End of summer... already?

I swam in a summer swim league during much of my young life.  The season was short - 5 regular weekly meets followed by a divisional meet, a week off, and then an all-star meet.  8 total weeks.  2 months.  June and July.  Because the season was so short, most families waited until August to take their family vacations.  And since we were on a traditional calendar for school, we didn't hit the books until September.

So in my mind, summer is still 3 months long.  Only we're on a year round school track, which means that we only have one month off during the typical summer time.  The boys are in school for most of June and August.

Unfortunately, I still pack my head full of 3 months full of summer fun things that I want to do with the kids.  And seeing that its hard to pack 3 months into 1, here I sit... and the end of our "summer" with a lot of unfinished fun ideas.

First off, I wanted to take the boys to a rodeo this summer.  A real one.  With cowboys and horses and barrels and clowns.  And wouldn't you know it, I found one less than 5 miles from our house!  Carousel Farms in Raleigh has rodeos every Tuesday for the entire summer... the REAL summer.  So it looks like we're going to have to pick a Tuesday night after work in August to pack up and go watch some cowboy fun. 

I wanted to hit the central Outer Banks again this summer, and go out for a Pirate Adventure in Manteo.  Here we are, in the land of Blackbeard, with the opportunity to dress up like a pirate and sail the high seas (leaving 6 times daily Memorial Day through Labor Day!).  Will would love the ocean voyage, and as long as I could keep Matt from jumping overboard, I thought it would be awesome, right?

What summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to a local museum or two?  When I was young, we used to jump on the Metro in DC and hit up a Smithsonian on a hot day.  In Durham, we have the Museum of Life and Science (which I hear is awesome and am slightly embarassed to say we have never been to).  It has its own butterfly conservatory, dinosaur exhibit, farmyard, and a train. 

And speaking of trains, in Spencer, the NC Transportation Museum makes its home.  From adults and kids alike, I have heard this place is awesome.  And there are so many trains and vehicles for excitable boys to explore and a real locomotive train ride for everyone to enjoy!  Thankfully both the MLS and NCTM are open year round, so I am not on the end of real summer deadline.  In fact, NCTM hosts a Day Out with Thomas at the end of September.   Anyone want to go?  The Slavik boys (all of them!) would love to ride with a real full sized Thomas!

But still, this begs the questions... Why can't we seem to find the time?  Why is the summer so short?  Why don't we just hop in the car and go?  Why - despite my best efforts to slow down time - am I still unable to fit 3 months of fun into a 1 month window?

Sometimes I guess there just aren't enough rocks.