How I Spent My Summer Vacation

In this picture, the chess pieces are wearing the Polly Pocket clothes. The white queen sports a lovely yellow off-the-shoulder crop top, while the white king models a baby blue and white striped bustier. The black bishop waits in the Jeep to drive them .....who knows where?

At the beginning of the summer, other moms were asking me what activities I had planned for Anna's summer. The answer was "not much." She played baseball for the first half of the summer and the second half was consumed with family reunions and, at the last minute, getting ready to send the sisters off to college. I snapped the dressed chess pieces photo towards the end of July. It's not staged, it's just a scene that I stumbled upon one morning. For me, it is proof that we avoided the overscheduled summer and managed to provide precious "do nothing" time.

Blogging fell by the wayside in August, as there was always someone else at the computer. Shelagh and Liz were enrolling in classes, finalizing financial aid, finding dorm assignments, signing up for meal plans, facebooking dormmates, and shopping for computers, all online. Towards the end of August, the Minnesota Twins started a serious run at taking the division from the Tigers, so Richard has been checking scores morning and night, also online.

When I did get near the computer, I was engaged in my own epic quest. It took, all summer, but I have finally replaced our deer-smashed Caravan with a '96 Camry. The Camry cost me about $3000, gets 30 miles per gallon, and (unlike the Horizon) is worthy of a road trip. I'm not too fond of the way it blends into every parking lot, but I'll adapt.

Last week we drove Liz to Northwestern. She was so excited to finally be there! Last night she called me and told me she had bought a map of the US to hang on her wall, because she's getting tired of talking to people that don't know that Michigan is shaped like a mitten. (They don't know that Oklahoma is shaped like a frypan, either.) She is taking calculus, Italian, Western Civilization, and a freshman seminar.

With Liz gone, I'm realizing how much Anna is like Liz. They both share a stubborn streak. They are both acute observers of other people and they are both personally disappointed when people don't live up to their expectations.