I hate being a braggart, but really, this so far has been the best summer ever.

I hate being a braggart, but really, this so far has been the best summer ever. Quitting has been good for me.

Let me list for you the oodles of fun already had, just in the 24 days since school has been out:

1. Dance recital
2. End of the year pizza party
3. Hilton Head trip
4. A few days in The Big City visiting grandparents, cousins and their new pool
5. Swimming no less than four days a week (counting Hilton Head and cousins’ new pool)
6. Dinner with friends (they cooked, not me, yippee!)
7. PePaw’s visit
8. Seeing Disney-Pixar’s Brave (in 3D)
9. Seeing Madagascar 3 (in 3D)
10. Church production
11. Paxton’s first pair of flip-flops
12. Day in Asheville

I mean, it’s been so jam-packed, even Jaana is sleeping until 8 am. And that, my friends, means fun to the point of exhaustion.

Yesterday, my dad and I took the kids to Asheville for the day. We had lunch out (using a gift card, holla!), saw Madagascar 3 in 3D, and did a bunch of bookstore jaunts, as Mama is doing market research for her book proposal. The day also included no less than 100 stops at various stores so I could “run in and grab something.” My dad chose to stay in the air-conditioned car and rest. ‘Cuz it was day two of no nap for PePaw.

Two observations after yesterday’s adventures:

1) I’m done with 3D movies. Ever. They cost more, for one, which annoys me. For two, I hate wearing dark glasses inside a dark theater. For three, wearing dark glasses in a dark theater diminishes the vibrancy of color in the movie. And for what? So I can see a zebra shooting RIGHT AT ME from the screen?

2) If you already have doubts about writing a book and preparing a book proposal, then definitely go to multiple bookstores visiting their Christian Growth/Inspiration sections. Because then you’d realize chopping your arm off would be much less daunting prospect. Seriously, it was incredibly depressing. I look and look at the thousands of books and think over and over , “Why am I doing this again? Why add to this clutter? Do I really have anything new to say or a new way to say it?” And then King Solomon confirms it with his whole “there’s nothing new under the sun” scripture, and I leave each store defeated, fists shoved into my pockets and head hanging low. (Sigh.) (This isn’t me fishing for compliments, by the way. I’m just being honest.)

Here are a few pics from our adventures in the A-ville yesterday (does anyone call it that? I might have just made that up.):

So that’s our fun in a nutshell. (What in the world does “in a nutshell” mean, anyway?) And now, I need to make a grocery run for the lake fun tonight and the Fourth Festivities tomorrow. And who am I kidding? Take a nap, too (since I’ve been up for three hours now).

Peace out and Happy Fourth, y’all!