Last Day of Freedom

Today is the last full day of school here. Other than a two hour goodbye session tomorrow morning, the kids will now be home full time. I assume that means the question of what I do with my time will be put to rest for a time. It also means that my secret job of employment finder will now have to be accomplished during nap time and at night. Also, I lose my noon time yoga class.

The requests for summer activities continues to grow. Right now, we have swim lessons twice a week. The list of future activities includes making jello wigglers, going to the beach, visit the library, go fishing, assembling jewelry, going to Maine to visit Grammie, Grampa, the Great Grandparents, and some fun days with cousins, swim at Aunt Mary's camp, and eat lobster.

As there is nothing on the job/moving front, we decided that since I have not been to Maine for a year, I am going to take the kids up there for a month. Florida is miserably hot in the summer and I may become certifiably insane if forced inside with two hyperactive kids for two and half months. In Maine, they can be outside and everyone will feel a bit better. PH will join us for two weeks during which he and I will take a trip to Quebec sans children (Thank you Grammie and Grampa!). We had thought we would be headed to Austria this summer, but with the current economy and our visit to Belgium, I nixed the trip knowing our pennies would stretch a bit further closer to home.

While I am very happy to have a month at home in Maine, I can't help but wish we had a new job and a move to plan. While we continue to send resumes overseas, we have realized that this may not happen for a very long time, and have had some serious conversations about how much we want to leave Florida. Along with the job search overseas, we have begun a search in Maine. It has the advantages of my family, a better education system, four defined seasons (well, there's not much spring I will admit, but autumn is spectacular), and it's right next to Canada so international visits are a car drive away. Yet, in doing this I feel a bit like we are giving up on a life overseas. A good friend reminded me that even in sending resumes to Maine, we could just as likely receive a positive response in Norway before receiving one from Maine. I guess for now it is up to Fate and man, do I hate letting someone else have the controls.