It's time to rejoice.

My last day of school is tomorrow.

Hallelujah!

I have big plans for the summer--and by big plans, I mean no plans.

This sounds heavenly to me.

Every summer since I was about 15 years old, as soon as school let out, I ran off to some summer adventure.  In high school, I spent every week of the summer working at an overnight camp for persons with disabilities--a total blast but not really a vacation--lots of hard but rewarding work!  Then in college, I spent the summers in El Salvador or going to school.  Since moving to Buffalo, we've gone to visit family or to Central America for the majority of each summer.

This year, we will be taking it easy.

I plan to read books, cook, garden, camp, go for runs, hang out with friends, get projects done around the house, focus on church service, continue with fertility treatments, work on our adoption application...it will still be busy, but hopefully a somewhat relaxing busy.  I have a couple of brief trips planned, but really, this summer will be spent kickin' it in the Buff.

Unfortunately, my personality is such that I tend to get caught up in my various "projects" and then accidentally work through my free time, even if I had every intention of relaxing.  So, Ryan and I have decided to make a weekly "Fun Plan" on which we will schedule something exciting to do together every  day (even if it's something small).  I will have to keep a record of some of our adventures on the blog.

I will tell you what, one event that is a true adventure (though not usually a fun one) for the Nielsons is cooking dinner.  We are just not good at it.  We always end up destroying something or spending two hours on a simple meal because we have no idea what we are doing.  We've decided that we are going to practice cooking this summer and hopefully become a little bit better at it.

This week's endeavor was a South of the Border Pizza.  We've made this twice before; the first time it was a complete flop, the second time was a little better, and this third time, I think we may have perfected it.  It was yummy!  (Thanks, Stephanie, for the recipe.)

I am looking forward to a great summer with Ry!  I welcome any ideas for fun around the Buffalo area, and I hope that our friends here will be willing to hang out with us.

Let the summer begin!