended fairly smoothly and the next one will surely be here in a flash.  I spent the early days off finishing up classroom funding proposals on Donors Choose (which you should check out here and donate to, by the way).  I've now transitioned into working on my tan at Pop's pool and whiling away hours playing with Lola.  Ever since I started teaching, I've found myself so busy with work during the school year and so raring to go in the summer that I basically try to pack a whole year's worth of fun into two short months.  Lately I've also started to feel the need for new and fresh traditions with the family and friends, some of which I'm working on this July and August.  Here's what I've got on the docket for summer 2011:

• Yanks/Rays game tomorrow night.  Went to a ballgame with my brothers last year; this time around it's me and 16 others in my crazy family.  Hilarity will undoubtedly ensue.  It's looking like Jeter's three-thousandth hit may take place while we drink beers together in the grandstand.  Awesome. 
• Playtime with cousins.  My dad's cousin's kids are in town from Florida for a few weeks, and I'll be playing with them and taking them around town for much of July.  Definitely planning on going to the Bear Mountain Zoo, the Ice Cream Shoppe in Highland Falls, Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie, and some pools around Garrison/Cold Spring.  Where else should we go?    
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Holy Cannoli I cannot wait to see this movie.  Just watching the trailers gives me major goosebumps.  I started reading the HP books when I was 14, and I love the story so very much.  Too grown-up for the little cousins though, so I'll see it with the older ones or with Michael.  
• Housewarming party at the new apartment.  This is mostly to encourage me to get the new place set up in a timely fashion. Hopefully I'll get this together pre-wedding, but it may not happen until September.
• Bachelorette party.  Girls, spa, lake, mountains, kayaks, etc.  
• Wedding.  Marriage.  Yikes.  I think this means there are no more doubts that we're actually grown-ups.  I also think I may always feel like adulthood is impending and looming rather than actually upon us.  
• Honeymoon in Thailand (after a 20 something hour flight that is).  Nearly three full weeks touring a far away country.  
• US Open.  Went last year for my uncle Joe's birthday, and second annual tennis fun night will take place early this September.  This year, Mama Hask will join us for a Friday night match in Arthur Ashe stadium. 
• Untold hours of relaxation, swimming, reading, lying in the sun, planning for next year (yes, this is actually something I enjoy; yes, I know that I am a nerd),  and doing whatever else I want to do.

Good summer = the understatement of the year.