Summer Vacation Ranting

So I know that some people think teachers have it really easy with "3 months off" each summer, all I say to them is "Come try it!" I honestly love the part of my job where I am teaching kids! It's what I always wanted to do and gosh I sure do love those kids. I saw one of my former students last week, it was great to see her, and yes I asked my infamous question... "Are you reading lots?" For a first grader headed to second grade that is the biggest concern for me as a teacher... how much will they retain? So amid the worries of: Did I do enough? Will they remember the things they learned last year? What will my new class be like? Am I ready to do this again? Did they learn anything from me about life? Will they ever get it? and most of all Will what I did help them be successful in life? I now am supposed to enjoy my "Summer Vacation."
Well this summer is packed full of things that have to get done. John and I have been determined that we will make it fun and relaxing (whatever that is) as we go along. I'm beginning to see in my 4th summer of being a teacher, that summer will never be mine, it will always be filled with things for school, things for family, and things that simply have to be done but that we don't take days off to do during the year.
Thus today I'm off to Scottsdale for what will hopefully be the last reading first conference I will ever have to attend. Now these conferences are honestly pretty good, and I learn a ton. The problem is, it's JUNE. I don't have a class, I can't go into my classroom right now and try out all the things I'm going to learn about, I have to remember them all to try with a whole new bunch of kids. Another problem is that I don't know my new group of students, thankfully(that's a whole other post). But that makes it very hard to think about what will work for me in my classroom. Needless to say, I personally feel I'd get more out of these conferences if they were held in October. I'd know my kids and what they need by then and I wouldn't be faced with remembering all of these things. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to go and learn how to be a better teacher since there are always things I can do better!
Besides school stuff we've been doing all of those things that we should have done throughout the year like doctor's appointments, vet appointments, cleaning, laundry (ok we do this every week but lately it seems like we have double), and traveling to all of those places we wish we could get to more often to see family. I love visiting my family and John's family, we're getting a lot of that this summer so it's nice! Overall, I'm grateful for summer no matter who owns mine on any particular day this year!