Summer Vacation

School is out in my neighborhood and the kids are on summer vacation. I really miss the days of having a summer vacation. I have been working for 12 years now and look forward to my two or three weeks of vacation spread out throughout the year. My summer vacations as a kid were great. My mom stayed home until I was about 10, then when she went back to work my brothers were old enough to watch me so I did not have to go to any camps or programs like many kids do today who have working parents. I also spent a lot of time at my best friend's house. Sometimes I would stay at her house for 2 or 3 days at a time without coming home. Her mom was home and they had a pool so most of the summers were spent outside in the pool or playing in the yard. I rarely wore shoes in the summer and after an early summer sunburn I would be tan the rest of the summer. My friend's sister was eight years older than us and was always by the pool tanning. She is also the person who taught me to swim. My mom took me to swim lessons when I was 5 years old, but I was too scared of the large Hawaiian man who was the instructor. My friend's sister taught me in just a couple days. I was always bored though by the end of the summer and ready to go back to school. I think I mostly wanted school to start so I could get some new clothes and school supplies because after one day back at school I wanted to be back on summer vacation. I would love to have three months off now, but that is just not possible. I know kids don't realize how good they have it and that is part of being a kid.