A Summer Resolution

This will probably sound ridiculous, but I have made a mental resolution to have more fun this summer.

This has been a very stressful summer so far--moving cross-country with many small children will do that--and I really feel as if I am more not-fun than usual. Kind of grumpy, as a matter of fact, which is good for no one.

And so, I have consciously vowed to myself to have fun.

I understand that it is not New Year's Eve, the traditional time for resolutions. It is also not a traditional resolution, as I believe most people's resolutions are of the un-fun variety, like lose weight or keep the house cleaner.

A thing I know about myself, however, is that I'm really good at doing the not-fun stuff that requires routine and responsibility, and not good at doing the fun stuff that gets me off my routine. I'm, well, kind of uptight.

But I want to have fun! I want my kids to have fun with me!

Yesterday, that meant that I promised the boys that not only would we go swimming, but we would have a cookout down on the beach.

I dislike cookouts because it feels like more work to me to have to more or less transport the kitchen to the beach, and then eat while dealing with the sun and bugs and kids that drop their food in the gravel, and . . .

Well, like I said: I'm kind of uptight.

But this is the Summer of Fun, so I did it. I even wore my swimsuit and went in the water with the boys before dinner, which is so rare for me that they all remarked on it many times and I honestly could not remember the last time I had worn my swimsuit.

I helped Jack--who is not comfortable in the water by himself--float around and practice swimming while the older two swam in circles around us. Then I got out and had a gin cocktail that I had packed along with the food (alcohol isn't a requirement for fun, but it's a nice addition sometimes), organized the eating of the beach cookout food, and removed many rocks from Poppy's mouth*.

We were down there for three hours, which made the boys very happy. And you know what? It was fun.

Win.

* That girl wants nothing to do with actual food, but put her in proximity to rocks or leaves, and they will be in her mouth pronto. I suspect if I had the baby chair with the tray and could set her up with little pieces of soft food, she might actually eat on her own. That will have to wait, though, as the chair and tray are currently in New Mexico and we are not.