My daughter turned five in the middle of June and she asks me daily how many days until she gets to go to Kindergarten, today the answer was 40. Only 40 days! No matter how excited she is to start school it saddens me to think this will be the last free time in her life where we get to go on vacation without worrying about school breaks, homework, parent meetings, or how many days she is gone from school.

This summer we have been out of town at cabins or trips every weekend except one since Memorial Day and the weekend we were home we had a wedding to attend. We are very fortunate to have so many places we can go to be on lakes and have a mini vacation each weekend. The downside to being out of town so much is I have to maintain the house, the garden, the pool, the lawn, unpack, do laundry, re-pack, grocery shop, fill up the truck with gas, and get all of the errands and important things finished during the week. I still want my kids to have fun on weekdays, so we fit in a daily trip to parks, zoo’s, museums, water parks, beaches and play dates when we are at home.

I am savoring every one of these weekends and weekday experiences hoping that my daughter is creating memories and learning experiences that she will take with her into her school days. I know I will still have each summer to share with her when she is in school, but my days as a stay at home mom are numbered with only one kid at home, so these fun summer days are so precious to me.

There may only be 40 days left of summer before my daughter is in kindergarten but that is 39 more days of fun with my little girl before she is a big kid in kindergarten. Enjoy your summers with your toddlers, they grow up unbelievably fast!