Summer Vacation.... A Break? I Think NOT

While yes, I am ecstatic that school is finally over and that I don't have to get up at five in the morning anymore or do homework late at night, summer is never what one would call a break. Being in the family I am in, we are all expected to achieve as much as possible, and therefore I am in 5 AP/Honors classes... lucky me. Granted, it is my choice to take these classes and I am glad I do. However, summer assignments are a PAIN. They are light the fifty pound weights hanging over me all summer, or at least until I decide to complete them.

So, number one, summer assignments mean more work for me during the summer. Two, my dad is insisting on all of his children exercising this summer. Our neighborhood pool has a swim team which all of us used to be on. However, as I got older I realized how horrible I was at swimming and how much I hated it. Therefore, the swim team was out the window. The deal was that I needed to do some form of exercising four times a week, at minimum. So now I have to do that.

Third, I am supposed to be getting a job. I have found one and my mom is calling the lady today. My dad does not want me working at all. He thinks I should be a kid and "develop my talents". Yeah right. If I got the option I would simply sleep my summer away and stay in my bed 24/7. However, my dad is completely against that suggestion, and so if I can't sleep, the next best thing is earning money and saving it, right?

Fourth, I babysit ALL THE TIME. Technically, I am not forced to babysit. Take today for example: My mom says to me "Would you like to come to Costco and to get Gray's haircut today?" Now, what teenager in their right mind would want to be dragged around the grocery store and then go and watch their brother scream and whine because his parents are finally making him cut his luscious locks of hair? Not me... so then my mom asks me to stay home with the kids. I figure that babysitting is somehow a better option than taking all eight of us kids to a store, so I gladly say yep, sure, It'll be my pleasure to babysit these lovely children.

Fifth, I am gone most of July for various reasons. Most of them are church related, but they should be fun. So July, mostly occupied and there will be no time for myself =P.

So, there are 73 days of summer vacation (yes, I actually counted because I am that much of a nerd). If you do the simple mathematics, you figure that 73 days is merely 1/5 of the year (For those of you whose brains are bursting because you simply can't figure this math problem out, here is what you do. Hopefully you know that there are 365 days in one year. To figure out what fraction of a year 73 days is you divide 365 by 73, and you get 5.) So my point is that our school system makes school be in session for 4/5 of the year and gives us a mere 1/5 for summer vacation. If you get the point of this post, you will realize that my summer vacation is even less than that. I figure, and this is coming from a teenager so it is probably dramatic, that my summer vacation is merely 1/12 of the year. School is a major blow....