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The summer started with me getting out of school. I was kind of sad because I’m going to miss my friends plus last school year my teachers were really nice, but I don’t actually mind having a break …

First Bear, our cat, had her second birthday. I made her some toys to celebrate. The next Saturday Goldie turned three and I made her a pillow for her pack’n'play. Then I got cat grass for both of them (Goldie uses it more than Bear).

On any hot day whoever of my family is home goes swimming at the JCC. Me and my sisters like to play games in the water. Then sometimes we take a break and read and listen to our iPods and eat snacks.

Last week Gammy, our grandma, came to our house to spend night and morning. She lives in Ohio so I haven’t seen her before then since April, but the real reason she came is to visit her mother who is my great-grandmother, Great Grammy during the day. It was enjoyable seeing Gammy and we played a lot of Scattergories.

Now that Gammy has left we have gotten back to normal, swimming and stuff.

But on Sunday it was the Fourth of July and my whole family went to the fireworks at Old Sturbridge Village. On the way to the firework pasture we got to walk through an 1830s village with real buildings. Then we came to the pasture, spread out our blanket, and played I Spy People Watching until the fireworks began. The fireworks were awesome!

Now we are getting ready to go to New Hampshire- hear all about in The Summer Part 2! .

School is  NOT meant to be the least bit fun! It isn’t to be not fun, either. It’s to learn, academically, socially, artistically, physically, and emotionally, and to improve your thinking skills, too. And thinking of thinking skills, school IS supposed to be fun. It is fun if you try your best to be responsible and be cheerful. But work comes first. That brings you back to being responsible. If you are responsible your teachers will be proud of you. They will give you good grades and recess will be enjoyable. You can choose the ending: 1) Being responsible about your work or 2) Being unresponsible about it. Here’s what happens if you choose 1: You have a great recess, laughing with your friends and swinging from a branch. You aren’t worried about getting bad grades because you won’t get them. Just happy. If you chose 2, this may be what happened: You are trying so hard to have fun and forget your bad grades, but you feel a terrible feeling inside. Your friends are laughing and happy. You are worried. Another scenario could be that you don’t care, but on the inside you don’t like that. Only good can come from being responsible. I learned that lesson the hard way. The message is very clear: Try hard to remember and don’t forget!

Today was my third day of middle school. It’s fun there, but a lot of work. In the morning, I go to computer class with Ms. Steiner. I have my very own computer. I know most of the things she’s teaching us because my dad is an engineer. Then I go to Academic Encounters to learn about social studies: my favorite. And Ms. Gablaski is very nice, too. Then, I go back to my homeroom or Miss Walsh’s for normal social studies, reading, math, or science. We haven’t much of that yet, I mean of actually learning those things and not spending the time getting organized or meeting new people. But you can never have a friend too many, or be too organized, so I like that. And I can’t wait to learn new things also. Then we have one more subject and then lunch. Lunch isn’t very fun at the No Nuts Table,  but if you have a friend as good as mine (thanks, Grace) you never should worry about being bored and alone. On Day 3 only you have BCO. I’m in chorus with Grace, Katey, Marie and Trishina who are all very nice. But otherwise it’s one main subject and then the next and then homework writing and then I can giggle all the way home with Alana and sometimes Emma. I like it there at middle school. It’s fun but there’s also a lot of work.

The summer’s been a good one and we all have had our rest.

We’ve tried so hard to earn our fun so we could remember it all.

But now we need to review our math facts so that we’ll all pass our tests.

We’ve swam a lot and grown so much that now I’m very tall.

In school I will be happy to seek out all my friends.

Summer is the season for us all to travel and see relatives I really have missed.

Even though there’s two days left I really do have proof that the summer’ll never end.

SCHOOL STARTS IN TWO DAYS!

This is funny! I miss being four. Although I was the grumpiest, Caroline sunniest, Katherine loudest!

So… after we got back, again I got that AWESOME phone call from Grace. Awesome because I missed her so much. We scheduled a playdate for the next day. It was fun. After that, it was mostly the “Let’s-unpack-our-stuff” stuff I was tired of. Then Caroline went to Harini’s house. The moment after that was time to get ready for Gammy. On the day she came, it started out bad but Great Grammy’s house was fun to be at. It was easy sleeping knowing tomorrow we would go to American Girl. I loved it there, even more with Gammy’s genorosity. But the next day was the day for dropping off Gammy. How sad! Then we did pretty normal summer stuff. And we got babysat by someone in the Baby Sitting Co-op. So… the rest is all a mystery!

I’m not kidding. The cats don’t have their own bedrooms or tuna every night or anything like that. They do have lots of toys. But that’s not how they’ve become spoiled. It’s the love that makes them spoiled. So, yeah they have toys, but these cats have everything they need and more. They aren’t spoiled. They’re just beloved cats who are unconditionally loved (lucky cats, too!)

I’ve been having a very fun vacation! First, there was quite a lot of rain but that didn’t matter a bit, because we had packing to do. I slept 4 hours driving to Tenessee. And yes, the rest was boring, but I had things to see and do. It was all so cheerful. We finally arrived in TN, which was a very fun thing. The next day was so relaxing on the boat, but I can’t say that the rest was like that! It was not such a cheerful drive to Florida, but the end was. Our hotel was just wonderful! I enjoyed visiting and going to Busch Gardens. The drive back home was not such a cheerful one at all but still I was greeted by the best phone call of my life! Boy, did we miss our friends! The rest is to be found out…