Summer vacation is well underway. As I type, I am stealing 45 minutes out of my work day, sitting on a picnic blanket in the shade and watching my children turn to prunes in the pool. A year ago this would have been unthinkable. I did it a few times, but my youngest was perilously bold and yet about six inches too short to let loose in the pool without eagle eyes glued to her.

I should be in the pool with them. I certainly could use the exercise, but instead, I'm sending emails for work and taking calls, muting when the splashing gets a little loud. I wonder how the AT&T connection is at the beach - I can certainly get used to this whole working under a tree business.

My oldest has found a friend here from school, and my son is trying to befriend some older boys, but they are not sure they want him along, so he keeps flitting back to the shallow end, where my youngest has adopted a whole fleet of toddlers in floaties. She is holding court, bragging about how she can stand up in the shallow end and can swim under the water. One of the kids has an endearing lisp.

I talked to my friend Kim yesterday. She wanted to know what activities i had signed the kids up for this summer, and she looked surprised when I said nada. Zip. Nothing.

Last year I spent well over a thousand dollars getting my kids in camps and activities. They had fun, I suppose, but I ran myself ragged getting them to and fro, and somehow didn't find my work hours to be more efficient with them gone. So this year, we didn't plan. We are taking advantage of our neighborhood pool and playing in the yard, and I am eyeballing the calendar, looking for possible days I can step away from work to take the kids on short overnight trips.

Ask me in a month, but this is shaping up to be a summer that reminds me of my own childhood, minus the mike-n-ikes and chick-o-sticks purchased from the snack bar. Seeing freckles appearing across noses and having lazy mornings where the only question is whether to get dressed in clothes or just straight into swimsuits suits me fine.