Summer's Here (and halfway gone...)

Another school year came and went with great stories, great students, and tearful goodbyes. No summer would start off right without some typical end of the year celebrations. This year was no different, as we enjoyed our usual dinner at the local Italian restaurant, Acero, with great food and even better company. It was tough to say goodbye to my seniors, as it is every year, but they are a great group of people who will do great things in life. 

With school out of the way, summer turns into full-on dad mode. While mom continues to work throughout the summer, I have the pleasure of keeping both of the kids entertained and out of each other's hair. Unfortunately, this summer started off with a two-week period of one or more people in the family sick. Not a fantastic way to begin the summer. Once we all recovered, it was time to get out of the house. I like to at least try to get the kids out of the house every morning during the week to keep me and them from going stir crazy. If it is not too hot, we like to do things outside around the St. Louis area, but there are plenty of good indoor locations to hang out for free when the weather does not cooperate. Play areas in malls make a perfect last minute destination! The slideshow below highlights a few of the fun things the kids and I have done so far this summer.

Melissa and I also got some time together (and a whole trip, but that's for another post), when we experienced the special Thursday night dinner and paddle boat date offered by the Boathouse at Forest Park. We had a fantastic and relaxing time and the weather was absolutely perfect. I would totally recommend this experience if you live in the St. Louis area. The total cost is $80, which includes two hours of paddle boat rental, as well as dinner and drinks. You can find more information about the date night here.

Shockingly, I even have had a little bit of time to work on some of my own hobbies and interests, most of which you can see in upcoming posts on my other blog page, Mini Scale, but while the kids were doing gymnastics camp for three days I worked on building and painting this game crate for my Fireball Island board game. The original box is pretty terrible and does not hold all the components well, so I got the crate pictured below from The Broken Token. The project did not take a lot of work and it was a great way to spend some very rare moments of pure alone time.

Finally, the first half of the summer was capped off by a couple of fun experiences. First, a friend invited me to go to the Stanley Cup Game 7 watch party at Busch Stadium. I am not a huge hockey fan, but it was a lot of fun to be surrounded by crazy, excited, and emotional superfans. The drive home through the city was also one of the craziest experiences I have had.

To round out this post in a sort of chiasmus or ring composition, I bring it back to my students and a cool experience we all had together at the St. Louis Science Center. This summer we have the privilege of hosting an excellent traveling exhibit about Pompeii. I organized a group of current and former students, as well as family members, to visit the exhibit. Many of the artifacts on display I had never seen before, and all the students enjoyed getting to hang out and see some cool stuff. Even those who had been to Italy found something interesting in the exhibit. 

Here's to an equally great second half of summer!